Alice Randall
May 29 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Magic City Books, Bob Dylan Center and Woody Guthrie Center co-present a conversation with professor and author Alice Randall on the occasion of her new book, In My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music’s Black Past, Present, and Future on Wednesday May 29 at 6:30 pm. This ticketed event will be hosted at the Woody Guthrie Center (102 Reconciliation Way, directly southwest of Guthrie Green). Tickets on sale Thursday April 18.
As the first Black woman to write a number-one song on the country charts—”XXXs and OOOs,” by Trisha Yearwood—Randall offers a lyrical and introspective account of her galvanizing presence within the world of country music as she searches for the roots of Black creativity and influence within the historically segregated genre. Randall will engage in a lively discussion with Magic City Books founder Jeff Martin and field questions from the audience. Signed copies of her book will be available for purchase at the Woody Guthrie Center.
“Alice’s unique position in Nashville, her family background, her talent for word craft, and her insatiable thirst for the truth position her as a much-needed voice and perspective on this seminal and overlooked piece of American cultural history.”
—Rhiannon Giddens, Pulitzer Prize and Grammy award-winning musical artist
My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music’s Black Past, Present, and Future is available for purchase at https://magiccitybooks.square.site/product/my-black-country/2095.
About My Black Country
Alice Randall, award-winning professor, songwriter, and author with a “lively, engaging, and often wise” (The New York Times Book Review) voice, offers a lyrical, introspective, and unforgettable account of her past and her search for the first family of Black country music.
Country music had brought Randall and her activist mother together and even gave Randall a singular distinction in American music history: she is the first Black woman to cowrite a number one country hit, Trisha Yearwood’s “XXX’s and OOO’s”. Randall found inspiration and comfort in the sounds and history of the first family of Black country music: DeFord Bailey, Lil Hardin, Ray Charles, Charley Pride, and Herb Jeffries who, together, made up a community of Black Americans rising through hard times to create simple beauty, true joy, and sometimes profound eccentricity.
What emerges in My Black Country is a celebration of the most American of music genres and the radical joy in realizing the power of Black influence on American culture. As country music goes through a fresh renaissance today, with a new wave of Black artists enjoying success, My Black Country is the perfect gift for longtime country fans and a vibrant introduction to a new generation of listeners who previously were not invited to give the genre a chance.
Alice Randall is a New York Times bestselling novelist, award-winning songwriter, and educator. She is widely recognized as one of the most significant voices in modern Black fiction and has emerged as an innovative food activist committed to reforms that support healthy bodies and healthy communities. She lives in Nashville where she writes country songs.
