In December of 2020, The Rainey Day Artist Fund partnered with me to create the Color Me Country Artist Fund to build on the work I do with Color Me Country Radio on Apple Music. The mission is the same: to support the underrepresented voices of BIPOC artists in country music that, for too long, have lived outside the spotlight and off the airwaves.

Linda Martell

It has been 56 years since the debut album by Linda Martell, the first Black woman to play the Grand Ole Opry and to chart a song on the Billboard Country Chart. Her album, Color Me Country, was the foundation upon which I, and everyone after her, have built their careers. Because of racism and sexism, Linda was blacklisted and pushed to the margins of country music history. The more I learned of Linda’s story, the more I realized that I could have very easily found myself in the same position, had it not been for resources and opportunity.

It was then I decided that no other artist should face this fight alone or have to leave the business simply because of a lack of financial help. The work with Color Me Country — both the radio show and the artist fund — are my love letter to every artist of color whose names we’ll never know who made it possible for me to first step on that Opry stage in 2008.

To date, the CMC AF raised over $200,000 and distributed over 82 grants to BIPOC country music artists, several of whom have also been honored with inclusion in CMT’s Next Women of Country program, perform on the CMAs, receive Grammy nominations… and we’re just getting started.