But as hillbilly music became a commercial product in the 1920s, record labels began dividing their releases into “hillbilly records” and “race records,” under the presumption that consumers bought music according to their race. Many of the black performers on hillbilly records went uncredited or were even scrubbed from marketing images in favor of white stand-ins. The genre was quickly positioned as an authentic return to the music of the idyllic rural white Mountain South, in direct opposition to the
black “modern dance music” of the era.
This marketing ploy meant that many black artists were pushed to the margins of country music, even if they remained influential behind the scenes. Lesley Riddle, a black guitar player, helped A.P. Carter of the Carter Family hone his repertoire of mountain songs and greatly influenced the fingerpicking guitar style of Maybelle Carter, who is considered one of the most influential guitarists of all time. Rufus “Tee Tot” Payne mentored a young Hank Williams; Gus Cannon taught a young Johnny Cash. Bill Monroe, called “The Father of Bluegrass,” talked of his indebtedness to the guitarist Arnold Schultz. But all of those black artists would be vastly eclipsed by their mentees.
And the one black star of country music’s first era, DeFord Bailey, was likewise treated with an ambivalence that sometimes bled into contempt. The harmonica player, who was the grandson of a slave, became the most frequent performer on the Nashville radio station WSM’s Barn Dance, with his virtuosic renditions of “Pan American Blues” and “The Fox Chase” riling up audiences across the south. In 1927, one of his performances even provided the backdrop for the genesis of the Grand Ole Opry, the radio program that became country music’s central institution, with Bailey one of its pioneer members.
Burns hopes that Lil Nas and other rising black stars like Kane Brown,
Blanco Brown and Jimmie Allen will help return the country genre to its diverse roots, and to a time before an early promise of integration was eclipsed by commercial interests. “You can’t conceive of this music existing without this African-American infusion,” the historian Bill C. Malone says in
Country Music. “But as the music developed professionally, too often African-American musicians were forgotten.”
bands like Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones ripped off throughout their careers, only to turn around and sue hip-hop producers for sampling their drum breaks. 
