At the swanky Hall Park Hotel in Frisco on Tuesday, the Academy of Country Music honored Arlington native Mickey Guyton and “grandmother of Juneteenth” Opal Lee for their efforts to champion diversity.
The recognition came at the second annual “I’m Just Me: A Charley Pride Celebration of Inclusion” brunch, which paid homage to the late Dallas-based trailblazing singer.
Other honorees included country artists Shaboozey and Brittney Spencer as well as Lionel Richie, who forayed into the genre with his 2012 album Tuskegee. Lee, the Fort Worth activist, was represented by her granddaughter, Dione Sims.
The event took place two days before the ACM Awards, which will be hosted by Reba McEntire on May 8 at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco.
Guests arriving at the brunch were greeted by The Chosen actress and Mexican-American singer MŌRIAH performing with an acoustic crew.
Meanwhile, dashing young men in beige cowboy hats, red long-sleeves and blue denim served as ushers (they were off-duty actors and models, one said). As cocktail hour came to a close, an usher stomped and whistled, announcing with a slightly exaggerated twang that food was ready.
The designated brunch room had walls covered with blown-up photographs of Pride. Another wall featured a quote from the “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’” singer that read: “What we don’t need in country music is divisiveness, public criticism of each other, and some arbitrary judgment of what belongs and what doesn’t.”
Those last few words about belonging summed up the theme of the luncheon. Several speakers, including host Guyton, ACM CEO Damon Whiteside and Sims, Lee’s granddaughter, stressed the importance of racial diversity and overall inclusivity in the genre.
Born to a Mississippi sharecropper, Pride found massive success as a recording artist, with roughly 70 million sales of his albums and singles, D Magazine reported in 2008, a figure that put him second in all-time sales at RCA Records only to Elvis Presley.
“As kids, we grew up listening to the Grand Ole Opry. I did not realize they had not heard a Black country artist,” said Pride’s widow, Rozene, after the luncheon. She recalled her husband having an “easy entrance” into the genre. “He just walked right in … Nashville was like a second home to us,” she said.
But when white audiences realized he was Black, the budding artist struggled with bookings, he shared in his 1994 autobiography, according to The New York Times. In a move seemingly to get ahead of surprise around his race, he’d joke to audiences about having a “permanent tan.”
Pride’s label and promoters initially struggled with how to market him because of his race. Similarly, Guyton said she’s faced team members trying to “whitewash” her image and sound.
“Even though I am a more seasoned artist, we’re still fighting the same fight,” she said, referring to representation in the industry and online backlash for being a vocal critic of Nashville’s old vanguard.
Now, over three decades after Pride was lauded as a pioneer at the 1994 ACMs, several Black artists are at the forefront of country music.
Shaboozey had runaway success with his 2024 single “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” He’s up for new male artist of the year at the ACMs.
Also in 2024, Beyoncé dropped the album Cowboy Carter, which resurfaced the contributions of country music luminaries including Linda Martell to the genre. But her project also ignited discourse among those who did not regard it as a bona fide country album.
Cowboy Carter notched the awards for album of the year and best country album at the 2025 Grammys. But it received zero nominations at country award ceremonies including the ACMs and the Country Music Association Awards (at the brunch, Whiteside called the album “groundbreaking,” crediting it for a growth in country music listeners).
Some have opined on social media that the pop star being shut out of these ceremonies was evidence of how the industry could be more inclusive.
When asked if she thought Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter had been snubbed in the recent awards cycle, Guyton said before the brunch, “If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck.”
She praised the surge of interest in country subcultures spurred by Cowboy Carter. Fans nationwide have attended Beyoncé’s concerts dressed in archetypal cowgirl and cowboy looks. “It’s great to see it as an aesthetic,” Guyton said of those embracing Western wear.
But she doesn’t want Black country artists to be seen as a trend. “It’s so important to follow through with supporting these artists and loving on these artists,” she said.