Black Myself

Songs of our Native Daughters (Smithsonian Folkways, 2019)


Amythyst Kiah, vocals and guitar;
Rhiannon Giddens, backing vocals and minstrel banjo;
Leyla McCalla, backing vocals;
Allison Russell, backing vocals;
Jamie Dick, drums and percussion;
Dirk Powell, electric guitar and accordion;
Jason Sypher, bass



Dai versi finali della stessa “John Henry”, nella versione del “musicista delle colline” Sid Hemphill, il bluesman compositore e pluristrumentista registrato da Alan Lomax, arriva il titolo del R&B di apertura, “Black Myself”, scritto da Kiah, la più giovane del quartetto, esponente del alt-country blues, nativa del Tennessee, che lo interpreta con la sua voce soul. 
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This song was inspired by a line from north Mississippi hill country musician Sid Hemphill’s “John Henry:”

I don’t like no red-black woman Black myself, black myself

This sentiment is linked to the history of intraracial discrimination, the idea that being a lighter shade of black is more desir- able because it means that you look closer to being white than black. And from that I thought about how this negative conno- tation of blackness was integral to slavery, segregation, and then the “white flight” to suburban neighborhoods after desegrega- tion. I thought of my experience as a black girl in a white suburban neighborhood in the 1990s, and how, once puberty hit, the doors of my neighbors would soon be suddenly closed to me. And thus the refrain and title of this song are intended to be an
anthem for those who have been alienated and othered because of the color of their skin. — AK
Dal libretto dell'album