CMT, mtheory announce diverse 2023 Equal Access country music cohort

CMT's successful Black, Native, Indigenous, Latino, LGBTQ+ and female country music advocacy Equal Access program partnership with mtheory -- a leading national artist development, marketing and strategy company -- has entered year two. On Monday evening at Nashville's City Winery, CMT's Senior Vice President, Music & Talent SVP, Music & Talent Leslie Fram, plus mtheory CEO Cameo Carlson announced the 2023-2024 Equal Access class.

For Fram, Equal Access allows her to answer her most perpetually self-asked question, "How can I -- and we, as CMT -- do better?"

A press release refers to the year-long Equal Access program as an "intensive artist and management training initiative designed to support underrepresented voices in country music," offering "funding and training and unprecedented access to industry leaders" to its recipients.

"CMT, along with Paramount Global and its Content for Change initiative, [is continuing to] ignite systemic change," Fram adds, citing Equal Access alongside CMT Equal Play and CMT Next Women of Country as programs excelling in "leveling the playing field in country music."

For Fram's longtime friend Carlson, implementing her long-developed action-based curriculum for industry change finds the three-decade-long music industry executive successfully applying her years of studying how the country music industry markets itself.

Carlson adds that breaking a "racial and gendered hierarchy" within the country music industry via Equal Access' "deliberate, consistent effort" creates a "ripple effect" impacting radio airplay, songwriting, publishing, streaming, record label signings, artist development, and touring, among many business interests.

The artists and managers represented impressively broaden the program's intersectional swath, plus lean far deeper into faces already from visible places looking to be heard in greater regard.

The 2023-2024 Equal Access cohort includes the following:

Artists:

• Angie K - Familiar to The Voice viewers, the queer El Salvador-born veteran Nashville country artist marks yet another CMT Next Women of Country class member (2023) to receive Equal Access highlighting. 2022 saw her -- similar to first-year Equal Access member Madeline Edwards -- appear onstage during CMA Fest's Nissan Stadium presentation

• Camille Parker - Fresh from appearing on the star-laden Apple TV+ program My Kind of Country, Parker is a California-born and North Carolina-raised 2022 CMT Next Women of Country class member who is completing her debut EP with producers Chris McClenney (DRAM, Khalid) and David Phelps (Gaither Vocal Band)

• Denitia - A queer native Nashvillian steeped in country and gospel music with musical roots in Brooklyn's soulful, rocking singer-songwriter scene, she's re-emerged in Music City, appearing nationally with the Black Opry Revue

Management professionals:

• Ahsaki LaFrance-Chachere - Born of Navajo and African-American ancestry, the Arizona-born and Houston-based entrepreneur is involved in the beauty, cattle ranching, music management and music publishing industries. Now also based in Nashville, her diversity informs the intentionality in her work.

• Alex Evelyn - The Belmont University audio engineering program alum is currently an artist manager also doubling as a radio and TV producer, plus show host at YoCo 96.7 FM, Nashville's only genre-less radio station.

• Roberto Martinez - A native of Mishawaka, Indiana, the songwriter, producer, recording engineer and live event curator arrives at the Equal Access Program after a five-year consultant stint at Warner Music Nashville. He now aims to expand into management in the country music space.

In conversation with The Tennessean, the class' uniqueness takes a deeper shape. If country music is a genre that has a historical precedent established by rewarding those with vibrant backgrounds and jaw-dropping stories to tell, the class doesn't disappoint.

LaFrance-Chachere's desire to advocate for Black, Native and rodeo voices in country by "continuing to craft and reshape the genre's expectations" isn't unique. For example, Randy Savvy's Compton Cowboys are routinely featured at the Stagecoach Festival and in national brand advertising.

However, LaFrance-Chachere's desires are different.

"John Wayne cowboy movies were shot on the reservation where I grew up. As a half-Native person, I see over 500 tribes and 5 percent of the country that are a community of people who demand representation -- and many of them love country music."

"Also, my land's chickens, cows, horses and sheep still need to be fed. Taking my success from the board room and stage to the farm is actually necessary," jokes LaFrance-Chachere.

For Parker, she's yet another "genre-fluid" artist in the country and Americana-adjacent space. Being as vocally adept and intellectually aware in the artistic catalogs of Mariah Carey and Mary J. Blige as she is in those of Miranda Lambert and Carly Pearce allows her to uniquely appreciate how the Equal Access program both "values country's traditions" but is also keenly aware of the value of progression.

"Where I'm from in North Carolina, there's only church, Walmart and country music," continues Parker, laughing.

"But, I'm also a Black woman inspired by my race and culture's progressions. Being a 'daughter of diverse traditions' in some respects reflects who I and a growing number of other Black female artists represent. Sustaining space in country's expanding musical ecosystem -- while maintaining self-respect and a credible artistic vision for powerful American music -- requires the aid of a program like Equal Access."

Angie K's desires expand far past increasing American renown for her art.

Ask her where she'd like to be heard and seen as an Equal Access program member and she mentions San Salvador, El Salvador's Teatro Presidente.

With the program's aid, the 50-year-old, 1500-seat theater dear to the country artist's native roots will host a fundraising event that she will headline -- ideally in the next 12 months.

When asked about that event's country-adoring attendees, she makes a statement speaking to the globalization of the genre's fundamental values of faith, family and fun -- especially the latter.

"I'll be there for the people back home who can out-fish the best [anglers] in Alabama," says Angie K.

Martinez is a soft-spoken small-town guy with earnest aspirations reflecting his blue-collar work ethic.

"It's surreal to take the faith and trust that artists put into my work and not feel like it's a one in a million chance that they'll get seen and heard in the [country music's highest echelons]," he states.

Denitia, in a manner feeling complimentary to her stylings as a performer, gently slides a notion she borrowed from queer African-American actress, producer, and screenwriter Lena Waithe into the conversation.

"When standing on the shoulders of so many people who have walked up to the door and pushed on it, it makes it easier for me to finally be able to stand up and open the door with [relative ease]."

She continues with an even more powerful voice, all her own.

"The six of us in this cohort are walking through unprecedented doors, taking beautiful, diverse, valuable strides to change."

"The people after us will hopefully not even have a door to concern themselves with," adds Evelyn.

For Carlson, she draws a bottom line based on money, power and respect that feels like a table-shaking endeavor with the potential for accountability, excellence and change.

"We're putting action behind calling people out to do the right things -- and they're getting done."

Parker underscores Carlson's point with an empathetic note.

"We all just want country music to love us as much as we love it."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: CMT, mtheory announce diverse 2023 Equal Access country music cohort