We've Been Here - The Problem With Erasing Black Women From Country And Rock Music

Beyoncé’s surprise performance with The Dixie Chicks at the 2016 Country Music Awards had everyone buzzing.

Announced only a few short hours before the show aired live, the Bey Hive geared up and spread the word, encouraging Black audiences to do something they don’t usually do—watch the Country Music Awards. The women performed Beyoncé’s “Daddy Lessons,” the poignant country song from her latest project, Lemonade, and Beyoncé reminded America that not only do Black Girls Rock—we have some country in us too!

Shortly after their performance, it appeared as though the social media accounts associated with the awards show removed images and references to the performance and some sources speculated that it was because of the overwhelming racist responses to Beyoncé being asked to perform at the show. Unfortunately, some people only think of country music in terms of its White performers and they consider a Black woman performing country music as some kind of theft of their art.

The official website posted the images of the performance and listed the women as performers, so the erasure wasn’t complete; it just seemed really suspicious that video clips and images were hard to find on the CMA’s social media channels.

Well, the truth is that Black women have been performing country music and rock ‘n’ roll since the inception of both genres, but, as is often the case, have found themselves routinely erased from the annals of country and rock music folklore.