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Message Music: 3 Black Artists Who Helped Integrate Country Music

Charley Pride, circa 1970. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images hide caption

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World Cafe Words and Music Podcast

Message Music: 3 Black Artists Who Helped Integrate Country Music

XPN

In this episode of Message Music, Michael Mwenso looks back on America's biggest gift to music — country — and a handful of Black artists responsible for integrating the genre.

Message Music on World Cafe: Country Music

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With All Eyes On Country Music, Will Black Nashville Get The Reckoning It Deserves?

Country artists like Miko Marks, Rissi Palmer, Mickey Guyton and Willie Jones are making standout music despite the confines of an industry that privileges whiteness. Beto Lopez, Samantha Everette, Rick Diamond/Getty Images, Duane Prokop/Getty Images hide caption

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Beto Lopez, Samantha Everette, Rick Diamond/Getty Images, Duane Prokop/Getty Images

Music Features

With All Eyes On Country Music, Will Black Nashville Get The Reckoning It Deserves?

Country music's race problem became a hot topic in early February, but the roots of racial injustice in the industry go much deeper. Two Nashville writers unpack the history and recent responses.

Charley Pride, Country Music's First Major Black Star, Dies At 86

Country music legend Charley Pride died on Saturday at age 86 from complications of COVID-19. Pride, who gave his final performance last month at the CMA Awards in Nashville, Tenn., was the first Black performer inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for CMA hide caption

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Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for CMA

The Coronavirus Crisis

Charley Pride, Country Music's First Major Black Star, Dies At 86

Pride died Saturday from complications of COVID-19 in Dallas. The baritone-voiced singer was the first Black man inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Not My Job: Country Singer Charley Pride Gets Quizzed On Shame
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Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

Not My Job: Country Singer Charley Pride Gets Quizzed On Shame

Charley Pride, one of the first African-American stars in country music, has sold more records for RCA than anyone not named Elvis Presley.

Not My Job: Country Singer Charley Pride Gets Quizzed On Shame

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'You Look Like Them And Sound Like Us': Charley Pride's Long Journey In Country Music

Charley Pride performs at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium in 2015. Erika Goldring/Getty Images hide caption

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Erika Goldring/Getty Images

Music Interviews

'You Look Like Them And Sound Like Us': Charley Pride's Long Journey In Country Music

Pride will receive a lifetime achievement award at the 2017 Grammys. His rise from a Mississippi sharecropping family to Nashville superstardom has included a lot of firsts.

'You Look Like Them And Sound Like Us': Charley Pride's Long Journey In Country Music

Listen · 7:24
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