From Where I Stand: The Black Experience in Country Music
The expanded 2024 edition of From Where I Stand: The Black Experience in Country Music documents the many ways Black Americans have created, contributed to, and been influenced by country music. From Where I Stand: The Online Experience is a free resource containing all of the music, essays, photographs, and historical track notes featured in the physical box set, plus educator tools and additional content culled from the Museum’s digital archives.
Listen to the Music
Essays (2024)
Essays (1998)
Explore the Music
Gee’s Bend Quilts
The quilts that illustrate this boxed set were made by residents of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. These images are used with permission of the quilt makers, or their estates, and bring a supportive and tangible depth to the story told in this collection.
"Charlie Parker used to hang out in Charlie's Tavern, a musicians' bar in midtown New York. To the dismay of his acolytes, he liked to play country music on the jukebox. There was reluctance to question the taste of the mighty Bird, but finally a brave jazzman asked him, 'How can you stand that stuff?' Bird looked at him and said, 'The stories man, listen to the stories!'"
Nat Hentoff, from Listen to the Stories
