‘My Kind Of Country’ Strives For Diversity In The Heart Of Nashville

Like Christianity and America itself, country music is dualistic in nature and often veers between the paths of righteousness and sin. It’s the music of the imaginary heartland and documents in song the plights of working men and women, rebels and mavericks who just want a fair shake but don’t always get one. It’s also a billion dollar business with industry gatekeepers who do their best to maintain the status quo and keep the money rolling in.  Though its popularity spans the globe and it was never uniformly “straight,” “white” and conservative, it’s never been particularly diverse, or at least not until recently.    

My Kind Of Country, which just finished its inaugural season on Apple TV+, is “on a mission to shake things up,” according to Executive Producers Reese Witherspoon and Kacey Musgraves. Putting diversity front and center, it’s “a music competition that travels the globe to break the next country music star.” The show’s contestants hail from India, South Africa and Mexico, as well as the United States, and include people of color and members of the LGBTQ community. Besides the exposure of being on the show, the winner will receive a $100,000 prize and be featured prominently on Apple Music’s country music platforms. 

The show’s judges, or “scouts,” as they’re called, represent country’s growing diversity. Jimmie Allen is a chart topping singer who won the 2021 Country Music Association Award for New Artist of the Year, the second black artist to do so since Darius Rucker in 2009. Singer Mickey Guyton was the first black woman to ever receive a Grammy nomination for Best Country Solo Performance for her song, “Black Like Me,” which was released in the wake of George Floyd’s killing. South African-born Canadian singer and musician Orville Peck is an “openly queer country cowboy,” known for wearing a fringed mask in public.  

Like numerous singing competition shows before it, My Kind Of Country puts its contestants through different challenges each week before sending one unfortunate soul packing. It also, predictably features some ringers, including singer Chuck Adams who started out in hip hop and R&B and was signed to Roc Nation artist before being dropped and moving to Nashville to pursue his country dreams. The musicians’ different backgrounds, which are not just regional but international, and their unique musical styles make for interesting moments of contrast, learning and tension.

Perhaps due to Peck’s involvement, a surprisingly high percentage of contestants hail from South Africa. Their approaches to country are diverse, from finalist Micaela Kleinsmith, who has the sensibility of a modern singer-songwriter, to the Congo Cowboys, a 3-piece band who fuse Americana and African guitar traditions. Indian-born finalist Dhruv Visvanath describes himself as a “solo percussive acoustic guitarist or a SPAG for short,“ which I didn’t know is actually a thing. Fellow finalist Ale Aguirre was introduced to country music through her stepfather in Chihuahua, Mexico, and often sings in Spanish.

Though the contestants all have personal stories that inform their music and have overcome such challenges as bullying, tragedy and failure, the show is light on drama. Mostly, it’s about the music and all the performers bring something striking and impressive to the table.  As is often the case with these shows, some of those dismissed early seemed destined for big things in the future. While the judges and coaches, which includes famed musical director Adam Blackstone, offer generic advice like, “trust yourself more,” and, “block out the noise,” their different aesthetics, which vary from commercial potential to individuality, offer intriguing insights into the state of country music as well as their own careers.

I won’t spoil the ending of My Kind of Country by revealing who comes out on top, but I will say the winner was both surprising and also makes a lot of sense. While the singing competition show is a tired format, My Kind of Country ultimately finds a new approach and amplifies new voices within a genre that is often slow to accept change. As my fellow Decider writer and native Tennessean Brett White noted, My Kind of Country also provokes a discussion that’s important to have at this exact moment in time.

The show is filmed in Nashville, long famed as the capital of country music. It’s also the state capital, where the rights of the LGBTQ community are currently under attack and where two black elected officials were recently removed from office by conservative lawmakers for daring to protest the lack of legislative action following the March 27 shooting at the Covenant School. One might not think that has anything to do with country music, but if country can’t make room for everyone at the picnic table, then it’s not really singing the song of the common person. If it can’t accept differing points of view, then it’s no friend of the rugged individualists it champions. The good news is it can change and has done so in the past. Country has always been bigger and more interesting than the stereotypes. As Kacey Musgraves says, “country music isn’t just songs about trucks.”

Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician. Follow him on Twitter:@BHSmithNYC.