Category: Musings

25 Days of Christmas: Day 18

Josh Johnson is one of my go-tos for feel good comedy.. Here he schools us on the origins of Country music:

I suggest watching a few of his, he posts entire live sets.

From the video description: Hey friends, this week I wanted to share my thoughts on Beyonce’s album Cowboy Carter. Not so much an album review but the history behind, and some of the black contributions to country music. Also how Beyonce is shedding light on other contemporary black artists that have been in the genre like Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts. A lot of people didn’t know the history of country and bluegrass including me and I know there is so much more history than I could ever cover in one video. For instance I never knew that some of the most prominent early country music stars were taught songs and instruments by black artists. Black artists whose works would never be recorded because they were not only segregated but not seen as marketable. I think history has beautiful and terrifying cycles and I think that it’s pretty cool that the Carter Family who as a group were seen as a traditional American folk music group, and whose music had a profound influence on bluegrass, country, Southern Gospel, pop and rock music, as well as on the U.S. folk revival of the 1960s, were all taught music by a black artist named Leslie Riddle who we could never give enough credit to. Thanks for watching. If you enjoy please share with someone who could use a laugh and most of all thanks for being my friends.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s video…