Screenings and panels for the Amazon Music documentary film For Love & Country were held on June 10 during CMA Fest.
Credit: Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Amazon Music
An in-depth discussion of the film on the CMA Close Up Stage at Fan Fair X featured Amazon Music Breakthrough Artist BRELAND, Blanco Brown, Shy Carter and Frankie Staton and was moderated by award-winning journalist Dyana Williams. Hundreds of fans gathered in the Music City Center to learn more about the history of country music and the influence of black musicians on the genre.
A second panel and screening followed at the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM). Moderated by Tamar Smithers, Sr. Director of Education at NMAAM, the panel included BRELAND, Shy Carter, Frankie Station, Mike Floss and Willie Jones. Museum members and CMA Fest participants joined together in the Roots Theater to hear about the experiences of these artists in Nashville and learn about the significance of the museum as the only one dedicated to the history of black music in the United States.
Amazon Music’s For Love & Country observes country music’s complicated past and how the music industry itself helped to enshrine a skewed version of the genre, its artists, and fans. Directed by photographer and director Joshua Kissi, For Love & Country examines country music through the personal stories of a new generation of Black artists claiming space in Nashville—and helping to transform the genre in the process. For Love & Country is out in the Amazon Music app and on Prime Video.
