Pura Fé

Pura Fé, whose name means "Pure Faith," was born in New York City and an heir to the Tuscarora Indian Nation. She is an artist, an activist, and much more. Her musical journey, running the gamut from folk to mainstream through an artful use of the blues, reflects the concerns of an artist who grew up in the Motown era, while citing Buffy Sainte-Marie,Charley Patton and Joni Mitchell as her true mentors. And, more widely, “traditional music from all over the world, wherever the spirit is connected to our roots.”  

Lavender Country

“With his participation in an event like Queer Roots, Haggerty is hoping to pass the torch on to a younger generation of artists and activists who can further advance the cause for queer rights. He has faith in younger generations, saying they “have the same fire” and are “just as much in the struggle” as he and his friends and fellow activists have been their entire lives.” -Rolling Stone

Reverend Sekou

“Reverend Osagyefo Sekou channels the intertwining legacies of Black liberation theology and racial justice activism in all of his work. Whether he’s risking arrest for kneeling in prayer during the Ferguson uprising, or making gospel-infused music about fighting oppression, the St. Louis-born and Arkansas-raised artist and activist employs the same understanding of music’s sacred importance to building and sustaining movements.” - Colorlines

Leyla McCalla

“As you may guess from the title of her third solo album, Leyla McCalla tackles social and economic issues pretty directly on The Capitalist Blues. The multi-instrumentalist and Carolina Chocolate Drops alumna sings about everything from injustice and poverty to her daughter's experience with elevated levels of lead. And although the topics are heavy, the music is danceable — a treatment informed by the troubadour traditions of McCalla's Haitian roots and the Cajun and Zydeco traditions of her adopted home in New Orleans.” - NPR, World Cafe

Kamara Thomas

“For a long time, I couldn’t accept that it was going to be harder for me, as a woman of color, to have people hear my country songs,” says Kamara Thomas, whose cosmic Americana tunes are as powerful and ambitious as the Country Soul Songbook project she now spearheads, a love letter to both her community and the genre on which she was raised. —Spencer Griffith

Loamlands

“Though [Loamlands’] record is very much written to directly address North Carolina, the people in the Durham DIY scene, and the area's long history with LGBT communities and police violence, the themes Register and Hackney wrestle with throughout—queerness, police violence, bigotry and general intolerance to those who refuse to adhere to any kind of binary—are poignant no matter where you live.” - Noisey

Amythyst Kiah

Amythyst Kiah has a voice that stops you in your tracks and commands you to really listen. The hypnotizing blues and roots singer recently snagged a Grammy nomination for her defiant self-love anthem “Black Myself” with Our Native Daughters, which won Song of the Year at the International Folk Music Awards. Kiah has also been named “one of roots music’s most exciting emerging talents” by Rolling Stone.

Rissi Palmer: Color Me Country

On her radio show, Color Me Country, Rissi Palmer brings to the forefront the Black, Indigenous, and Latinx histories of country music that for too long have lived outside the spotlight and off mainstream airwaves. Listen in as Rissi has riveting, funny, and necessary conversations with country music's most vital and underrepresented voices.

Karen and the Sorrows

“Like Gram Parsons, Pittelman peels away the superficiality that much of country music has embraced and looks deep into its soul, its history, and its stories and makes it all her own….You do not want to miss this album.”—No Depression

“Buoyed by Pittelman’s dramatic, expressive voice, Guaranteed Broken Heart is rich with the textures of classic twang and writing that will resonate with anyone who needs a little glue to put the pieces of their own ticker back together. “—AV Club

Marcus K. Dowling

As a journalist, Marcus has written for print journals, including Red Bull Magazine, Mixmag, DJ Mag, Washingtonian, Modern Luxury, and the Washington City Paper. Online, his words have graced Vice, VIBE, Complex, Bitter Southerner, The FADER, The Boot, Bandcamp, and innumerable others. Sitting comfortably at the confluence of the underground and mainstream, Marcus is obsessed with history, appreciative of the present, and loving the future. He is a creator, curator, and innovator living in a wild new age.

Kandia Crazy Horse

“Funky rock-n-soul (Congo Square), honkey-tonk tear jerking (Gunfight at the Golden Corral), back porch canyon picking’n’harmonising (Americana; Soul Yodel #3), [Kandia] matches every sub-genre she essays. And girl, can she sing: equal parts raw Muscle Shoals rasp and effortlessly modulated vibrato, those Kandia Crazy Horse pipes are the real thang.” - Mojo Magazine

Gangstagrass

During these turbulent times, bluegrass/hip-hop band Gangstagrass seem perfectly positioned to guide listeners into a more tolerant and open-minded world. The quintet is both racially and musically mixed, with melodic banjo and fiddle riffs blending with booming beats and astute rap lyrics.  - American Songwriter

Gangstagrass is a dirty fightin', gator wrestlin', foot stompin' bluegrass-hip-hop project of Brooklyn based producer Rench, who has spent the last decade making gritty, soulful country hip-hop music that you will actually like. Gangstagrass did the theme song to Justified and got nominated for an Emmy for it.

Birds of Chicago

"It's a rare kind of chemistry that buoys Birds of Chicago. Their sparse arrangements and unadorned songwriting becomes a platform to highlight the partnership between JT Nero and Allison Russell. Their voices blend and bounce of each other, often trading lead vocal duties in the course of a verse. Real Midnight is stunning in its stripped-backness, and utterly heart-rending." - AFROPUNK

Taylor Crumpton

In just four years, Taylor has used her collective experiences to create the sharp and poignant work that she has become well-known to produce. She’s been welcomed to speak on the Netflix-produced podcast “You Can’t Make This Up”, served as the guest editor for Them’s 2020 Black History Month editorial package, and has even been recognized amongst her peers by way of her Jack Jones’ cultural critics index placement.

Since she’s began writing, Taylor’s bylines has appeared on a variety of publications, including Pitchfork, Nylon, Playboy, Marie Claire and others.

Amanda Marie Martinez

Amanda Marie Martinez is a doctoral candidate in the Department of History at UCLA, where she's completing a dissertation on the role of race in the marketing practices of the country music industry between the late 1960s to the late 1990s. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Popular Music Studies, and will appear in the journal California History.

Louisiana Red Hot Records: Lilli Lewis

Singer, pianist and composer of timeless, soul-stirring jazz/rock and soul music. I sing to open hearts and inspire purpose driven audiences, holding firmly to the belief that music can unlock the profound creativity needed to generate a more sustainable future.

“Lilli has a voice with depth and inspiration that takes the best of jazz, folk, and pop and simply soars.”
-David Kunian, New Orleans Jazz Museum

Blue Cactus

Americana/Indie-Country duo Blue Cactus supplements their twang with soaring, space-rock-inspired guitars, while rich harmonies keep their tunes grounded in traditional American Roots. Based out of Chapel Hill, NC, Blue Cactus is led by long-time collaborators Steph Stewart and Mario Arnez, who create songs that range from gritty Honky Tonk to tender, heartbreaking balladry.

"Twang you can feel deep down in the soles of your feet." -- No Depression 

"You can't help but fall in love with the heartache."--Paste

Louisiana Red Hot Records: Joy Clark

Joy Clark’s musical artistry feels like a warm, fresh twist on the fervently familiar. Her tranquil yet ardent original creations are a heady mix of her major influences. Think Tracy Chapman, Lizz Wright, Maxwell, Anita Baker, Stevie Nicks and Chris Eaton. Now add a bluesy bayou vibe with a splash of folk sensibility and a dash of alternative appeal, and you’ll understand why this homegrown New Orleans singer/ songwriter/guitarist transcends both age and the ordinary.

Cary Morin

"Cary Morin is a unique and brilliant guitar player, songwriter and singer,” says renowned folk musician David Bromberg, extolling the virtues of one of his favorite players. “It’s hard to pick out what he does best. As a guitar player, I have huge respect for Cary’s style and technique on the guitar. If you haven’t heard him yet, you should. Try to remember that it’s only one guitar.” Hearing the ease with which he fingerpicks on his latest album, Cradle to the Grave, it’s hard to believe that he’s only been playing solo for about seven years — and, as Bromberg says, that it’s all just one person..." - Dan Forte for Taylor Wood & Steel Magazine

Charles L. Hughes

Charles L. Hughs acclaimed first book, Country Soul: Making Music and Making Race in the American South, was named one of the Best Music Books of 2015 by Rolling Stone and No Depression, one of Paste Magazine’s Best Nonfiction Books of the Year, and one of Slate’s “Overlooked Books” of 2015. He has published essays and given numerous talks in front of a range of audiences, including featured engagements at the Center for Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Library & Archives.

Phil Cook

Over the last decade Phil Cook has been kind of an Americana journeyman. He’s spent time in bands like DeYarmond Edison (which featured Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon), plays in the sprawling indie rock collective Gayngs and tours with Hiss Golden Messenger. While he’s always been relegated to sideman, now he’s giving the world a taste of what he can do as a solo artist. - Chicago Tribune

Theo Hilton (of Nana Grizol)

Theo Hilton started Nana Grizol in 2007 as a way to express his anxiety as a young gay man in Athens, Georgia. Since then, Nana Grizol has released four albums, all unified in their jangle-pop sound and themes of queerness and American ennui. Their newest album, South Somewhere Else, is similar—it’s equally scrappy, with warbling vocals and booming brass band—but now, Hilton seems to be preoccupied with his own whiteness. On South Somewhere Else, he explores his individual identity within the greater American framework of violent white history. - Pitchfork

B. E. Farrow

Mr. Farrow is a musician, educator, songwriter, and independent researcher who hasa focus in reshaping and reflecting American's musical history through sharing stories, creative musical expression through popular/historic musical structures, and inclusive dialog.

From touring with Grammy award winner Dom Flemons to giving talks at the LibraryCompany of Philadelphia, running a music program in Greece with the refugees, Mr.Farrow forms a discipline in understanding the unspoken roots of music and exploring the impact of expression on cultural history.Y

You can hear Mr. Farrow on Dom Flemon’s Grammy nominated album Black Cowboys under Smithsonian's Folkways label, and on Gangstagrass’ latest album NoTime for Enemies.

Lee Bains (of Lee Bains and the Glory Fires)

Lee Bains has never been shy about speaking his mind. The Alabama native has made a name for himself belting out politically and socially charged lyrics with his band the Glory Fires. Though the band is known for loud, in-your-face blistering rock and roll – a sound that some may think is devoid of emotionally potent lyrics – they also happen to be one of the most intelligent acts out there. Like their Alabama brethren the Drive-By Truckers, Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires challenge the ideas of what it means to be a Southern rock band. - Glide Magazine

Shirlette Ammons

Shirlette is a Durham, NC-based musician whose sophomore solo album, Language Barrier was co-released by SugarQube Records and Churchkey Records in February 2016. The album features guest appearances by The Indigo Girls, Meshell Ndegeocello, Amelia Meath (Sylvan Esso), Hiss Golden Messenger, Median (The Foreign Exchange), Heather McEntire (Mount Moriah), Phil Cook, and Jocelyn Ellis with musical compositions by Daniel Hart (St. Vincent, Broken Social Scene).

Will Darity

Darity’s eclectic lineups are what you'd expect from an Oberlin Conservatory graduate that’s currently fronting a Charley Pride tribute act while lending guitar work to Young Bull and the West African project Africa Unplugged… [his] endeavors as an agent are informed by his continued work as an artist; he’s constantly picking up industry knowledge along the way. He says his time with the Greensboro-based Afropop project The Brand New Life (now based in New York as Super Yamba Band) was professionally formative. - Indyweek

Louisiana Red Hot Records: Dusky Waters

Dusky Waters is the one-woman project by singer-songwriter Jennifer Jeffers. Dusky represents the most magical time of day and Waters describes the Mississippi from which she draws strength and inspiration. She grew up on the traditions of gospel and folk music in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Molly Sarlé

From the cliffs of Big Sur to the North Carolina backwoods - Molly Sarlé brings open-hearted, unflinching songwriting perfect for late-night karaoke comedowns, plaintive morning walks, and conjuring the spirit world. West Coast incantations with a warm, Appalachian glow. 

Tracy Bone

“Tracy Bone, the winner of Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year (2009) has compiled seven country-pounding songs on the new album, Women of Red. The opening track, "This Ol' Habit," has vocals that beam with strength similar to the likes of LeAnn Rimes. Women empowerment, confidence and realism are interwoven through each song with "Doin' Time" exhibiting this power perfectly. Tracy Bone may have had quite the backstory (full of racism and hard decisions), but that's what makes her strength in music something quite meaningful and worth taking in. ~Kathryn Kyte”

MORE!

Paradise of Bachelors

Paradise of Bachelors is a Grammy-nominated record label, recording company, archive, and sometime soundsystem, located in the North Carolina Piedmont and in the subluminal aether. We are dedicated to documenting, curating, and releasing under-recognized vernacular music and art, historical and contemporary alike, with an emphasis on the American South—very broadly defined—and its global sound diaspora. Drawing from PoB principals Brendan Greaves and Christopher Smith’s varied backgrounds as folklorists and writers, curators and collectors, musicians and documentarians, we endeavor with all our projects to commit ourselves to in-depth, detailed contextual research and the presentation thereof, to careful and compelling curation and design, and to respectful and mutually beneficial collaborations with artists and other partners.

Neon Boots and The House of Coxx Drag Fam!

Spencer and Rachel long for the days of flowing mullets, line dances, and too tight jeans. Put on your boots and scoot and boogie with them every week as they invite a special guest to talk about songs from the greatest genre of music: 90s Country.

In this amazing collaboration we take a look at pop culture country music videos of the 90’s and dissect what parts of these videos are references or appropriating BIPOC / queer culture.

Gay Ole Opry

Why queer country music? Because sometimes you love a culture that doesn’t love you back. And when everyone came to the first Gay Ole Opry in April of 2011 in all their country finery, we knew we weren’t alone. We do it because we love the music and want to build a community to support queer country musicians. We do it because everybody needs a honky tonk angel to hold them tight. We do it because we believe in country music for all.

We also do it because this is one way we fight for a different world. This means that many of our shows have been fundraisers for grassroots trans justice and Movement for Black Lives groups. We do it because we can’t think about what it means to be queer in country music without also thinking about the relationship between country music and white supremacy.

The Carolina Theater Presents: You Gave Me A Song / Alice Gerrard

Alice has appeared on more than 20 recordings, including projects with many traditional musicians such as Tommy Jarrell, Enoch Rutherford, Otis Burris, Luther Davis and Matokie Slaughter; with Tom Sauber and Brad Leftwich as Tom, Brad & Alice, with the Harmony Sisters,  Jim Watson, the Herald Angels, Beverly Smith, and with Anna R-g and Elizabeth LaPrelle. With her in-depth knowledge of mountain music, she has produced or written liner notes for a dozen more. She also co-produced and appeared in two documentary films and is the subject of a documentary: You Gave Me a Song.