Mickey Guyton is one of the most prominent Black women in country music. Mickey signed a Nashville record deal over a decade ago, and since then has become a force in a genre that has often been unkind to performers of color.
As Elamin Abdelmahmoud writes for Rolling Stone:
At some point, it became an accepted cultural narrative that country music is the domain of white people. This has never been the case, but more to the point, it has never been further from the truth than right now. The myth persists while a number of Black artists are challenging its foundation, hiding in plain sight on the country charts or on tours or on the radio.
Mickey is one of those artists. During last month’s nationwide Black Lives Matter protests, she dropped a single “Black Like Me” with no promotion. The song ended up on Spotify’s Hot Country playlist. It asks country fans and industry people alike to look at life from a Black perspective.
We talk with Mickey about being a Black woman in country music, her songwriting process and more.
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