Country Roots: Web Edition

Man Down

By Jewel Wicker

By Nadine Hubbs

By Tomás Doncker and Yusef Komunyakaa

By S.G. Goodman

Bill called to tell us the story of Gene Thomas, the man he calls his hero.

By Sarah Graham

I want to be an outlaw like Beyoncé. I want to show up where I’m not expected and rock the house, bring the people to their feet.

By Francesca T. Royster

Country music has always taken on the greatest human emotions: grief, loss, betrayal, love.

By Sarah Rose Etter

I was known as the guy who knew the words to more old songs than anybody else. Which might be why Guy Clark and I became fast friends.

By Rodney Crowell

Whatever label was pinned on Loretta Lynn, most people had never heard anything like her before.

By Marianne Worthington

Ken Burns and Rhiannon Giddens discuss the legibility of African and African-American contributions to country music.

Ease was one part of the pleasure and disruption; a sense of pride in Black artistry was another.

By Alice Randall

I’ve been a New Yorker for more than twenty years, but my memories of the South are potent. Some are truly mine, and some I have borrowed.

By Rosanne Cash