In 1983, a Black woman from Detroit, Michigan, Alice Randall, moved to Nashville determined to spotlight Black contributions to country music, become a novelist, and support herself by writing and publishing country songs. Forty years later, the company she founded and eventually sold, Midsummer Music continues to thrive. Randall, the only Black woman to co-write a song, “XXX’s and OOO’s (An American Girl),” that topped the country charts for two weeks running now teaches a course on Black Country at Vanderbilt University. Reflecting on four decades of navigating complex layers of sexism and racism; a business community that guarded itself against outsiders with a culture that included unique vocabulary, clothing, and calendar; and profound changes in how the country audience accesses music and pays for music, Randall offers a memoir of economic intention and ambition that makes visible the invisible work or certain Black women working on the row before her.

Who knew that twenty-two years ago when I began this musical journey that I was making a political statement by just being myself, an eighteen-year-old Black girl from St. Louis, Missouri? In the epilogue, I recount my career thus far in Country music – the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. My journey from Eureka, Missouri, to songwriter’s nights in Nashville to a record deal and all the misadventures along the way. In telling my story, I examine the disparities that exist for women and Black, Indigenous, and artists of color in the country music industry and propose ideas for how to bridge and fill the gaps.

Responses supplied by contributors from the West Midlands recorded by BBC Radio Stoke, BBC Radio Shropshire, BBC WM, BBC Coventry … Warwickshire, BBC Hereford … Worcester and BBC Asian Network

Responses supplied by contributors from the West Midlands recorded by BBC Radio Stoke, BBC Radio Shropshire, BBC WM, BBC Coventry & Warwickshire, BBC Hereford & Worcester and BBC Asian Network