We hope you can join us on Friday, May 10th at 5:00 PM when we host author and songwriter Alice Randall to celebrate the release of My Black Country, her new book and the companion compilation album released by Oh Boy Records! Randall will speak and briefly read from her new work before she signs copies* of both her book and tribute album. She will also be joined by Saaneah Jamison, Sunny War and Caroline Randall Williams, who will each perform a song by Randall for the occasion! After Randall speaks and the performances wrap, we’ll hang out in the shop, and spin the My Black Country companion album on Oh Boy Records which features a host of talented Black, female musicians in addition to those performing here, including Adia Victoria, Allison Russell, Leyla McCalla, and Sistastrings. You can read more about the the My Black Country book and album on our site where you can also order copies with which you’ll score a wristband for Russell’s signing. *Wristbands are required to participate in the signing and guarantee entrance to our event, however it is a free & all ages affair. (Kids 12 & under do not need a wristband to participate in the signing.)
Alice Randall is a New York Times best-selling novelist, award-winning songwriter, educator, food activist, and now memoirist. A graduate of Harvard University, she holds an honorary doctorate from Fisk University, is on the faculty at Vanderbilt University, and credits Detroit’s Ziggy Johnson School of the Theater with being the most influential educational institution in her life. She is widely recognized as being one of the most significant voices in 21st century African-American fiction, the only Black woman in history to write both a number one Country song (Trisha Yearwood’s “XXX’s and OOO’s”) and an ACM video of the year (“Is There Life Out There?” starring Reba McEntire).
Country music had brought Randall and her activist mother together and even gave Randall a singular distinction in American music history: she is the first Black woman to cowrite a number one country hit. Randall found inspiration and comfort in the sounds and history of the first family of Black country music: DeFord Bailey, Lil Hardin, Ray Charles, Charley Pride, and Herb Jeffries who, together, made up a community of Black Americans rising through hard times to create simple beauty, true joy, and sometimes profound eccentricity.
What emerges in My Black Country is a celebration of the most American of music genres and the radical joy in realizing the power of Black influence on American culture. As country music goes through a fresh renaissance today, with a new wave of Black artists enjoying success, My Black Country is the perfect read for longtime country fans and a vibrant introduction to a new generation of listeners who previously were not invited to give the genre a chance.
Alice Randall’s My Black Country book
My Black Country companion album