Amazon Music’s new documentary, “For Love and Country,” debuts on the streaming platform on April 7.
Nearly two years have passed since Mickey Guyton released “Black Like Me,” a single that — for the first time, arguably ever — placed the frank honesty of civil rights, social justice and reparational equity into country music’s mainstream.
Ghanaian-American director & photographer Joshua Kissi’s 100-minute Amazon Music film highlights moments before 2020 and provides context for country music’s evolution.
“June 2020’s racial awakening changed the world,” Kissi said to The Tennessean before his documentary’s red-carpet premiere at the Country Music Hall of Fame.
“Telling the unique truths and experiences of Black artists in a space impacted by this change was bigger than the documentary — I was trying to create a reference point for how we move on from here.”
Kissi is a creative rapidly rising in global acclaim, known for using nuanced perspective to chronicle the inspirational yet underrepresented work of African-Americans, Africans and those residing in nations within the African diaspora.
Revising the narrative
One of the documentary’s victories is beginning the process of getting artists to unpack how to be Black and country, simultaneously, with defiant pride in both.
“In telling this story, it was imperative for us to amplify the personal narratives of these wonderfully diverse country artists, because in them lie the stories of Black contributions to the genre,” said Raymond Roker, Amazon Music’s global head of editorial.
“These are also universal stories of acceptance, being welcome into spaces we choose to occupy despite how open the door might be to us at first, and how stories and history can become marginalized over time.”
The contributions of journalist and New York Times bestselling author Andrea Williams, Davidson Country criminal court clerk and former vice mayor Howard Gentry, academic and author Amanda Marie Martínez and rapper Mike Floss aid the documentary’s narration.
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An incredible historical moment
Floss driving a Cadillac convertible down Lower Broadway while discussing how African Americans gaining and expanding empowerment in the music industry can create fundamental systemic change is a stunning moment. However, when Williams discusses the correlation between slavery and Black labor in country and Americana music while standing on a former plantation, the documentary’s gravitas is ratcheted up significantly.
Regarding the process of recording on a plantation, Kissi noted a fascinating addendum.
“That space wasn’t originally cast as a plantation,” he revealed . “We needed a home with a lot of land. So, at first, when I found out it was a plantation, I was upset.”
“However, then I realized that if you’re shooting in Tennessee, and you’re looking for a house with a lot of land, the likelihood of it being a former plantation is pretty high.”
Continuing, he offers that the former plantation’s current owner was glad that, as he stated she said, “a place that formerly held enslaved people could have its history rewritten in whatever way (a crew of predominantly Black people) deemed fit.
Even deeper regarding this incredible moment, Kissi stated, “For many of us, it was the first time we’d ever set foot in a place like that. So before we shot anything, I emotionally checked in with everyone to note the importance of the story we were about to tell on the land on which we were standing. We took breaks where people cried because of people’s grief attached to that land.”
Also intriguing in the documentary is how it’s roughly split down the middle between established and rising Black performers in country music, Americana and related genres of the past two decades. Thus, come to the documentary to hear perspectives from award-winning artists like Jimmie Allen and Mickey Guyton, chart-toppers BRELAND and Blanco Brown, and stars of the future, including Shy Carter, Willie Jones, Amythyst Kiah, Reyna Roberts and Brittney Spencer.
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However, upon viewing, artists with more experience: Black Country Music Association co-founder Frankie and Grammy nominees Allison Russell and Valerie June.
“There are so many hidden gems of talent — from our ancestors to the present day — that we’re honoring now,” June explained. “Moreover, because of documentaries like these and how educational they are, we don’t have to explain the music we make to people anymore because of the color of our skin. Yes, there’s still more work to be done, but I’m popping the confetti and champers (champagne) right now.”
June is a Memphis native with two decades of experience. Naturally, she can describe what commonplace moments in the movement’s past looked like compared to the present and future foretold by Kissi’s documentary.
The future mirrors the past
She recalled a moment as a red cowgirl boot-clad busker standing near “cotton fields as far as the eye can see” at the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas. “It’s at the corner of Highways 49 and 61 where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the blues,” she added. Her description is filled with bittersweet weariness.
“People from all over the world would ask me what kind of music I was singing,” she said. “They’d say, ‘you’re wearing country music shoes, so it must be country, but your music also sounds hillbilly, bluesy, gospel and folk. I’d reply, ‘(my music) is whatever you want it to be. But for me, it’s ‘organic moonshine roots music, because you need to approach what I’m making with an open, whimsical, imaginative and magical mindset.
“However, now, the music that I had to name some crazy name for people to pay attention doesn’t involve people wondering so much anymore.”
Kissi said the documentary chronicles a key moment at a necessary stage of a larger movement. “You can only put a Band-Aid on something for so long,” he added.
So, as much as Kissi believes this is a time for healing, it’s also a time for progression.
Said Kissi: “I want everyone to walk away after watching this to feel like they have a visible and important place in the present and future of country music.”