Black Opry is an American music website and touring revue. It was founded in April 2021 by Holly G. as a means of raising awareness for Black musicians in

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

History

The Black Opry was started in April 2021 by Holly G., a writer and

flight attendant A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are prima ...

from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. She was inspired to create a website dedicated to Black

singers, in response to a study done by a

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

which found that fewer than one percent of artists played on

country radio Country radio refers to radio stations that play country music. Most country radio stations are commercial radio stations. Most country radio stations usually play only music which has been officially released to country radio by record labels. The ...

in the preceding 20 years were artists of color. She began contacting various Black country artists through

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

platforms in order to help raise awareness of their music. Holly G. has stated that she was inspired by ''Color Me Country'', a

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

hosted by Black country singer

Rissi Palmer Rissi Palmer (born August 19, 1981) is an American country music artist. Palmer debuted in 2007 with the single "Country Girl", which made her the first African-American woman to chart a country song since Dona Mason in 1987. ...

which also discusses country music artists of color. Holly G. also cited as inspiration an incident in February 2021, when a recording of country singer

Morgan Wallen Morgan Cole Wallen (born May 13, 1993) is an American country singer and songwriter. He competed in the sixth season of ''The Voice'', originally as a member of Usher's team, but later as a member of Adam Levine's team. After being eliminated ...

using the racial slur ''

nigger In the English language, the word ''nigger'' is an ethnic slur used against black people, especially African Americans. Starting in the late 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been progressively replaced by the euphemism , notably in cases ...

'' was publicized, leading to criticism and increased discussion of racial roles within country music. The intent of the Black Opry is to allow Black country music artists to tour and perform. The Black Opry lists Black artists in the genre through its website, and through national tours under the name Black Opry Revue. In mid-2021, Holly G. and the Black Opry hosted a five-day concert focused on Black country artists, which included acts such as Rissi Palmer and

Miko Marks Miko Marks is an American Americana singer based in Oakland, California. She was born in Flint, Michigan. She attended Grambling State University. She later moved to San Francisco. Marks was named ''Best New Country Artist'' at the 2006 New Musi ...

. This was followed in September 2021 by the first performance under the Black Opry Revue name at

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

's Rockwood Music Hall. Tylar Bryant, Lizzie No, Roberta Lea, Joy Clark, and Jett Holden performed at this event. The Black Opry Revue also performed at Exit/In in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, in December 2021 with Canadian singer

Allison Russell Allison Russell is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician and activist. Prior to her solo music career, Russell performed as a member of various music groups including Po' Girl, Birds of Chicago, Our Native Daughters and Sisters of the Strawbe ...

. In February 2022, the Revue performed in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

The Black Opry held a first-anniversary party at City Winery in Nashville on April 18, 2022. This party was sponsored by the television network CMT.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
2021 establishments in Virginia American music websites Internet properties established in 2021 Revues