‘From Where I Stand: The Black Experience In Country Music’ Returns As Multifaceted Initiative
An expanded version of the 1998 box set From Where I Stand: The Black Experience in Country Music is being released by The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in collaboration with Warner Music Nashville on May 31.
The updated CD collection spans a century of music and traces the many ways Black Americans have created, contributed to and been influenced by country music, and will be accompanied by a free-to-access online experience via the museum’s website.
Released more than 25 years ago, the original set’s creation was inspired and urged by Black country artist Cleve Francis and American Baptist College executive Nelson Wilson, who saw a disturbing gap in music history. “It’s a part of our history that’s been hidden from us,” Francis told the Washington Post upon the set’s release.
The updated box set encompasses 82 tracks, with a fourth disc titled Reclaiming the Heritage that presents a fresh wave of Black artists in country and Americana who emerged through 2020. New essays by recording artists Rhiannon Giddens and Rissi Palmer join the original essays by distinguished music scholars and journalists in the set as well.
Giddens states in her essay, “The most beautiful thing to me about the Black country renaissance is that its stars, who are finally starting to get the recognition they deserve, are truly using country music the way that, to me, it was born to be used. Their music reflects and highlights a cultural viewpoint that has been traditionally suppressed, shows the best of the American narrative, and, in the end, tells the important stories of now, for the generations of tomorrow.”
The CD set is packaged in a hard-bound booklet and illustrated with traditional quilt designs created years ago by the women of the Gee’s Bend community of Alabama. Each era of music is represented with a quilt from roughly the same time period as the music. The set is now available for preorder on the museum’s website.
A variety of artists represented in the box set will celebrate the release in a one-time-only concert on June 18 in the museum’s CMA Theater. “From Where I Stand: The Concert Celebration,” presented by Amazon and Riverview Foundation, will be led by co-producers Palmer and Shannon Sanders, and artists set to perform include Blanco Brown, Cowboy Troy, Tony Jackson, Hubby Jenkins, Miko Marks, Wendy Moten, Palmer, Darius Rucker, The War And Treaty and Barrence Whitfield.
Tickets to the free concert can be reserved beginning May 31, based on availability. The concert will be filmed and released on the museum’s website this fall.
Beginning May 31, all the music in the box set can be heard on the museum’s website via From Where I Stand: The Online Experience. The free, online educational resource contains all the essays, archival photographs and video, and historical track notes for each selection. In addition, supplemental resources from the museum’s archive and resources for educators will be available. The online experience will also include music that was unable to be licensed for the physical box set release, including Beyoncé and the Chicks’ collaboration on “Daddy Lessons,” Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” and Al Green’s version of “For the Good Times.”
