COLUMNS
Why Did I , a Black & Queer Woman , Choose Country Music ?
By D ’ orjay The Singing Shaman
Why did I , a Black and Queer woman , choose country music ? Since I started recording my first album , New Kind of Outlaw , this internal question keeps bubbling up to the surface . The question rises up even more so now that my songs – which I laboured so hard to craft and create , and getting them to the point of release – are out there .
My goal with this project was to show the complex layers of the unique experience I have lived thus far . Another goal was to guide the idea of what country music is today through an intentional stretch while still honouring the foundations of the genre . There have been so many decisions along the way that I have had to make to stay true to myself and my own internal compass while trying to hopefully recoup the five-figure financial investment it took to create this project that sits solely on my shoulders . I hired a producer and studio with a very solid track record with local / national country artists . I hired the same highly-decorated country artists / musicians to play on my songs that play with many of the top Canadian country hitmakers . I watched and listened to comps for hours on end like a hawk to make sure nothing sounded too soul-forward and that the steel guitar , fiddle , dobro , and banjo were always at the forefront of the instrumentation .
Why did I choose country music ? As I am in perpetual worry of being put in another category or genre by others . Probably because of what I navigate based on statistics and the many micro aggressions I ’ ve experienced , it adds up to mean I am talented but I don ’ t look or sound like a country singer . When it comes to being a viable commercial asset , I have been kept to the outskirts of the country music world , being told / shown by much of the industry that my art and sound is folk , roots , Americana , Canadiana , and of course soul . Why does it matter ? So many artists are speaking up about there being so much crossover with music creation and that genres aren ’ t as important as they used to be . I understand , respect , and even agree to some degree with that ideation , but when I check in with my heart and spirit every time they reply that my art is country music .
That is my truth and it continues to be this truth I have to fight for to be acknowledged . I ’ ve publicly spoken many times about the importance of representation in country music and how it has lacked consistent , loud , and meaningful action in acknowledging its roots of creation were borne of African people stolen from their land to be put into slavery in the south . Not to mention the completely intentional whitewashing and segregation of the genre . The industry that was integral in leading the charge in removing anyone who wasn ’ t cis-gender / heterosexual / Caucasian / male from country music was and continues to be radio .
I am sure that many music lovers have the opinion that radio is dead or on the way out as streaming services take over , but I am going to cite findings from the CRTC Commercial Radio Policy review that was recently released in which major stakeholders from across Canada ’ s music industry filed a joint submission with their findings and research .
“ Despite the growth of the audio streaming market , radio remains an important consumption channel for Canadians . Data from the latest Communications Monitoring Report 2020 cites that in 2019 , 84 % of Canadians listened to traditional radio services in a given week , compared to 42 % of Canadians who accessed an online streaming service in a given month .” ( Communications Monitoring Report 2020 , CRTC )
So commercial radio is still very much in the driver ’ s seat when it comes to market share with listeners accessing the music they listen to .
A report compiled by Dr . Jada Watson ( available at Songdata . com ) examines a 19-year period of song activity on commercial country radio and representation ,
“ The key findings for this study reveal that at every level of analysis – percentage of songs played , of airplay , of charting songs , of artists signed to major labels , and of award nominations – BIPOC artists make up less than 4.0 % of the commercial country music industry .” And it continues …. “ Black LGBTQ + artists are absent from the country music industry . Except for Lil Nas X , whose ‘ Old Town Road ’ received very limited airplay on country format radio , no songs by LGBTQ + artists of color are included in the dataset . The results for representation on country format radio suggest a racial hierarchy that exists within the industry and considers the deep connections between each facet of the industry . Radio airplay remains an integral component of the development of an artist ’ s career , including the promotional support received from a label and eligibility for awards by the two main trade organizations . This data suggests that the lack of representation on airplay does not just impact the trajectory of an individual artist , it also impacts the careers of those around them and of future artists .” So , why did I choose country music ? Although reading Dr . Watson ’ s report felt like an actual punch to my stomach and brought me to tears , I still had some type of optimism that at least one or maybe two of my songs would be a fit for commercial country radio . Regardless that my album charted to the number-one spot for a regional independent radio station and spent three weeks on the top-10 national folk / roots / blues chart , I still felt like some of my
28 CANADIAN MUSICIAN