Stone Fences

For decades, country music has been largely shut off to Black artists. There have been notable, even iconic, exceptions throughout history, of course. But there are too few of those, to the point that their success was often treated as novelty. There were also too many performers who should have made it big but were forced into stereotypes that didn't comfortably fit. Fortunately, there have been signs of hope in the past few years—hope that feels like a lot more than just good intentions and lip service. This tribute explores the history, and promising future, of Black artists in country music.

In the early 1970’s, a group of musicians from Nashville radically challenged the city’s musical tradition, its codes, its smooth productions and its clichés. With Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and a few other long-haired rebels who were deeply influenced by rock and roll, this new trend defied country music’s conservatism.

For over a century, blues is still nourishing pop music of all kinds and producing great records. It's time to take a look back at the classics with ten historic blues musicians.