Black Girl in a Country World

If it’s your first time here welcome to my blog and if you’ve been here before, welcome back! If you’ve been on social media at all then you’re aware that Beyonce is releasing a country music album and 2 tracks dropped last week. Now, if you truly know me then you know how I feel about both Bey AND country music. You’ve probably heard me singing and blasting country music on the daily in my home or my car.

I’ll start with my love story and history with country music. I’m a black girl from central Mississippi and I’ve loved country music since I could understand and build a relationship with music for myself. My mom loved blues music so that was my very first introduction to music and don’t get me wrong I still love me some blues music but as soon as I started to develop my own identity, country music stole my heart. I remember around age 9 creating my own cassette tapes filled with country music. I’d save my money to buy blank cassettes and listen to US 96.3, our Hometown Country Station at the time, hitting the play and record button simultaneously on our stereo to create my very own cassette tapes full of all my favorite country songs. Songs like Strawberry Wine by Deana Carter, It's Your Love a duet with Tim McGraw and his wife Faith Hill, and Heads Carolina, Tails California by Jo Dee Messina filled my room. As I aged and went off to college you could catch me with the tops out of my 03’ Camaro riding down highway 49, Hammer5 on my tag, blasting Rascal Flatts on any given day. I think it’s safe to say this music raised me.

The reality is I was one of few who outwardly loved and blasted this “different” type of music as I was growing up. But, I also didn’t see any country music artists that looked like me. I often felt like I was the only one. My sisters would have fun with me and tell me I was adopted lol it wasn’t until I aged more that I realized the huge impact African Slaves had on the development and history of country music…the true roots of the genre.

Over time there have been many country music artists of color who have taken the genre by storm, Charley Pride, Rissi Palmer, Kane Brown, Darius Rucker, Jimmie Allen, Breland, Mickey Guyton, Chapel Hart, and now Bey to name a few.

Now, I’m sure you’re wondering why is Bey more impactful for me if all of these artist have done it before her. I’ll tell you why. It’s Bey and it’s me. It’s the way I appreciate Bey and her artistry. It’s the reality that the reach Bey has will surpass the reach of all of the other artists combined. It’s all the times growing up I thought it was just me or something was wrong with me because I had a deep love for country music that no one else seemed to have. A music that spoke to my soul but didn’t seem to speak to many others that looked like me. It came full circle to see Bey, an icon living, embrace this music on such a huge platform and now almost everyone that looks like me can appreciate this music and love this music that I never thought they would.

Call me dramatic but I only speak for me and my experiences. I’ve said many times over the last week that many won’t understand me or my feelings about this because you weren’t that little black girl at 9 years old recording country music on a store bought blank cassette tape. You weren’t that little girl who loved something so much but never saw anyone that looked like you openly loving it too. You weren’t that little girl who loved something so much but sometimes questioned whether it loved you back. You never had to deal with racism being intertwined in something you loved so much. You weren’t that little girl who had to learn to love herself enough to live out loud and not care who judged or had an opinion about her choices in music. You may never get it and that’s okay. I’m okay with that. What I do ask of you is to at least think of people like me when listening or when speaking about the impact this will have. Think about people like me before forming your opinions and making your judgements. Think of the little black girl living in a country world and loving it with everything in her body. Think of all the differences in the world and embrace those differences with love, kindness, and understanding.

Xoxo

L. Hollins <3

P.S. Below I have added some of my favorite snapshots from a handful of country music concerts over the past few years! I have some Opry photos and many more concerts that I can't find and that makes me sad. Some were on my previous Facebook Account that was hacked :( and others during a time when we used the Blackberry lol.