For going on five years now, Jaime Wyatt has been one of the most important and entertaining artists in all of independent country music. Her 2017 album ‘Felony Blues’ about her time in a California State Correctional Facility was one of the best releases of that year.
Diplo played the same role at the 2019 Stagecoach Festival, which was the last time the event was held, and right before a rash of women came out making numerous accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior against the DJ, resulting in restraining orders and criminal investigations.
“When I was riding up and down the roads in Iraq, I knew there was a chance there were mines or IEDs on either side of the road. But I didn’t anticipate that when you file something as innocuous as placing a statue after a beloved Tennessean, there would be as many mines along this path.”
Re-integrating important black voices into that living tapestry should be a priority for the genre moving forward. But performing this important re-integration as either a commercial enterprise, or via hip-hop appropriations will only be effective at eroding what makes country music so vital.