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[narrator] <i>On December 2nd, 2018,</i>

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<i>an unknown musician tweeted</i>

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<i>"Country music is evolving."</i>

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<i>With a goofy video,</i>

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<i>it was a tease for a new song</i>

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<i>that he dropped</i>
<i>on SoundCloud the next day.</i>

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<i>And people loved it.</i>

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-["Old Town Road" playing]
-Whoo!

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<i>♪ Hat is matte black</i>
<i>Got the boots that's black to match ♪</i>

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[narrator] <i>Really loved it.</i>

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<i>♪ You can whip your Porsche ♪</i>

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<i>SoundCloud featured it</i>
<i>in their "Top 50 Country" playlist,</i>

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<i>and then a TikTok user</i>
<i>posted a video of himself dancing to it,</i>

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<i>transforming into more of a cowboy getup</i>
<i>when the beat dropped,</i>

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<i>inspiring millions of copycats.</i>

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<i>Soon after, the song debuted</i>
<i>on </i>Billboard's <i>"Hot Country Songs" chart,</i>

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<i>but then </i>Billboard <i>removed it.</i>

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Why would the industry be so quick
to pull it from the charts

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when it was such a clear moneymaker?

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[narrator] <i>Here's a clue.</i>

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<i>When country artist Cody Johnson</i>
<i>started playing the song at a show,</i>

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<i>this happened.</i>

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<i>♪ Gonna take my horse</i>
<i>Down to the old town road ♪</i>

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[crowd booing]

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[narrator] <i>In a statement</i>
<i>to </i>Rolling Stone<i>,</i>

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Billboard <i>explained that "Old Town Road"</i>

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<i>simply didn't embrace enough elements</i>
<i>of today's country music,</i>

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<i>sparking some confusion</i>
<i>about what today's country music is.</i>

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<i>Confusion that predates "Old Town Road."</i>

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You used to be able to turn on the radio,

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and you knew instantly it was
a country station just by listening.

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Now you've got to leave it there
for a second to figure it out.

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Country music is gone.

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[laughs] I don't know who's making it,
but there might be like four people.

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[narrator] <i>In fact, insiders have been</i>
<i>declaring country music dead for decades.</i>

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<i>And yet country music</i>
<i>seems to be stronger than ever.</i>

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<i>In the US, it has the biggest</i>
<i>radio audience of any music genre.</i>

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<i>And the fastest-growing</i>
<i>streaming audience too.</i>

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<i>So why are so many people up in arms</i>

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<i>about what constitutes country music?</i>

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<i>Who gets to be a country star?</i>

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[crowd cheering]

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[man 1] It's easier to understand a nation
by listening to its music.

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[man 2] The country music
of our pioneer ancestors.

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It is the music of the heart of America,

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and the base
of American musical tradition.

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It talks about family.
It talks about religion.

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Country music is popular internationally.

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Japan, for instance, has artists

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who will even appear in a cowboy uniform.

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[man 3] The people in the larger cities
are being invaded today by country music.

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[Britton] <i>Country music today</i>
<i>can be a lot of things,</i>

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<i>but experts agree…</i>

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Country singers are storytellers.

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Country music
is really about storytelling.

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I'd have to say
that mostly I'm drawn to the stories.

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[Britton] <i>For decades,</i>

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<i>a show filmed</i>
<i>at Nashville's </i>Grand Ole Opry<i>…</i>

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[announcer] The<i> Grand Ole Opry</i>.
Live, just as it happens.

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[Britton] <i>…beamed these stories</i>
<i>into America's living rooms.</i>

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[inaudible]

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<i>Stories about pride and where you're from.</i>

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<i>♪ I'm proud to be a</i> ♪

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<i>♪ Coal miner's daughter ♪</i>

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[Britton] <i>And the importance of family.</i>

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<i>♪ My coat of many colors ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Momma made for me ♪</i>

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[Britton] <i>And hard times.</i>

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<i>♪ He stopped loving her today ♪</i>

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That's what I love about country music.
It's down in the ditch,

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you know, of human emotion.

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There's a strong sense of history
running through country music.

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Of paying attention
to what has come before.

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[Britton] <i>And that tradition</i>
<i>goes way back,</i>

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<i>to the European immigrants</i>
<i>who settled in the foothills of Appalachia</i>

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<i>and brought ballads with them.</i>

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<i>♪ Are you and I? ♪</i>

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[Britton] <i>Religious ballads</i>.

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[all singing]

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[Britton] <i>Murder ballads.</i>

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<i>♪ For mercy she did cry ♪</i>

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[Britton] <i>And they also brought</i>
<i>the fiddle.</i>

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[playing "Oh! Susanna"]

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<i>Country music was shaped by the folk music</i>
<i>of a lot of other countries too.</i>

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<i>German immigrants brought the waltz.</i>

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["The Blue Danube" playing]

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<i>And the French, cotillion.</i>

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[upbeat music playing]

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<i>Which became square dancing.</i>

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<i>Mexican </i>vaqueros<i>, the original cowboys,</i>

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<i>introduced their American counterparts</i>
<i>to mariachi.</i>

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<i>Alpine singing groups</i>
<i>spread the art of the yodel.</i>

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<i>And Black musicians brought the blues.</i>

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[man singing]

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[Britton] <i>Back in the early days,</i>
<i>musicians twanged on fiddles and banjos,</i>

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<i>and carried this blend of sounds around</i>
<i>the South in traveling minstrel shows.</i>

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[man] White performers would put on
blackface makeup

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and adopt an incredibly
caricatured presentation,

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in which they were mimicking
and trying to approximate

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some version of what Blackness
was supposed to be.

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[Britton] <i>You can hear that</i>

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<i>in Emmett Miller's rendition</i>
<i>of "Lovesick Blues."</i>

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<i>He starts by parodying Black speech.</i>

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[Miller]<i> ♪ I got the blues</i>
<i>That's what's the matter with me ♪</i>

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[Britton] <i>And mixes his take on the blues…</i>

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<i>♪ I got a feeling called the blue-hoos ♪</i>

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[Britton] <i>…with a kind of Alpine yodel.</i>

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<i>These different sounds</i>
<i>had been melding for a long time</i>

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<i>when the commercial music industry</i>
<i>took off in the 1920s</i>,

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<i>and music needed to be branded to sell it.</i>

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[Hughes] Two kinds of music emerge.

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Country music, or what was
then known as hillbilly music.

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[Britton] <i>Hillbilly, as in</i>
<i>from those Appalachian foothills,</i>

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<i>which was later broadened</i>
<i>to country and western.</i>

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[Hughes] And race music or race records.

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[Britton] <i>As in anything</i>
<i>by a Black musician,</i>

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<i>which was later rebranded</i>
<i>as rhythm & blues.</i>

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[Hughes] These were designed
to be marketed

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towards racially-specific audiences.

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[Britton] <i>And over time,</i>
<i>the sounds became more distinct too.</i>

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<i>Black musicians started</i>
<i>experimenting with more drums</i>

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<i>and rocking beats.</i>

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<i>And country split into its own subgenres.</i>

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<i>Bluegrass, which took its name</i>
<i>from Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys,</i>

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<i>sounded a lot like those old string bands.</i>

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<i>♪ Blue moon of Kentucky, keep on shining ♪</i>

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[Britton] <i>Then came honky-tonk,</i>
<i>which had a stronger rhythm.</i>

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<i>You might recognize this cover.</i>

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<i>♪ I got a feeling called the blues ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Lord, I don't know what I'll do ♪</i>

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[Britton] <i>Hank Williams was called</i>
<i>"The Hillbilly Shakespeare."</i>

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<i>He brought a more modern style</i>
<i>to the </i>Grand Ole Opry,

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<i>singing lyrics with a sexy edge.</i>

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<i>♪ Hey, good lookin' ♪</i>

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<i>♪ What you got cookin'? ♪</i>

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[Britton] <i>But you couldn't push </i>
<i>the boundaries too far.</i>

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<i>The image the </i>Opry<i> projected</i>
<i>of country in the '50s</i>

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<i>was wholesome.</i>

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<i>Nostalgic.</i>

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[man] It is the music
of the heart of America.

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[Britton] <i>Drums were even banned.</i>

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<i>But then,</i>

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<i>country started to rock.</i>

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♪<i> I said, blue moon of Kentucky</i> ♪

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♪<i> Keep on shining </i>♪

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♪<i> Shine on the one that's gone </i>♪

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♪<i> And left me blue </i>♪

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[Britton] <i>Elvis sang country songs,</i>

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<i>but with a beat</i>
<i>borrowed from rhythm & blues.</i>

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<i>The style was later dubbed rockabilly,</i>

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<i>as in rock meets hillbilly,</i>

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<i>and with influences</i>
<i>from lots of other artists,</i>

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<i>this eventually became rock and roll.</i>

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<i>The country industry tried to resist,</i>

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<i>forming the Country Music Association</i>

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<i>to save the imperiled genre.</i>

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<i>And creating the more modern</i>
<i>Nashville sound,</i>

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<i>with artists like Patsy Cline,</i>

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<i>whose voice helped define</i>
<i>a new kind of country singing.</i>

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♪<i> I</i> ♪

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♪<i> Fall to </i>♪

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♪<i> Pieces </i>♪

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[Britton] <i>But then,</i> <i>a musician in Memphis</i>
<i>paid a visit to Elvis's producer.</i>

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♪<i> I shot a man in Reno</i> ♪

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♪<i> Just to watch him die </i>♪

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[Britton] <i>Johnny Cash's </i>
<i>"Folsom Prison Blues"</i>

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<i>hearkened back to old murder ballads,</i>

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<i>but with the rhythm of a freight train.</i>

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Johnny Cash was a folk hero<i>,</i>

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and country music was the music
of the folks, of the people.

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And Johnny Cash was a man of the people,

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with a poetic vision
and with a trillion-dollar voice.

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[Britton] <i>And he paved the way</i>
<i>for other musicians</i>

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<i>who wanted to make country their own way.</i>

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<i>And some of them</i>
<i>recorded an album together.</i>

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And then somebody stumbled onto,
"Let's call them The Outlaws."

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You know, ladies love outlaws.

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And, you know, bam!

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The first platinum country record
ever made.

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[Britton] <i>But you could say</i>
<i>the marriage of rock and country</i>

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<i>was consummated by Garth Brooks.</i>

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<i>He summed up</i>
<i>his stadium rock style in one word</i>

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<i>in a TV interview.</i>

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It's sex.

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[Britton] <i>But the ways country had evolved</i>
<i>over the decades,</i>

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<i>becoming more rock and also more pop,</i>

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<i>came with a backlash.</i>

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<i>Like when Shania Twain</i>
<i>made country pop for the MTV age,</i>

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<i>combining twang and sex appeal.</i>

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[Britton] <i>Traditionalists hated it,</i>

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<i>but it brought new fans to the genre.</i>

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And in the '90s, and the '80s,
and the '70s<i>,</i>

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and even before that,

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people would complain about
too much pop in country music.

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It's not a bug.<i> </i>It's a feature.

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[Britton] <i>Some traditionalists</i>
<i>also bristled</i>

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<i>when pop star Olivia Newton-John</i>

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<i>took home country's top award.</i>

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<i>And the following year,</i>
<i>the presenter literally set fire</i>

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<i>to the name of the winner, John Denver,</i>

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<i>who was more of a folk musician.</i>

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<i>Folk, rock, and R&B</i>
<i>were the soundtrack of the protests</i>

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<i>against the Vietnam War</i>
<i>and for civil rights,</i>

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<i>while country was making</i>
<i>more anti-protest music.</i>

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Our willingness to not only wear the flag,
but to stand up for the flag.

206
00:10:27,710 --> 00:10:29,170
And country music does that.

207
00:10:29,253 --> 00:10:30,379
[applause]

208
00:10:30,463 --> 00:10:33,758
[Britton] <i>Like "Okie from Muskogee"</i>
<i>by country artist Merle Haggard.</i>

209
00:10:33,841 --> 00:10:38,179
<i>♪ We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee ♪</i>

210
00:10:40,556 --> 00:10:44,518
[Britton] <i>So John Denver didn't</i>
<i>exactly align with country's politics.</i>

211
00:10:45,227 --> 00:10:48,397
<i>But on his fifth studio album,</i>
<i>side two, track one,</i>

212
00:10:48,481 --> 00:10:51,525
<i>came something more expected</i>
<i>from a country singer.</i>

213
00:10:51,609 --> 00:10:54,695
♪<i> Country roads</i> ♪

214
00:10:54,779 --> 00:10:57,615
♪<i> Take me home </i>♪

215
00:10:57,698 --> 00:11:00,618
♪<i> To the place </i>♪

216
00:11:00,701 --> 00:11:03,996
♪<i> I belong </i>♪

217
00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:06,457
In the '70s, it was a real struggle

218
00:11:06,540 --> 00:11:10,628
for some people in Nashville
to accept John Denver.

219
00:11:10,711 --> 00:11:12,797
But, boy, the audience loved those songs.

220
00:11:13,589 --> 00:11:16,592
[Britton] <i>But when a new subgenre</i>
<i>sprung up in the '80s,</i>

221
00:11:16,675 --> 00:11:18,594
<i>a blend of country and R&B</i>

222
00:11:18,678 --> 00:11:21,472
<i>with music videos</i>
<i>of artists in cowboy getups</i>

223
00:11:21,555 --> 00:11:23,349
<i>and rapping country themes…</i>

224
00:11:23,432 --> 00:11:24,433
<i>♪ Wild, wild West ♪</i>

225
00:11:25,476 --> 00:11:28,896
[Britton]
<i>…the country industry drew a line.</i>

226
00:11:28,979 --> 00:11:31,690
<i>But still the genre continued to thrive.</i>

227
00:11:32,191 --> 00:11:35,236
<i>♪ I figure that's enough time for me</i>
<i>To get the whole rundown ♪</i>

228
00:11:35,319 --> 00:11:38,447
<i>♪ Awnaw! Hell naw, man</i>
<i>Y'all done up and done it ♪</i>

229
00:11:38,531 --> 00:11:40,741
<i>♪ You never hear my lyrics</i>
<i>Over a bass guitar ♪</i>

230
00:11:40,825 --> 00:11:42,451
<i>♪ My horse is a car ♪</i>

231
00:11:43,369 --> 00:11:45,996
[Britton] <i>And in 2005,</i>
<i>the artist Cowboy Troy</i>

232
00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:50,251
<i>released a video featuring</i>
<i>screaming cowboy hat-wearing fans,</i>

233
00:11:50,334 --> 00:11:54,171
<i>and addressed the industry's</i>
<i>resistance to outsiders head on.</i>

234
00:11:54,255 --> 00:11:55,172
♪<i> Too radical </i>♪

235
00:11:55,256 --> 00:11:57,091
♪<i> But I already been on the CMAs </i>♪

236
00:11:57,174 --> 00:11:59,260
♪<i> Hell, Tim McGraw</i>
<i>Said he liked the change </i>♪

237
00:11:59,844 --> 00:12:02,054
[Britton] <i>But a lot</i>
<i>of country stations didn't.</i>

238
00:12:02,138 --> 00:12:03,889
<i>As one program director put it,</i>

239
00:12:03,973 --> 00:12:07,727
<i>"We don't think it fits our format.</i>
<i>We don't consider it country."</i>

240
00:12:08,227 --> 00:12:09,854
When we talk about country music,

241
00:12:09,937 --> 00:12:12,398
I think it's important
to make certain distinctions.

242
00:12:12,481 --> 00:12:14,525
There's country music, the genre,

243
00:12:14,608 --> 00:12:17,111
and then there's also country music,
the format on radio.

244
00:12:17,194 --> 00:12:18,738
To get on the radio,

245
00:12:18,821 --> 00:12:21,323
it's a pretty narrow pipeline.

246
00:12:21,407 --> 00:12:27,037
And that's almost always
going to involve getting signed

247
00:12:27,121 --> 00:12:29,957
to a large record label,
almost always in Nashville.

248
00:12:30,499 --> 00:12:32,710
[Britton] <i>Probably</i>
<i>after playing bars in town,</i>

249
00:12:32,793 --> 00:12:35,087
<i>or songwriting for other artists.</i>

250
00:12:35,171 --> 00:12:37,923
<i>And once you finally</i>
<i>cut an album of your own,</i>

251
00:12:38,007 --> 00:12:41,343
<i>you need the label to promote it</i>
<i>to country radio stations.</i>

252
00:12:42,219 --> 00:12:45,097
<i>There are more than 2,000 of them</i>
<i>around the US.</i>

253
00:12:45,181 --> 00:12:47,016
[man 1] Country 102.5.

254
00:12:48,058 --> 00:12:49,268
[man 2] <i>Echo Country 105.</i>

255
00:12:49,351 --> 00:12:51,771
<i>♪ Coffee, Country, and Cody</i> ♪

256
00:12:52,354 --> 00:12:54,565
[Britton] <i>If these DJs are</i>
<i>into your record,</i>

257
00:12:54,648 --> 00:12:57,526
<i>it'll rise on </i>Billboard's
<i>"Country Airplay" chart.</i>

258
00:12:57,610 --> 00:12:59,153
<i>And thanks to the promotion,</i>

259
00:12:59,236 --> 00:13:02,948
<i>your album might sell enough</i>
<i>to rise to the </i>Billboard<i> album chart too.</i>

260
00:13:03,449 --> 00:13:05,618
If you wanna have a superstar career,

261
00:13:05,701 --> 00:13:09,538
if you want to have a long-lasting career,

262
00:13:09,622 --> 00:13:13,292
you go through radio
at least a little bit.

263
00:13:14,168 --> 00:13:17,671
[Britton] <i>And that's put female artists</i>
<i>at a major disadvantage.</i>

264
00:13:17,755 --> 00:13:22,426
<i>In 2000, they got just 33%</i>
<i>of radio airplay.</i>

265
00:13:22,510 --> 00:13:25,596
<i>And then that number</i>
<i>actually started going down.</i>

266
00:13:26,847 --> 00:13:30,059
<i>In 2015, a radio consultant, Keith Hill,</i>

267
00:13:30,142 --> 00:13:31,810
<i>told a trade publication,</i>

268
00:13:31,894 --> 00:13:36,232
<i>"If you want to make ratings</i>
<i>in country radio, take females out."</i>

269
00:13:36,315 --> 00:13:38,484
<i>"They're just not the lettuce</i>
<i>in our salad."</i>

270
00:13:38,567 --> 00:13:41,862
<i>"The tomatoes of our salad</i>
<i>are the females."</i>

271
00:13:41,946 --> 00:13:44,657
Which, of course,
proved incredibly offensive

272
00:13:44,740 --> 00:13:46,283
to many female artists.

273
00:13:46,367 --> 00:13:48,619
[Britton] <i>It sparked an uproar</i>
<i>in the industry,</i>

274
00:13:48,702 --> 00:13:50,663
<i>dubbed "tomatogate."</i>

275
00:13:50,746 --> 00:13:53,833
<i>But the numbers since then</i>
<i>haven't really budged.</i>

276
00:13:54,416 --> 00:13:58,379
<i>In 2019, a group of female musicians</i>
<i>formed a country supergroup,</i>

277
00:13:58,462 --> 00:14:02,258
<i>"The Highwomen," in the hopes</i>
<i>of trying to break the logjam.</i>

278
00:14:02,341 --> 00:14:04,718
<i>And the next year, they won top group,</i>

279
00:14:04,802 --> 00:14:06,136
<i>top album,</i>

280
00:14:06,220 --> 00:14:09,098
<i>and "Crowded Table,"</i>
<i>a call for togetherness,</i>

281
00:14:09,181 --> 00:14:10,683
<i>also won top song.</i>

282
00:14:11,225 --> 00:14:14,478
<i>♪ I want a house ♪</i>

283
00:14:14,562 --> 00:14:18,440
<i>♪ With a crowded table ♪</i>

284
00:14:18,524 --> 00:14:21,026
[Britton] <i>Not at </i>
<i>the Country Music Awards, though.</i>

285
00:14:21,110 --> 00:14:23,612
<i>At the Americana Awards.</i>

286
00:14:23,696 --> 00:14:25,781
<i>Americana is a newish genre.</i>

287
00:14:25,865 --> 00:14:28,492
Billboard<i> added it</i>
<i>to their charts in 2016,</i>

288
00:14:28,576 --> 00:14:31,120
<i>featuring more acoustic </i>
<i>singer-songwriters,</i>

289
00:14:31,203 --> 00:14:34,331
<i>who you're more likely</i>
<i>to hear on alt-country radio.</i>

290
00:14:34,415 --> 00:14:37,793
<i>Even though, in many ways,</i>
<i>they sound closer to country's roots</i>

291
00:14:37,877 --> 00:14:40,754
<i>than what you hear today</i>
<i>on mainstream country stations.</i>

292
00:14:40,838 --> 00:14:43,007
<i>Because in the last decade,</i>

293
00:14:43,090 --> 00:14:46,135
<i>the sound on country radio</i>
<i>has changed again.</i>

294
00:14:46,218 --> 00:14:48,429
<i>In 2011, Jason Aldean</i>

295
00:14:48,512 --> 00:14:51,473
<i>put out a video for his song</i>
<i>"Dirt Road Anthem."</i>

296
00:14:51,557 --> 00:14:55,060
<i>It looks and sounds</i>
<i>pretty classic country.</i>

297
00:14:55,144 --> 00:14:56,937
<i>Dirt road, pickup truck.</i>

298
00:14:57,021 --> 00:15:01,066
<i>But then he leans against that truck</i>
<i>and basically starts rapping.</i>

299
00:15:01,150 --> 00:15:03,527
<i>♪ You better mind your business, man</i>
<i>Watch your mouth ♪</i>

300
00:15:03,611 --> 00:15:06,030
<i>♪ Before I have to knock</i>
<i>That loud mouth out ♪</i>

301
00:15:06,113 --> 00:15:08,908
[Britton] <i>And it topped</i>
<i>the country radio charts.</i>

302
00:15:08,991 --> 00:15:11,619
<i>And the videos</i>
<i>for other country hits since then</i>

303
00:15:11,702 --> 00:15:15,080
<i>look a lot like R&B and hip-hop videos</i>
<i>from the '90s.</i>

304
00:15:15,164 --> 00:15:16,999
<i>Low-angle camera shots,</i>

305
00:15:17,082 --> 00:15:18,584
<i>cruising in cars,</i>

306
00:15:18,667 --> 00:15:20,753
<i>girls in not much clothing.</i>

307
00:15:20,836 --> 00:15:23,297
<i>And some of the sounds are similar too.</i>

308
00:15:23,380 --> 00:15:26,175
<i>808 kick drum beats and snap tracks.</i>

309
00:15:28,510 --> 00:15:31,096
<i>♪ Lay on back and relax ♪</i>

310
00:15:31,180 --> 00:15:34,141
<i>♪ Kick your pretty feet up on my dash ♪</i>

311
00:15:34,975 --> 00:15:36,727
[Britton] <i>The streaming service Pandora</i>

312
00:15:36,810 --> 00:15:39,146
<i>did an analysis of how much other genres</i>

313
00:15:39,229 --> 00:15:41,857
<i>were influencing the top country songs,</i>

314
00:15:41,940 --> 00:15:44,610
<i>and found the influence of rock on country</i>

315
00:15:44,693 --> 00:15:48,072
<i>had gone down from 2010 to 2018,</i>

316
00:15:48,155 --> 00:15:51,283
<i>while the influence of hip-hop</i>
<i>had gone way up.</i>

317
00:15:52,076 --> 00:15:56,121
Over the course of its history,
country music has been very, very good

318
00:15:56,205 --> 00:15:58,040
at incorporating Black music,

319
00:15:58,123 --> 00:16:00,459
but has not been very good at all

320
00:16:00,542 --> 00:16:02,628
at incorporating Black people.

321
00:16:02,711 --> 00:16:04,797
[Britton] <i>In the commercial</i>
<i>country industry,</i>

322
00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:10,969
<i>artists of color make up</i>
<i>less than 4% of songs played on radio,</i>

323
00:16:11,053 --> 00:16:13,514
<i>and of artists signed to major labels.</i>

324
00:16:14,056 --> 00:16:17,184
<i>That was the world Lil Nas X landed in.</i>

325
00:16:18,978 --> 00:16:22,106
<i>"Old Town Road"</i>
<i>starts with a twangy banjo.</i>

326
00:16:22,189 --> 00:16:25,234
[banjo strumming]

327
00:16:25,317 --> 00:16:27,736
<i>And his lyrics hit on country themes.</i>

328
00:16:27,820 --> 00:16:31,407
♪<i> Hat is matte black</i>
<i>Got the boots that's black to match</i> ♪

329
00:16:31,490 --> 00:16:32,950
♪<i> Ridin' on a horse </i>♪

330
00:16:33,033 --> 00:16:35,703
[Britton] <i>But it has a trap beat,</i>
<i>808s for the bass,</i>

331
00:16:35,786 --> 00:16:37,538
<i>and hi-hat flourishes.</i>

332
00:16:37,621 --> 00:16:40,874
<i>♪ Can't nobody tell me nothing ♪</i>

333
00:16:40,958 --> 00:16:44,002
[Britton] <i>Which was pretty new</i>
<i>for country, but not</i> that<i> new.</i>

334
00:16:44,628 --> 00:16:49,174
<i>So </i>Billboard's<i> decision to remove the song</i>
<i>started a conversation</i>

335
00:16:49,258 --> 00:16:52,386
<i>about race and discrimination</i>
<i>in country music.</i>

336
00:16:52,469 --> 00:16:54,555
<i>Some called it a reckoning.</i>

337
00:16:55,139 --> 00:16:57,516
"Old Town Road" was a perfect example

338
00:16:57,599 --> 00:17:01,186
of the way that policing
the borders of country music

339
00:17:01,270 --> 00:17:03,230
is a stand-in

340
00:17:03,313 --> 00:17:06,650
for policing the borders around
a certain kind of American identity.

341
00:17:06,734 --> 00:17:09,695
[Britton] <i>But on top of being</i>
<i>a queer Black musician,</i>

342
00:17:09,778 --> 00:17:12,448
<i>Lil Nas X also didn't play the game.</i>

343
00:17:12,531 --> 00:17:15,951
In some ways, it sounded
very much like a country record,

344
00:17:16,034 --> 00:17:19,747
but it neither came from
nor really courted

345
00:17:19,830 --> 00:17:23,709
the historic, traditional
country music audience.

346
00:17:23,792 --> 00:17:27,880
And I think the mainstream
country music community

347
00:17:27,963 --> 00:17:30,591
recognized that pretty quickly.

348
00:17:30,674 --> 00:17:34,261
[Britton] <i>But Lil Nas X</i>
<i>didn't even need the country chart.</i>

349
00:17:34,344 --> 00:17:36,722
<i>Thanks to Twitter,</i>
<i>and TikTok, and streaming,</i>

350
00:17:36,805 --> 00:17:39,683
<i>"Old Town Road"</i>
<i>was the number one song in America</i>

351
00:17:39,767 --> 00:17:42,102
<i>for a record-breaking 19 weeks.</i>

352
00:17:42,728 --> 00:17:46,148
Streaming is a new way for any artist
to break into music, period.

353
00:17:46,231 --> 00:17:48,609
You just pick up your phone and voilà.

354
00:17:48,692 --> 00:17:50,986
Here's what's great.
Here's what's trending.

355
00:17:51,070 --> 00:17:53,697
The world makes that decision<i>.</i>

356
00:17:54,656 --> 00:17:57,576
[Britton] <i>Blanco Brown has</i>
<i>a similar story to Lil Nas X.</i>

357
00:17:57,659 --> 00:17:59,745
<i>They both grew up in Atlanta, Georgia.</i>

358
00:17:59,828 --> 00:18:02,706
I have several musical influences,

359
00:18:02,790 --> 00:18:05,751
from Aretha Franklin to George Strait,

360
00:18:05,834 --> 00:18:07,086
Outkast.

361
00:18:07,169 --> 00:18:08,879
The list goes on.

362
00:18:08,962 --> 00:18:11,965
[Britton] <i>Fusing them into a sound</i>
<i>that he gave his own name.</i>

363
00:18:12,466 --> 00:18:16,136
"TrailerTrap." It's trailer park music
meets trap music.

364
00:18:16,220 --> 00:18:19,056
I just bridged the gap
and I called it "TrailerTrap."

365
00:18:19,139 --> 00:18:21,850
It's country music with 808s,
a little flair.

366
00:18:21,934 --> 00:18:22,810
Prah!

367
00:18:22,893 --> 00:18:26,271
[Britton] <i>Like his song "The Git Up,"</i>
<i>which was a line dance</i>.

368
00:18:26,355 --> 00:18:27,898
<i>In May 2019,</i>

369
00:18:27,981 --> 00:18:30,609
<i>two half brothers posted a video on TikTok</i>

370
00:18:30,692 --> 00:18:34,029
<i>of themselves doing a dance</i>
<i>of pure joy to that song.</i>

371
00:18:34,613 --> 00:18:37,449
<i>And it spread.</i>
<i>By summer, it had gone viral,</i>

372
00:18:37,533 --> 00:18:40,452
<i>just like "Old Town Road" had</i>
<i>a few months before.</i>

373
00:18:41,245 --> 00:18:45,624
I mean, from two to 92, everybody
and their grandma did the dance.

374
00:18:45,707 --> 00:18:48,043
I've seen people go viral,
but I never felt it.

375
00:18:48,127 --> 00:18:51,964
[Britton] <i>In his video,</i>
<i>he wore Nikes decked out with spurs,</i>

376
00:18:52,047 --> 00:18:55,926
<i>played a drum machine,</i>
<i>but also a lap steel guitar,</i>

377
00:18:56,009 --> 00:18:58,554
<i>and lead a diverse group in a line dance,</i>

378
00:18:58,637 --> 00:19:02,349
<i>with cameos from the TikTokers</i>
<i>who'd helped make his song a hit.</i>

379
00:19:02,850 --> 00:19:05,769
<i>♪ Go on and do the two-step</i>
<i>Then cowboy boogie ♪</i>

380
00:19:05,853 --> 00:19:08,313
<i>♪ Grab your sweetheart</i>
<i>And spin out with 'em ♪</i>

381
00:19:08,397 --> 00:19:10,274
Blanco was very much interested

382
00:19:10,357 --> 00:19:14,111
in being part
of the country music community,

383
00:19:14,194 --> 00:19:18,448
in a way that I'm not sure
Lil Nas X ever wanted to be.

384
00:19:19,074 --> 00:19:21,827
[Britton] <i>And in the end,</i>
<i>the song got enough radio play</i>

385
00:19:21,910 --> 00:19:23,954
<i>to crack the "Country Airplay" chart,</i>

386
00:19:24,037 --> 00:19:25,539
<i>although not that much.</i>

387
00:19:26,373 --> 00:19:29,042
<i>But the following year in 2020,</i>

388
00:19:29,126 --> 00:19:31,920
<i>this song hit number one on that chart.</i>

389
00:19:32,504 --> 00:19:35,841
<i>It starts with an old sample,</i>
<i>which is common for hip-hop songs,</i>

390
00:19:35,924 --> 00:19:38,510
<i>although this was</i>
<i>an old honky-tonk classic.</i>

391
00:19:40,554 --> 00:19:42,181
<i>And then it starts to warp.</i>

392
00:19:42,973 --> 00:19:44,224
<i>And the beat drops.</i>

393
00:19:44,308 --> 00:19:46,310
♪<i> There stands the glass</i> ♪

394
00:19:46,393 --> 00:19:47,394
[Britton] <i>808s.</i>

395
00:19:47,477 --> 00:19:49,646
♪<i> That will ease all my pain</i> ♪

396
00:19:50,355 --> 00:19:53,734
[Britton] <i>Sam Hunt has been called</i>
<i>"The Drake of country,"</i>

397
00:19:53,817 --> 00:19:56,195
<i>and the guy</i>
<i>who brought hip-hop to the industry.</i>

398
00:19:56,737 --> 00:19:59,448
Country and hip-hop, they too close.

399
00:19:59,531 --> 00:20:01,533
Like, it's telling stories.

400
00:20:01,617 --> 00:20:05,871
Some may be true, some may be false.
But it's getting the message across.

401
00:20:05,954 --> 00:20:08,165
That's the bigger take on it for me.

402
00:20:09,291 --> 00:20:12,461
[Britton] <i>Rap and country do share</i>
<i>a lot of the same themes.</i>

403
00:20:12,961 --> 00:20:15,088
<i>Like pride in where you come from.</i>

404
00:20:15,172 --> 00:20:17,049
<i>-♪ Where you from ♪</i>
<i>-♪ Straight outta Compton ♪</i>

405
00:20:17,132 --> 00:20:20,052
<i>♪ We on the grind in Georgia</i>
<i>All the time ♪</i>

406
00:20:20,135 --> 00:20:23,096
<i>♪ Tell by my attitude</i>
<i>That I'm most definitely from ♪</i>

407
00:20:23,180 --> 00:20:25,599
<i>♪ New York ♪</i>

408
00:20:25,682 --> 00:20:27,100
[Britton] <i>Family values.</i>

409
00:20:27,184 --> 00:20:29,061
<i>♪ For my brothers with daughters</i> <i>♪</i>

410
00:20:29,144 --> 00:20:32,147
<i>♪ Ain't a woman alive </i>
<i>That can take my mama's place ♪</i>

411
00:20:32,231 --> 00:20:35,275
<i>♪ What I wouldn't give for</i>
<i>One more hug from Grandma ♪</i>

412
00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:36,568
[Britton] <i>And hard times.</i>

413
00:20:36,652 --> 00:20:38,820
<i>♪ I'm tired of being poor</i>
<i>And even worse, I'm Black ♪</i>

414
00:20:38,904 --> 00:20:41,698
<i>♪ Was on my grind 'cause times was harder</i>
<i>Than the cellar floor ♪</i>

415
00:20:41,782 --> 00:20:44,076
<i>♪ The only thing on my mind ♪</i>

416
00:20:44,159 --> 00:20:45,744
<i>♪ I'm trying to keep on the lights ♪</i>

417
00:20:45,827 --> 00:20:47,704
Country and R&B

418
00:20:47,788 --> 00:20:50,123
are really closely related, right?

419
00:20:50,207 --> 00:20:52,334
They're very closely related musically.

420
00:20:52,417 --> 00:20:55,379
[Britton] <i>Rap was born out of the poverty</i>
<i>of northern cities…</i>

421
00:20:55,462 --> 00:20:58,090
-[rapping]
-[beatboxing]

422
00:20:58,757 --> 00:21:02,219
[Britton] <i>…building on decades</i>
<i>of their ancestors' rhythm and blues,</i>

423
00:21:02,302 --> 00:21:04,680
<i>which was first plucked on banjos,</i>

424
00:21:04,763 --> 00:21:09,059
<i>an instrument that had come to America</i>
<i>on slave ships from West Africa.</i>

425
00:21:09,142 --> 00:21:11,103
<i>And before emancipation,</i>

426
00:21:11,186 --> 00:21:13,480
<i>sung as spirituals and work songs</i>

427
00:21:13,563 --> 00:21:16,233
<i>on plantations across the American South.</i>

428
00:21:16,817 --> 00:21:20,237
<i>Those rural laments</i>
<i>evolved into the blues.</i>

429
00:21:20,862 --> 00:21:24,866
<i>And these sounds mixed with the ballads</i>
<i>of those Appalachian fiddlers,</i>

430
00:21:24,950 --> 00:21:28,787
<i>forming the roots of what would</i>
<i>later be segmented and sold</i>

431
00:21:28,870 --> 00:21:31,665
<i>as hillbilly music and race records.</i>

432
00:21:32,624 --> 00:21:35,419
And they become
these sort of symbolic opposites.

433
00:21:35,502 --> 00:21:37,838
[Britton] <i>Springing off</i>
<i>and tangling together</i>

434
00:21:37,921 --> 00:21:41,341
<i>to form almost all American popular music.</i>

435
00:21:41,925 --> 00:21:44,636
<i>So rap and country</i>
<i>aren't opposites at all.</i>

436
00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:47,097
<i>They're really long-lost cousins.</i>

437
00:21:48,515 --> 00:21:52,811
<i>One artist who refused</i>
<i>to stay inside the lines</i> <i>was Ray Charles.</i>

438
00:21:52,894 --> 00:21:55,188
<i>Back in 1962,</i>

439
00:21:55,272 --> 00:21:59,443
<i>he released </i>Modern Sounds in Country
and Western Music, Volumes 1 and 2<i>,</i>

440
00:21:59,526 --> 00:22:01,987
<i>with an entirely new bluesier take</i>

441
00:22:02,070 --> 00:22:04,990
<i>on popular country songs,</i>
<i>like "You Are My Sunshine."</i>

442
00:22:05,073 --> 00:22:07,909
<i>♪ Girl you make me happy sometimes ♪</i>

443
00:22:07,993 --> 00:22:10,037
<i>♪ When my skies are gray ♪</i>

444
00:22:10,120 --> 00:22:14,207
Once Ray Charles gets ahold of it<i>,</i>
and he makes it start to swing,

445
00:22:14,291 --> 00:22:16,752
it makes it kind of bluesy, soulful.

446
00:22:16,835 --> 00:22:18,837
<i>Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music</i>

447
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:20,881
was kind of the "Old Town Road"
of its day.

448
00:22:20,964 --> 00:22:22,466
[Britton] <i>The country industry</i>

449
00:22:22,549 --> 00:22:25,093
<i>didn't accept Ray Charles</i>
<i>as a country musician.</i>

450
00:22:25,177 --> 00:22:30,015
But those records
may have changed country music

451
00:22:30,098 --> 00:22:33,143
as much as any album.

452
00:22:33,226 --> 00:22:36,104
Ray Charles was a great country singer.

453
00:22:36,188 --> 00:22:37,814
One of the best of all time.

454
00:22:37,898 --> 00:22:40,484
[Britton] <i>And you can hear</i>
<i>his echoes today,</i>

455
00:22:40,567 --> 00:22:43,111
<i>like when Chris Stapleton</i>
<i>performed for the first time</i>

456
00:22:43,195 --> 00:22:46,281
<i>at the Country Music Awards</i>
<i>and brought the blues.</i>

457
00:22:47,032 --> 00:22:50,660
<i>♪ Used to spend my nights out</i>
<i>In a barroom ♪</i>

458
00:22:50,744 --> 00:22:52,746
[crowd cheering]

459
00:22:55,332 --> 00:22:58,543
<i>♪ Liquor was the only love I've known</i> <i>♪</i>

460
00:22:59,252 --> 00:23:02,589
[Britton] <i>Or when Mickey Guyton</i>
<i>performed at the Grammys in 2021</i>

461
00:23:02,672 --> 00:23:03,840
<i>and told a story.</i>

462
00:23:04,424 --> 00:23:07,719
♪<i> If you think we live</i> ♪

463
00:23:07,803 --> 00:23:09,971
♪<i> In the land of the free </i>♪

464
00:23:10,055 --> 00:23:13,266
♪<i> You should try to be </i>♪

465
00:23:13,350 --> 00:23:15,018
♪<i> Black like me </i>♪

466
00:23:15,102 --> 00:23:18,188
"Black Like Me" is such
an incredible song to me

467
00:23:18,271 --> 00:23:20,273
because she's singing her truth.

468
00:23:20,899 --> 00:23:23,860
Like anything in this world,
we all must evolve.

469
00:23:23,944 --> 00:23:27,989
So, if we're evolving,
then the music will evolve eventually.

470
00:23:28,073 --> 00:23:30,951
I'm hoping that young artists will grow up

471
00:23:31,034 --> 00:23:33,620
and tell the truth
like it's never been told.

472
00:23:33,703 --> 00:23:37,457
Bring it home in a way
where you go, "Whoa!"

473
00:23:38,375 --> 00:23:39,918
"There it is."

474
00:23:40,001 --> 00:23:44,381
Country music, it feels like an open road
with no dead end,

475
00:23:44,464 --> 00:23:47,342
and I feel like that's what music
is supposed to do.

476
00:23:47,426 --> 00:23:48,885
Speak to your heart.

477
00:23:51,972 --> 00:23:55,725
[closing theme music playing]