Rissi Palmer Leads Discussion On Race, Gender Equality On Her Apple Music Country Show

Color Me Country guests

On a special roundtable edition of her APPLE MUSIC COUNTRY show, “Color Me Country,” YESTERDAY (2/14), artist RISSI PALMER led a substantive discussion about representation in Country music and what it means to be an ally for more diverse voices in the genre. PALMER welcomed fellow artists MAREN MORRIS and CAM on the episode, as well as author, journalist and activist ANDREA WILLIAMS. In the discussion, the group chatted about race and gender inequality in Country music, as well as the obstacles impeding progress in those areas, and ways to support people of color in the industry.

“We're told that our own fight is getting more women in Country music on the radio, and that's our [only] fight,” said MORRIS. “And that's what we zone in on. All the while Black women artists, especially in Country music, are completely left out of that conversation and I feel partly responsible for that. All I can really do going forward is do my homework and my research.”

CAM told PALMER, “Country music has been continually defined as white men's music, and it has been done in that image so well that now we have to spend time explaining … why you even are in Country music, RISSI. Like why you, as a Black woman, could even have heard of Country music. That's how directly they've erased everything. And that story isn't just Black women don't get a shot and everybody else does. There's varying degrees of, ‘We're not going to let you in.’” She later added, “We are not going to get anywhere pretending that everything's fine.”

MORRIS also spoke about the road toward a solution. “The best way to validate someone is to pay them,” she said. “Everything going from writing songs in the room with someone, production, instrumentation, your crew people that you bring out on the road … It’s just such an insular bubble that we have to burst, and I am absolutely aware of it. Like I said, embarrassingly late, but I'm just trying to do the right thing. I feel like we all should be uncomfortable. The nature of it is change, is being uncomfortable. It's breaking out of something that has worked for very few for far too long, and for the many stopped so short.”

In her bi-weekly show, PALMER introduces listeners to Black, indigenous, and Latinx artists living outside the spotlight in the Country music industry. Listen to the roundtable and other recent episodes of “Color Me Country” here, and watch video highlights of YESTERDAY’s episode here.

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