The Whitewashed: May 2025 Theme Mix Tape (Side B) can be found on Spotify. Listen in-blog below for a more rich experience, or on Spotify for uninterrupted music. Please note below each song is a link to song lyrics for accessibility. Check out more details on how to best enjoy mix tapes.
Good day!
Welcome to KMTJ-DB – Your Mix Tape Journey – Denver, Colorado.
I’m your host, DJ Ponyboy.
This month we have been exploring the Black history of country music, using Alice Randall’s book My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music’s Black Past, Present, and Future as our companion and inspiration. Make sure to check out Side A of today’s mix tape, and last week’s Connections mix tape, featuring ten of Randall’s songs performed by Black artists, as originally intended.
Today we explore Side B of the Whitewashed mix tape, featuring some of the best Black country songs of the 21st century.
Darius Rucker is an American singer, musician, and songwriter who is probably best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and founding member of rock band Hootie & the Blowfish.
In 2002 he embarked on a solo career with an R&B album, before turning his attention to country music.
From his first country album, 2008’s Learn to Live, enjoy Darius Rucker and “It Won’t Be Like This for Long”.
It Won’t Be Like This for Long Lyrics
Speaking of artists who are talented enough to successfully try their hand at multiple genres, American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman Beyoncé has demonstrated proficiency in pop, R&B, folk, and more.
In 2016, she released Lemonade, her sixth studio album containing heavy Americana and country influences. One of the standout tracks was “Daddy Lessons”, a song that embodies the Black cowboy aesthetic, weaving guns, love, family, God, self-defense, and other common country themes into a fantastic song.
Next, Beyoncé and “Daddy Lessons”.
As mentioned on Side A, the Recording Academy rejected that song for Grammy consideration, citing its “non-traditional” country sound and questioning its eligibility in the country categories.
I dare you to make a case that “Daddy Lessons” is NOT a country song – visit the Mix Tape Journeyers Facebook group to share your thoughts!
We heard from our next artist on last week’s Connections mix tape, performing the Alice Randall song “The Ballad of Sally Anne”, a traditional tune paired with Randall’s lyrics that tells the story of a lynching.
Greensboro, North Carolina musician Rhiannon Giddens is a founding member of the country and blues band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, and has released five solo albums among other projects.
From 2017’s Freedom Highway, Rhiannon Giddens defiantly reminds us, “You can take my body, you can take my bones, you can take my blood, but not my soul”.
Enjoy Rhiannon Gidden’s powerful track, “At the Purchaser’s Option” on KMTJ-DB, Denver, Colorado.
At the Purchaser’s Option Lyrics
On Side A we heard the first-recorded version of our next song, a Traditional song dating back till at least the 1870’s.
Fantastic Negrito is an American singer-songwriter whose music spans blues, R&B, and roots music. His 2016 album The Last Days of Oakland won a Grammy award for Best Contemporary Blues Album.
From that album, enjoy Fantastic Negrito’s 2016 reimagining of a song more than a century old, “Where Did You Sleep Last Night”, also known as “In the Pines”.
Speaking of old songs being reimagined in a powerful new way, our next one, “Another Man Done Gone” is a traditional African-American spiritual, expanded by THE EBONY HILLBILLIES in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement.
From the 2017 album 5 Miles from Town, enjoy THE EBONY HILLBILLIES and “Another Man Done Gone – Hands Up Don’t Shoot – BLM Version”.
As mentioned on Side A, Lil Nas X is another Black artist negatively impacted by the ridiculous racist milieu of country music, when Billboard removed Lil Nas X’s song “Old Town Road” from its Hot Country Songs chart, claiming the decision was based on the song’s lack of traditional country elements.
While there are some rap elements in this track, white country artists have been including similar elements in their music for decades, without any penalization.
Here is Lil Nas X on KMTJ-DB – Denver, Colorado with 2019’s “Old Town Road”.
I’m DJ Ponyboy, having more fun that a human being should be allowed to have!
If you have been enjoying this month’s music, please consider supporting my goal of escorting you on a musical journey through time and space every single week by signing up for my email newsletter, purchasing a product, supporting me on Patreon, joining the Mix Tape Journeyers Facebook group, or simply sharing your favourite mix tape with someone special. Thank you for your contribution; I appreciate you!
Active since 2011, Texas country artist Mickey Guyton incorporates elements of country, pop, and R&B into her music.
In 2020, in the wake of the George Floyd protests and the Black Lives Matter movement, Guyton released our next track, the single “Black Like Me”, resulting in her first Grammy Award nomination, making her the first Black woman to ever be nominated in the Best Country Solo Performance category.
Enjoy Mickey Guyton’s powerful track, “Black Like Me”.
In Side A I posed the question, “doesn’t simply being an audience member make you a participant in something?”
American country music singer and songwriter Kane Brown has been active since 2014 and serves up some killer country tracks.
Sharing his enthusiastic love for and lived experience of some of the best artists and songs country music has to offer, here is Kane Brown with one of my favourites of his, 2022’s “Like I Love Country Music” on KMTJ-DB, Denver.
Like I Love Country Music Lyrics
Hailing from New Jersey, BRELAND is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer whose music is a hybrid of country, rap, soul, R&B, and gospel.
I dare you to listen to our next song without tapping your feet or getting up and dancing.
BRELAND with his 2024 single “Icing”.
Thank you so much for joining me today for Whitewashed (Side B), a collection of songs that only scratches the surface of the incredible amount of fantastic Black country music released in the last 25 years.
Make sure to join me next week for the May 2025 New Music Mix Tape, featuring the very best new music released during the month.
Closing out Side B of this week’s mix tape Whitewashed is country artist Shaboozey performing a track featured on my November 2024 New Music Mix Tape – “Good News” on KMTJ-DB – Denver, Colorado.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
You have been listening to KMTJ-DB – Your Mix Tape Journey – Denver, Colorado.
I’m your host DJ Ponyboy, asking you to stay gold.