THE READING ROOM: ‘Color Me Country: A Celebration of Black Women Who Shaped Country Music’

In 1970, Linda Martell, the first Black woman to play the Grand Ole Opry, released her album Color Me Country. “Color Him Father,” the first single from the album, hit number twenty-two on the Billboard country charts. Over fifty years later, Beyoncé was the first Black person to win the Grammy for Best Country Album. Now, in an entertaining and revealing book, Color Me Country: A Celebration of Black Women Who Shaped Country Music (Candlewick Studio/Candlewick Press), editors