Saturday night, 17 June 1999, Terry Lee Jones is one of the 16 members of the Black Country Music Association who performs in the "Shades of Country" Show at the Gibson Guitar Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Black Country Music Association was created by Frankie Staton and Cleve Francis around 1996 to provide an official forum for African Americans to pursue a country music career. Staton enjoyed a 10-year exposure as one of the main performers on the Ralph Emery Show. Francis, a noted Northern Virginia Cardiologist, recorded briefly for the Liberty Record Label.

Though Charley Pride has often been touted as the first and only African American Country Music artist, there have actually been many before and after him, mostly on independent labels.

DeFord Bailey, the first African American Country Music star and member of the Grand Ole Opry for nearly 15 years. Noted for his harmonica playing, Bailey also played a number of instruments and sang.

DeFord Bailey at


Korean War Veteran, McDonald Craig, grew up in a Country/Bluegrass musician household, recorded briefly for Nashville's Gold Standard label, and is the only Black Yodeler to ever win First Place at an Annual [1978] Jimmie Rodgers Yodeling Championship held by the Jimmie Rodgers Museum in Meridian, Mississippi. Unfortunately, these independents have been mostly overlooked and ignored by the mainstream Nashville "mindset."

Early historians, however, save the late Charles Wolfe, mostly mention them as mere "influences" rather than actual participants. In 1998, Pamela E. Foster's ground breaking work, MY COUNTRY, THE AFRICAN DIASPORA'S COUNTRY MUSIC HERITAGE hit the stores. This 300-plus page anthology by an African American traces the involvement from the beginning. The highlight of this edition is the detailed discography showing the many country songs that African Americans sang, wrote, and or, produced. [ISBN0-9662680-1-6]

Mike Johnson, Country Music's No.1 Black Yodeler, was a BCMA member for a little over a year and cancelled his membership when it was obvious that they had a clique just as tight as the Country Music Association. In spite of their claims of welcoming everyone and their input and contributions, they had a set agenda that only included a select few in their inner circle. Determined to start at the top, through a membership with CMA, BCMA rejected Johnson's suggestions that they also join a number of the Independent country groups, cater to those independent magazines, and attend those independent functions, as well, to get a foothold and become known and established. He even offered them free advertisement and promotion in his own Top-Rail Chatter magazine. Not one of them responded beyond the initial write-up that was done for the show that is presented in these video clips. BCMA even refused to allow Johnson to participate in their showcases. Eventually this refusal to network with the independents caused the BCMA to dissolve. Since 2002, there appears to be no internet or other media coverage of the BCMA and its members, or most of the performers in these clips, while Mike Johnson continues to be a viable presence on the Independent Country Music scene.

Mike Johnson was inducted into America's Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame on 1 September 2002 by the National Traditional Country Music Association. He has written over 1200 songs, including 150 yodeling songs.

In 2006, Mike's "Yeah I'm A Cowboy" was one of the 18 yodeling songs released on Bart Plantenga's "Rough Guide to Yodel" CD, and released by the World Music Network in London, England.

In April 2007, 114 of his yodeling songs, 3-CDs, and his music biography, were included in the Recorded Sound Reference Center at the Library of Congress.

In July 2009, the Mike Johnson Song Folio [22-Mike Johnson songs] was included in the Library of Congress Recording Arts Reading Room collection.

In March 2010, Mike released his 40th CD.

In December 2011, 16 DVDs of Mike Johnson performances were acquired by the Library of Congress Motion Picture & Television Broadcasting Division for their Moving Images Collection.

Joe Arnold, Roughshod Records

Mike Johnson music & biography:
http://www.freewebs.com/blackyodelno1
http://www.cdbaby.com/artist/mikejohnson

National Traditional Country Music Association:
http://www.ntcma.org

Bart Plantenga, author of "Yodel-Ay-Eee- Oooo the Secret History of Yodeling Around the World":
http:www.bartplantenga.weebly.com