by Madeleine Kelson
We observed Blackout Tuesday on Tuesday, June 2nd. This was a day for the music industry to stand in solidarity and support the Black Lives Matter movement, to research and educate ourselves on how to eradicate racism and become anti-racist. Not only are black artists are a cornerstone of American music, but black artists are the bedrock of modern music as whole. You’d be hard-pressed to find a genre that was not in some way influenced by the work of blues, rock and soul created by black artists in the early 20th century. Americana today would sound a lot different without artists like Elizabeth Cotten, Lead Belly, or Sister Rosetta Tharpe laying the foundation. In an effort to amplify those voices, we put together a playlist of some of our favorite black Americana artists. We hope you love these artists as much as we do, continue to listen to their music in the future, and are inspired to go find other similar artists to support. If you’re interested in supporting the Black Lives Matter cause further and retroactively taking part in Blackout Tuesday, check out DonateMyWage.org to find organizations fighting racial injustice.