“Old Town Road” and the Racial Politics of Country Music

Abstract

In the spring of 2019, Lil Nas X’s song “Old Town Road” became a national hit and the country-trap song was seemingly breaking boundaries by not only blending two separate genres but also debuting on multiple music charts simultaneously. But almost as quickly as it debuted the public and the country music establishment was asking if Lil Nas X and trap music, a subgenre of hip-hop, could ever be country. This paper explores the questions of what qualifies as country music, who makes the decisions as to what country music is, and where blackness fits into the country genre. The story of Lil Nas X and “Old Town Road” is what occurs when racial politics collides with entrenched whitewashing of the country music genre, even though the genre itself has black roots. “Old Town Road” is one incident in a larger historical thread found throughout country music and its complicated identity politics and anti-blackness. There is no simple answer as country music and southern identity became intricately intertwined with the concept of whiteness. This qualitative paper uses direct quotes and citations from a variety of sources ranging from African American studies, country music history, and interviews with music industry professionals. While this paper focuses on music, the main question is more relevant than when I wrote it before the George Floyd protests in the summer of 2020: why are African Americans excluded from the “mainstream” establishment and even more when they directly helped contribute to its creation?