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This special episode of Basic Folk features Allison Russell, Jake Blount, Kaïa Kater, and guest host Lizzie No in a roundtable conversation about Black artists in folk music. Black musicians are more visible than ever in the roots music space, but they continue to face unique challenges from tokenizing placements on festival lineups to outright racism in the press.

During this hour of Basic Folk we tackled questions like “under what circumstances is it useful for Black artists to self-categorize based on identity?,” “how can we respond to bigotry without wasting our time justifying our worthiness in the roots space?,” “what advice would we offer to up-and-coming Black folk musicians?,” and “how can we bring a holistic understanding of consent to our relationships in the music industry?”

Musicians talked about in this episode:
Our Native Daughters
Amythyst Kiah
Adia Victoria
Yola
Mali Obomsawin
Valerie June
Crys Matthews
The Sojourners
The Carolina Chocolate Drops
Rhiannon Giddens
Hubby Jenkins
Po’Girl
Ndidi Onukwulu
Kyshona

Non-musicians talked about:
Adrienne Maree Brown, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds
Caroline Randall Williams
Andrea Williams

Resources:
The Black Opry
Country Queer
Country Soul Songbook