Beyoncé is not the first Black country artist, and she knows it

The cliché goes that country is the music of white people in the United States, particularly in the rural south, while rhythm and blues belongs to the Black population. But this ignores affect that the two genres influenced each other in the beginning, and that the segregation of audiences was not natural, but rather forced by the emerging recording industry a century ago. In the 1920s, two styles were marketed at different audiences: hillbilly, which led to country, and what they called race music, a label that included blues, gospel and jazz. Henceforth, charts and radio would divide musicians and their songs into these racial categories. The model applied to music was a mirror of the country’s oppressive racial segregation, which would continue officially until the 1960s, but is still going strong.

That’s why Beyoncé's country music album Cowboy Carter has caused such a stir. In reality, it is an eclectic album (and the second part of a planned trilogy), but many songs incorporate the sounds of country music. On the cover of the album, Beyoncé appears on horseback, dressed in rodeo gear, and holding the U.S. flag. For the uninitiated, it seemed that it was not authentic for a Black woman to be performing country music. But CNN has released a documentary that puts Beyoncé's foray into the genre into context: it’s called Call Me Country: Beyoncé & Nashville’s Renaissance.

If you watch the documentary expecting a Beyoncé parade, you will be disappointed. Neither her songs nor her statements are the crux of the documentary. Beyoncé is from Texas, and she spent her summers in Alabama, her father’s home state, listening to country music: no one has the right to lecture her about the genre. But the documentary is not a vindication of the singer and her right to pursue the music genre of her choice. Instead, it focuses on demonstrating that Beyoncé was not the first Black country artist, and that she knows this.

The Black community has contributed a lot to country music since sound memorial. The banjo itself — the most emblematic instrument of early country — is an invention of the community that was forcibly taken from Africa to the Caribbean; and from there, it passed to the Mississippi plantation workers. The rural musicians of the southern United States embraced the instrument, which was simpler to manufacture and cheaper than a guitar and had such a characteristic sound. Without the banjo, and without the influence of blues, white folk would have had a hard time creating country music.

The documentary is not about Beyoncé, but rather about less recognized names. The influence of the Black community on country music can be seen from the start: the Carter Family, which is considered the pioneer of bluegrass in the 1930s, relied on the Black guitarist and composer Lesley Riddle. Another star in hostile territory was Charley Pride, who scored No. 1 hits on the charts between the 1960s and 1980s. In that same period, the Black singer Linda Martell was also triumphing. Meanwhile, white singers such as Hank Williams recognized the influence of the blues on their work.

The documentary also looks at the paradigmatic case of rapper Lil Nas, and his particular version of Old Town Road. The 2018 song was very successful, but Billboard excluded it from the country charts after protests that claimed it didn’t fit the genre. This leads into a discussion of the clique in Nashville that decides what is and isn’t country.

The documentary speaks with many Black country musicians who are still active: Aaron Vance, Rihannon Giddens, Mickey Guyton and Rissi Palmer. There is also discussion of the being queer in the country music scene, which prejudiced fans consider taboo.

In the interview, these artists say that the racial justice Black Lives Matter movement paved the way for a more inclusive understanding of the country music scene. Even homophobia was pushed aside when some singers came out of the closet. Country music start Luke Combs caused a stir at last year’s Grammy Awards, when he performed Fast Car alongside Tracy Chapman. After the performance, the song burst into the country charts (even though it’s doubtful that it’s a country track), four decades after it was composed and released.

In the documentary, banjo player Giddens says that we are still suffering from the labels that the record industry imposed a hundred years ago: “It was the industry’s decision to divide us. They created segregation and we have perpetuated it.”

The concept of cultural appropriation is often used in the opposite sense, to criticize white artists who exploit Black music. All rock music from Elvis Presley and onwards carries that stigma. This time, it’s country music purists who are grumbling that a Black pop star is encroaching on territory that they believe is exclusive.

But if the United States has shaped popular music for more than a century, it is because of that mix of melodies, rhythms and instruments between the two worlds of the Mississippi River: the children of slaves of African origin and the children of Irish, English and other European settlers. It’s time to get over the idea that there is music for every skin color. That’s according to Beyoncé, although she doesn’t even need to open her mouth in the documentary to convince us of this.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition