Country Singer Nate Barnes Responds To Critical Pitchfork Article

Barnes (Photo: Justin Mayotte)

In an article titled “Country Music Is Changing, In Spite Of Itself” published this week, music publication PITCHFORK took a critical look at the genre, particularly (and fairly) calling out its lack of inclusivity. The article took especial aim at new QUARTZ HILL RECORDS artist NATE BARNES. Calling him “another young-ish white man” and saying his bio, which describes the singer-songwriter’s working class roots, reinforces “the mythology of a white, male, ‘real’ country music whose legitimacy relies wholly on exclusion.”

One problem: BARNES is biracial.

In an INSTAGRAM post YESTERDAY (3/10), BARNES shared photos of his Black maternal grandfather, his Black stepfather, and many other family members, and took gentle aim at the PITCHFORK piece. “I was disappointed to see that myself, my family and my label were misrepresented in the article,” he wrote. “I felt it was important to set the record straight. I, myself, am biracial. This is my family that I love with all my heart. My maternal granddad - WILLIE BARNES - is the reason why I became a songwriter and a performer.  
 
“I grew up in a racially diverse family – in a home where I didn’t have to put a color on anybody’s face,” he continued. “My Granddad WILLIE always taught me not to judge people by the color of their skin but by their heart and their character. That’s what my song, ‘You Ain’t Pretty,’ is all about. It’s about not looking at people’s surfaces, but looking at the beauty that’s within. It’s about lifting people up. My family taught me to do just that and to love everybody.” 
 
The PITCHFORK article, which has since been updated to remove the references to BARNES and QUARTZ HILL, also called Country music “an assembly-line product stuffed with references to patriotism and pickups.” Read the full article here, and see BARNES’ post below.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Nate Barnes (@natebarnesmusic)

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