(light guitar music) - What would I say to a person that says that country music isn't for black people?

I would first start off saying that first of all, country music is for everyone.

I would say that first, 'cause that's what I believe, it's for everyone.

But for particularly, for them to say it's not for black people, I'd say we are country music.

♪ Just a couple a kids ♪ ♪ Always up to no good ♪ - We actually grew up in small town, Versailles, Kentucky.

It sounds as small, (chuckling) as it is.

And country music is just kinda ingrained in it.

There are definitely people out there who consider it their guilty pleasure.

A lot of black people will call it their guilty pleasure.

(soft bluegrass music) ♪ You've got a fast car ♪ - I get told all the time that country music isn't for black people, but the problem is that we invented it.

And so to say that black people don't have a place in something that was created off of our history is actually very American.

This is not just a country music problem.

If you look across all kinds of art forms and industries, that's typically what happens.

Black people create something and then they get pushed out of it.

♪ Turn on the radio ♪ ♪ Country hits ♪ ♪ Grab you a pinch, man ♪ ♪ Take that dip ♪ ♪ Call up your boys ♪ ♪ Tell' em where to head ♪ ♪ And go party on down at the bull shed ♪ ♪ Cowboys love them tractors ♪ - To say being black in country music, we've always been there, we just haven't been there, you know?

But we've always been, our presence and our auras always been in the genre, we just haven't been there as a physical presence.

And so now to be out there physically and the way we are able to do it now, we've always been there, we've just never been in the front of it.

(light guitar music) - One of the biggest barriers that black people have faced as far as being included in country music is just the way that the industry started.

That's where it goes back to, for me.

Back in the 1920s, when Billboard started doing the charts, they had all the songs on the charts, and then they realized that black people and white people were on the same chart and were like, we can't have that.

So they separated the music into the hillbilly charts and the race records.

And literally, the only separation of that was the color of their skin.

- We gonna break it down, all right?

(audience cheering) Being black in country music just means to be yourself at all times.

You choose what you want to do.

You choose what makes you feel best.

And sometimes there are lots of people who don't get it, and they don't get you, and they expect certain things from you, so it's really no different than being black in this country.

(chuckling) (light music) - I think it was partially the pandemic that impacted the country kinda taken a harder look at country music, but more so, I feel like it was the murder of George Floyd.

That was what particularly sparked me to look at country music differently, because I've always loved it, I've always known I don't fit, but I've also compartmentalized that.

♪ Like champagne and gold ♪ ♪ Oh, there'll never be another ♪ - There was so much uncertainty at the very beginning of the pandemic.

We did not know if we were ever gonna play a live show again.

We did not know if we were going to (chuckling) make any more money ever doing this thing we love.

- So the difficulties of the pandemic and how I was able to go through that, I was like, okay, if I'm gonna go here, I'm gonna take a picture with this person.

When I go here, I'm gonna do a little quick video.

I'm gonna show people that I'm a presence in this town, I'm a presence in this genre of music, and that it's okay to be that way.

(upbeat bluegrass music) ♪ Got a flavor so mesquite ♪ ♪ So I'll marinate all that meat ♪ ♪ He can call me Sweet Baby Ray ♪ - So I started the Black Opry because I'm a fan of country music, and I think that's a part of the story that a lot of people miss.

I really, really love country music, like, everything that's come out from all kinds of artists, but I never saw myself represented in it, and so I never felt like I had a place in it, so it was something I kind of enjoyed very privately, even though it was a really big part of my life.

So the Black Opry was created in an attempt to connect with other people that look like me that enjoy this kinda music.

- I started to feel very uncomfortable with the culture of country music.

So long story short, I decided to change it.

- I always say that the Black Opry, every time we're together, it feels like a family reunion.

- It's something bigger, it's about all of us.

It's about creating a movement in the genre that's all about inclusiveness, and at the same time, it's about diversifying a community and a culture, and saying that not only is it okay, it is normal to be a black country singer.

♪ Fade to black was never the right take ♪ ♪ People learn how to live ♪ - And I feel like the Black Opry, what it means to Nashville, it just kinda shows that you are more than welcome to sit at the table with us, but we don't really completely need you to provide everything for us anymore.

And be a part of it, or be upset that you missed the chance to be a part of it.

- Don't let how you look affect what you do, because if you're country, if this is a genre that you wanna be in, then you just unapologetically do it.

(soft guitar music) ♪ Up in the morning with the alarm clock ♪ ♪ Got my work clothes on with my shoes and socks ♪