Can Blue Men Sing the Whites? Black country music in the USA

NOTE: This piece is adapted from the 1987 book Say It One Time for the Brokenhearted, which was reissued in 2018 by BMG with the subtitle Country Soul in the American South. I was prompted to revisit the book by Beyoncé's country-chart-topping album Cowboy Carter in April 2024. The album featured not only Rhiannon Giddens, Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson but the little-known Linda Martell, one of the pioneering "Black country" artists mentioned in this piece – and the first Black female performer ever to appear on Nashville's Grand Ole Opry show.