Country Culture

Country music in the United States has a rich heritage that draws on multiple influences from black spirituals, blues, and Appalachian folk music to rock and roll and, more recently, hip hop. Despite its popularity and this wide-ranging background, the genre is not particularly known for its diversity and inclusivity and is often seen primarily as the domain of conservative, white Americans.

“Thinking about political divisions in the United States, country music is often at the core of at least the aesthetics of those conversations,” says Professor Mark Laver. “So it seemed like a like an apt moment to engage with that perception, while also gaining an understanding of how music works and what it means.”

Through course-embedded travel this past spring, Laver enabled students to experience first-hand the culture surrounding country music, to participate as both audience and creators of the music, to dive into its history, to challenge industry leaders on issues of diversity and inclusion, and to challenge their own preconceived notions as well.

Global Experiences at Home

The travel for this course was facilitated by the Institute for Global Engagement’s course-embedded travel program. The program supports faculty-led, site-based global experiences that complement on-campus academic coursework to deepen students’ global learning.

“Professor Laver’s course is a wonderful example of a high-impact, immersive learning experience that fosters global and intercultural learning for Grinnellians,” says Ashley Laux, associate director of Faculty-led Learning Across the Globe (FLAG). “Domestic course-embedded travel opportunities such as this help to build understanding that global learning also happens within the U.S. (and not just outside of our borders) and also increases student access to our programs in case some students are unable to travel internationally.”

The 10-day travel portion of the course took students through St. Louis where they stopped for dinner and live music and time to explore the National Blues Museum. Then to Memphis, Tenn., where they visited the National Civil Rights Museum and the historic Sun Studios where Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, and many others recorded. The heart of the trip took place in Nashville, Tenn., the heart of modern country music. Here, students took group line dancing lessons, visited the national Museum of African American Music, listened to live country performances, and visited the Country Music Hall of Fame, Ryman Auditorium, and The Grand Ole Opry among other places. In Virginia, students visited the Carter Family Fold and the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. And the final full day allowed students to explore Dollywood Theme Park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

“The travel component enhanced the course and provided a wonderful opportunity to explore museums, live music performances, and talk in-person with people who actively create and change the industry,” says Hayley Carson ’25. “This trip allowed me to better understand the power dynamics and work of the entertainment industry. After each day, we would reflect as a class and have deep, meaningful conversations about the connections between institutions and experiences, which was magical. Being able to see and experience is vastly more impactful than reading first or secondhand accounts of a topic.”

More than Observers

Packed though the experience was with site visits, the trip was much more than a sightseeing venture. Students also leveraged alumni connections to arrange meetings with industry insiders, including representatives from the Country Music Hall of Fame and The Country Music Association (CMA), to learn from — and challenge — the current state of country music.

Cameo Carlson ’93, CEO of mtheory, an artist development and management company with offices in New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Nashville, helped connect the class with those actively working in the industry.

Laver worked with Carlson to secure behind-the-scenes-access with curators at the Country Music Hall of Fame who write the copy that is seen by the public and have a say in the way that exhibits take shape, as well as with the CMA, the country music trade association.

“I had notified the CMA that we were really interested in talking about diversity and equity issues and country music, because that’s been an ongoing concern and focus of discussion in the class,” says Laver. “We had opportunities to ask similar questions around diversity and equity at the Hall of Fame. Students had a chance to really hold some of these folks to account for decisions that their organizations have made historically and that the students observed going through these different museums. There were opportunities to engage on immediate, pressing concerns with folks who are actually in a position to make a difference. And the students did a powerful job of engaging thoughtfully, generously, and critically with these folks and in a couple instances we’ve been invited to give some more robust written feedback.”

“My greatest takeaway from the course and travel experience is the complicated reality of contradictions in the entertainment industry as well as in performative DEI measures,” says Carson. “Country music has a bad reputation due to the tight commercial hold of a ‘traditional’ and reminiscent white experience, with the industry intentionally encouraging exclusivity. While the Country Music Association claims to be promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, it is truly the work of smaller organizations to create a more inclusive music scene and industry that is making a difference.”

Making Music

Besides offering critiques of the industry, students also worked with industry professionals to write and record their own songs in a working studio in Nashville.

“Some of the students were experienced songwriters but many of them had never really thought about writing a song,” says Laver. “They wrote songs working in groups of three with support from the country music hall of fame and then connected with a songwriter from Nashville who offered critiques and helped them think about melody. Then one of the visits was to a recording studio where students recorded their songs and got the professional scale experience of what recording can feel like.”

In all, 15 students recorded songs and received hands-on experience working in the studio and getting a feel for what it means to be a producer of music as well as a fan.

“I never wrote a song before this course, nor did I sing in a recording studio before this trip,” says Carson. “I never saw myself being naturally inclined, which had shut my brain off from the possibility. I was very much pushed outside my comfort zone both creatively and academically, which has been amazing to experience.

“I would wholeheartedly recommend a course like this to future students because the takeaways are endless,” she adds. “The exposure to many new (sometimes conflicting) ideas in a setting that allows and breaks down the concepts is wonderful. And I unexpectedly learned that I have a place within this industry, that I have powerful ideas to create change within the DEI sphere of entertainment. Before this course, I had very minimal exposure to music education, but halfway through the course, I am seeing the limitless possibilities of jobs within the music sphere.”