“Country music is my life, it’s everything,” says singer-songwriter Reyna Roberts in the trailer for the Amazon Music documentary For Love & Country, which is out now. “People ask me why did I choose country music? Country music chose me.”
The documentary, directed by Joshua Kissi, highlights the past and present contributions of Black artists to country music, and focuses on the personal stories of today’s newcomers who are bringing change to the genre. The film highlights numerous Black artists who are forging their own musical paths within the country and Americana genres. Mickey Guyton is a multi-Grammy Award nominee and released her full-length album, Remember Her Name, last year. Jimmie Allen recently earned his third Billboard Country Airplay No. 1 hit with the Brad Paisley collaboration “Freedom Was a Highway,” earned new artist of the year at last year’s CMA Awards and is a recent Grammy best new artist nominee. In 2019, Blanco Brown released the viral hit “The Git Up,” which went on to be certified 3x multi-platinum by the RIAA. Brown followed it with the No. 1 Country Airplay collaboration “Just The Way” with group Parmalee.
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Breland, who was recently named Amazon Music’s Breakthrough Artist, earned a Platinum-certified hit with “My Truck,” and has followed with a string of collaborations with Keith Urban (“Out The Cage”), Nelly and Blanco Brown (“High Horse”), Dierks Bentley and HARDY (the Country Airplay top 5 hit “Beers on Me”), and his latest, “Praise the Lord” featuring Thomas Rhett. Meanwhile, singer-songwriter Shy Carter is known for penning songs such as Sugarland’s “Stuck Like Glue” and Kane Brown’s “Heaven,” in addition to releasing his own music. Brittney Spencer released the sterling EP Compassion and has been featured as a performer on programs including the Academy of Country Music Awards and Country Music Association Awards. She also embarked on her first headlining tour this year and opened shows for Reba McEntire. Following Floyd’s death in 2020, Sony Music Nashville artist Willie Jones released “American Dream,” a clear-eyed look at what it means to be Black in America.
The documentary also highlights the careers of Valerie June, Amythyst Kiah and Allison Russell. Kiah and Russell collaborated (alongside Rhiannon Giddens and Leyla McCalla) on the album Songs of Our Native Daughters, before each released their own Grammy-nominated solo music. June has released albums including 2017’s The Order of Time and her 2021 album The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers. In 2013, June was also a featured vocalist during Eric Church’s performance of “Like Jesus Does” at the Academy of Country Music Awards.
“I hope that this documentary can push back against the toxic single story – the strong bias towards a white, male, heterosexual-centered narrative in mainstream country music,” Russell tells Billboard. “I hope it will serve as a gateway for active listeners to open their ears to a whole world of country, country adjacent, all Americana, Folk – the whole rainbow coalition of roots music—whose wildly diverse, eclectic, genre expanding artists are making albums that matter. I hope it will reach other roots leaning up and coming or closeted -black and BIPOC artists, queer artists who’ve felt isolated or without a community. I hope it gives them some encouragement. We need all the voices and all the stories. Representation matters because we do.”
For Russell, one of her most treasured moments from the documentary came when filming on the same day as her Our Native Daughters bandmate Amythyst Kiah.
“Getting to have a reunion with her off camera was truly joyful. Meeting director Joshua Kissi and bonding over our shared Ghanaian/West African roots was also moving and meaningful,” Russell adds. “I loved how diverse and black-centered all of the artists working behind the scenes were.”
Trailblazer Frankie Staton, who moved to Nashville in 1981 and later led the Black Country Music Association, is also featured in the film. At one point, Staton recalls one of her earliest Nashville performances.
As Staton was on her way to a jam session in the Printer’s Alley area of Nashville, a police officer stopped her and questioned where she was headed. He then followed her to the venue, where Staton was one of the earliest singers to sign up to perform. Then, while other performers who signed up after she did were called onstage to sing, Staton had to wait until nearly 2:30 a.m. for her turn to perform.
“I knew when they wouldn’t let me up there, this would be a defining moment of my life,” Staton recalls to Billboard. “You don’t run from this. There are times in your life where you have to stay and fight for what you want. Things that have come normally to other people, Black people have had to bend over backwards to get the opportunity. I knew if I left, they would never know the potential I had. I said, ‘I don’t care if I have to stay here all night long, I’m not leaving.’”
Staton became a champion not only for her own music and career, but also for other country artists of color.
“I started learning more about the history, about people like Arnold Shultz, who influenced Bill Monroe and Everly Brothers’ father was taught by him, and how it came down through Merle Travis and Chet Atkins,” Staton tells Billboard. “Millions of people today play that style. And studying Rufus ‘Tee-Tot’ Payne, who taught Hiram ‘Hank’ Williams. Otis Blackwell wrote all those songs Elvis recorded. So I knew we had the right to be in the room.”
Others featured in the documentary include rapper Mike Floss, Davidson County criminal court clerk and former vice mayor Howard Gentry, academic/author Amanda Marie Martinez, and journalist/author Andrea Williams.
Raymond Roker, global head of editorial for Amazon Music, reached out to Kissi after seeing Kissi’s New York Times documentary A Beach of Our Own, which tells the history of the Black history of Sag Harbor.
“I thought he handled the imagery and symbolism with such grace, and we felt that he could do the same for our project,” Roker tells Billboard. “The goal of For Love & Country is to amplify the personal stories of a new generation of Black artists claiming space in Nashville — and helping to transform the genre in the process.”
“I was inspired by the conversation that would be able to come from a film like this,” Kissi tells Billboard. “I think the most important takeaway from the film is the historical timeline of country music that isn’t widely known when it comes to the African Americans’ contribution to the genre. I think Black artists in country music like many other spaces of society, politics, and culture are experiencing a refreshing change on the powers that have traditionally been. Music is just one aspect of society, and at its core being able to amplify various Black voices has always been important. In many ways, there isn’t one way to be ‘Black’ and having a multitude of voices is vital to the growth of the country music genre.”
Amazon Music has released an Amazon Original acoustic version of Kiah’s “Black Myself,” with additional Amazon Original songs from artists featured in the film to roll out over the next few weeks.
For Love & Country was produced by DPM Projects and Pizza Night. The documentary is just the latest country music-focused programming from Amazon Music. On March 7, Amazon Prime Video livestreamed the Academy of Country Music Awards, making history as the first major music awards show to be exclusively livestreamed. The awards show was hosted by Dolly Parton, Allen and Gabby Barrett.
For Staton, the documentary is also a chronicling of the progression of Black artists in country music, but also a promise of what is to come.
“To see that they are bringing their vibe to country music, this is what I was talking about years ago. They now have a platform as huge as Amazon, which can take it around the world,” Staton says.