Not Less Is More

"There would not be less of us if more of us were visible," KATHY VALENTINE told the assembled glitterati and gatekeepers as her band, the GO-GO'S, was inducted into the ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME Saturday night, distilling the idea of diversity, equity and inclusion into a single line with the poetry and punch of a great rock and roll lyric. (Someone should write the rest of that song.) It was a good night for women at the rock institution, the first such night in a long time, and it wasn't because the Hall's selectors decided to induct artists simply because they're women but, rather, because the Hall's selectors decided to stop *not* inducting artists simply because they're women. Which is a very different thing. See also: hip-hop. "Growing up, we didn't think we could be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Fame," said JAY-Z, one of a record two rappers inducted into the Hall. (Yes, really: "record two.") Great hip-hop artists tend to have great imaginations, but there's only so far your imagination can take you. Rappers growing up now will hopefully learn the opposite: They *can*. That matters.

I was thinking of all that as I read JEWLY HIGHT's NPR Music story about Black musicians and advocates who've been building their own spaces and support systems within a country/roots/Americana scene that hasn't always welcomed them. To make themselves more visible. So there won't be less of them in the future. Among the people Hight wrote about is my friend MARCUS K. DOWLING, a music journalist who has occasionally curated and written this newsletter. When I met Marcus, I knew him as an electronic music and hip-hop writer, which, it turns out, wasn't entirely by choice. He had an interest and expertise in country, too, but strangely couldn't get anyone to buy those pitches. That started changing in the summer of 2020, when, as Hight puts it with a touch of understatement, "public reckonings reached certain sectors of the country ecosystem."

In the past year or two, Dowling has become a familiar face around Nashville and a widely published advocate for Black country and roots music. And not unlike the Go-Go's in Cleveland, he's made a conscious decision to hold the door open for other Black writers and artists. In September, during the AMERICANA MUSIC CONFERENCE, he co-hosted (with HOLLY G, founder of the website BLACK OPRY) a series of guitar pulls for Black artists at a rental house they called the BLACK OPRY HOUSE. The goal was to re-create the conditions that have allowed white country artists to develop, network and flourish, and make them available to everybody else. "I feel very good to say that white people paid me to write about country music," Dowling told Hight. "I then paid for Black people to come down to Nashville and to write songs about country music." Perfect. That other Opry celebrated its 5,000th Saturday night broadcast this weekend. May this have been the first run of many for an Opry upstart.

Etc Etc Etc

KISS's GENE SIMMONS and PAUL STANLEY have been vocal advocates for masks and Covid vaccinations. But did lax enforcement of Covid safety measures on the band's current tour lead to the death of Stanley's longtime guitar tech, FRAN STUEBER, in a hotel room two weeks ago? ETHAN MILLMAN investigates for Rolling Stone (paywall)... JON BON JOVI and BRYAN ADAMS are among a "growing list of vaccinated musicians" who have had to cancel performances after testing positive for Covid-19, the LA Times reports. Both are said to be feeling fine. Adams was forced to pull out of the TINA TURNER tribute at the Rock Hall of Fame induction ceremony.... LIVE NATION selling SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA ticket stubs as NFTs... Atlanta's hip-hop cat rescuer.

Rest in Peace

BRUCE GASTON, celebrated American composer/performer of Thai classical music... ERIC GREIF, metal lawyer and manager whose clients included Death, Obituary and Massacre.