Black country artists showcase peerless artistry at Country Hall of Fame celebration

A compilation honoring three Grand Ole Opry members, a trio of Country Music Hall of Famers, nearly a dozen Grammy and Americana Music Association award winners and countless country, pop and R&B Billboard charting acts would be noteworthy.

However, in the case of the previously mentioned Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's updated, re-released and quarter-century-old "From Where I Stand: The Black Experience in Country Music" collection, it means something more.

Ten of the roughly 70 acts on the 82-track compilation appeared at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's CMA Theater during a two-hour Tuesday evening concert. The showcase featured performances by Blanco Brown, Cowboy Troy, Tony Jackson, Hubby Jenkins, Miko Marks, Wendy Moten, Rissi Palmer, Darius Rucker, the War and Treaty, and Barrence Whitfield.

Presented by Amazon and Riverview Foundation, the festivities were co-produced by Palmer and Grammy-winning Broadcast Music Inc. executive director Shannon Sanders. Artists performed their own songs and paid tribute to others featured in the collection. The concert was filmed and will be released on the museum's website on Sept.12.

The War and Treaty shine

The "From Where I Stand" concert will be best remembered for what felt like a consecutive hour of standing ovations for artist performances.

According to banjo player Hubby Jenkins, those standing ovations, like the foundational, Afro Caribbean-innovated instrument he played during the event, arrived after 400 years of dominant performances showcasing Black excellence in country music.

The War and Treaty (the married duo of Michael and Tanya Trotter) are worldwide favorites renowned for engendering prolonged ovations.

However, they're also fresh from a half-year-long cycle that will see them appear on prime time network television multiple times, achieve two Grammy nominations, Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association nominations and yet another Americana Music Association award victory.

Those moments have increased the robustness of their talents and how they are appreciated.

They performed a take on Ray Charles' "I Can't Stop Loving You" and their John Prine memorial track "Yesterday's Burn."

The former was a blues, gospel and soul-inspired testimonial that profoundly articulated the power of love. The latter was a moment that highlighted where the duo have evolved as peerless song stylists. The performance was a warm, not overpowered or over-wrought and entirely dignified reflection on the limitless scope of Prine's decades-long career and influence.

Generations of soulful veteran performers excel

Also worth highlighting are the generations of barnstorming traditions feted by the "From Where I Stand" compilation.

A long-standing legacy of Black country performers, who, because of lack of access to consistent appearances on the genre's pinnacle stages, have forged independent careers defined by a stunning series of dance hall, honky-tonk and occasionally arena or Opry stage performances.

Underground gospel soul favorite Barrence Whitfield didn't perform with The Savages on Tuesday evening. However, that didn't mean that his take on Merle Haggard's "Irma Jackson" — an outlaw proclamation of appreciation for interracial romance — was any less robustly delivered.

The same can be said for Virginia-born performer Tony Jackson. The ex-Marine's take on George Jones' "The Grand Tour" was delivered with a timeless, studied attention to the original. Enough of his own baritone qualities also existed in his performance to add an appreciable, unique flavor.

Fast-forward to Cowboy Troy and Blanco Brown and yes, the former's "I Play Chicken With The Train" still represents a word-for-word understanding of how many still less favorably view hip-hop as a genre influence. However, the tall, charismatic Texan is still undaunted in his work. And yes, his Muzik Mafia stablemates Big & Rich and Gretchen Wilson — among a sold-out CMA Theater lower bowl present at the event — leaped to their feet in ovation before anyone else at the CMA Theater upon Troy completing his performance.

Insofar as Brown, in the past half-decade, the success of his 2019 single "The Git Up" has led to him donating two pairs of cowboy spur-enhanced sneakers plus a Charley Pride-signed "Trailer Trap" jacket to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. He led the venue in doing a "two-step boogie" and then, as a bonus, played the spoons before the final chorus of his hit song.

Stars remain superb

In contemplating performers like Miko Marks, Wendy Moten, Rissi Palmer and Darius Rucker, it's important to note that, had history been different, 2007 would've marked a time in which they would have represented an undeniable quartet of potential Black stars in country music.

Rucker arrived in country after two decades in Hootie and the Blowfish. Moten was an R&B performer once regarded in the same breath as Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, and Whitney Houston. Her critically acclaimed talents had expanded globally into the country, jazz and classic soul realms. Insofar as Marks and Palmer, they had newly arrived in Nashville a half-decade before the establishment of CMT's Next Women of Country program.

Seventeen years later, they shared a stage. Palmer performed her own "Country Girl" and a take on Linda Martell's "Bad Case of the Blues." Moten's take on Tammy Wynette's "Til I Get It Right" with Marks' sanctified blues take on Dorothy Moore's version of 1960s and 1970s country standard "Misty Blue" delivered powerfully.

Before all of the evening's performers returned to the stage for a take on "Will The Circle Be Unbroken," Rucker closed the proceedings with "Don't Think I Don't Think About It," Charley Pride's legendary "Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'" and his own, diamond-plus-selling, decade-old version of Old Crow Medicine Show's "Wagon Wheel."

In a recent Tennessean feature, Rucker recalled a 2012 conversation they had at the Grand Ole Opry where they agreed that their desire to work more than their desire to attract attention to their work had led to neither of them ever being featured on the cover of Ebony or Jet Magazine.

However, a trio of standing ovations followed by being surrounded by Black peers elevating Black excellence in country music is also likely rewarding.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Black country artists showcase peerless artistry at Country Hall of Fame celebration