Guest Post: Black Opry, Standing Up To Obstacles And Finding ‘Insurmountable Joy’

By Holly G, Founder and Co-Director, Black Opry

When I started Black Opry it was with the intention of creating a digital space. My vision of “community” at the time didn’t expand past comments, DMs and sharing posts with the hope of creating a connection with others over a mutual love of music. There wasn’t any scenario in which I envisioned all that it’s become, and I’m incredibly grateful that reality can sometimes be bigger than dreams. 

After the first in-person meeting of our budding community, Lizzie No invited several of the artists that were present to join her for a writer’s round style performance at Rockwood Music Hall [in New York City] just two weeks later. 

“Let’s call it The Black Opry Revue,” she said during an excited phone call. We announced the show and, to my surprise shortly after, venues across the country were inviting The Black Opry Revue to their stages. 

Less than two years later, The Black Opry Revue has performed more than 100 shows, showcasing 100-plus Black country, Americana, blues and roots artists. 

We’ve given these artists a platform to share their music at historic venues like Los Angeles’ Troubadour, iconic festivals including Newport Folk Festival, and even across the ocean on Cayamo’s Journey Through Song cruise.

To say I was ill-prepared for this unexpected journey is an understatement. At the time the tour began, I was working as a flight attendant with no experience in live music or the music industry at all. 

The barrage of “show advance” and “will you need backline” emails flew into my inbox and right over my head – I dove in anyway. 

With the support of a booking agent, Virginia Prater, who was willing to take a chance on us and experienced friends like Emily Scott Robinson, I was able to survive the crash course that was the first leg of “The Black Opry Revue” tour.  

On top of the fact that my experience in the field was nonexistent, there was no blueprint for the way we built the tour. 

Building a structure for “The Black Opry Revue” tour was an opportunity to build a new model for touring artists while carving a space for Black artists where opportunities are typically scarce. 

The obstacles were as plentiful as the opportunities, and often those obstacles are ones we can only stand up against but not completely overcome. 

The structural racism that permeates the touring industry in country, Americana and roots music is not something we can fix alone or maybe at all. 

But on the other side of those obstacles is an insurmountable joy. Very often our performances get described as “magic,” and at the root of that magic is the power of collaboration and uplifting those around you. 

For so long, Black artists working specifically in the genres we highlight have been made to feel that “there can only be one.” A successful Black person in these spaces was to be seen as a token and for the many Black artists hoping to see success, their peers were pitted against them as direct competition. 

Our community and those around us have rejected this notion. 

Lizzie’s decision to invite other artists to share her stage, de-centering herself for the good of the collective, was the first of many times we’ve seen the beauty that can be born from sharing space and spotlights with those around you. 

The call from Newport Folk Festival came after we had completed just one show. Not only was it unexpected, but it felt unprecedented. Though tremendously grateful, I couldn’t help but wonder “why?” 

I would later find out the answer to that could again be traced back to the power of uplifting others. 

After a remarkable set at the festival where she featured Black women in roots music, rounded out with the iconic Chaka Khan, Allison Russell (see cover story on page 36) put in a word to the festival’s director, Jay Sweet, that The Black Opry Revue deserved a spot on that stage as well. 

Thanks to that one call, we’ve now showcased twice at Newport, both times to tremendous acclaim thanks to our signature Black Opry “magic” that the artists carry with them wherever they go.

The bulk of our shows are performed in writer’s rounds with three to five artists on stage taking turns sharing songs and stories. It is a visual reminder of what gives us our strength, being in community with each other. 

To watch these artists listen intently to their peers, celebrate them, and be inspired by them is to see wounds being healed and a more promising future being built in real time. 

We don’t know that the future of these genres at large will see any systematic change, but each time we do a show we get to watch the artists and everyone else in the room feels the joy of what it would be like if it does.  s

Holly G is founder and co-director of Black Opry along with fellow co-director Tanner D.  Since its establishment in April 2021,  Black Opry has rapidly grown beyond its origins as a digital gathering place. Its first anniversary was celebrated with a party at Nashville’s City Winery and broadcast by Country Music Television. In addition to “The Black Opry Revue” tour, Holly’s efforts ensure Black country and other traditional artists are not only heard but seen at events including Newport Folk Festival, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, and a quarterly residency at Freight & Salvage music hall in Berkeley, California, among others.