Mickey Guyton

One Liner:  Pop-forward country by a trailblazing artist

Wikipedia Genre:  Country, R&B

Home: Nashville (but from Arlington, TX!)

Poster Position: 13
Weekend Two Only.
Friday at 3:30.

IHG Stage.

Thoughts:  I had heard of her before, but never tried any of the music.  Definitely on the pop end of the country spectrum.  Real name is Candace Mycale Guyton, and she was actually born in Arlington and raised around Texas.  She moved to Nashville in 2011 when she was around 28 to give the music thing a real go and signed with Capitol Records.  The reason I had noticed her was a few years ago when the George Floyd protests were a big deal and she released "Black Like Me," which got traction with its lyrics about being a black woman in the country music scene.  Interestingly, that is not in her top ten songs on Spotify, even though at 9.4 million streams, it is bigger than more than half of those songs in the Popular list.  I wonder what that says?

I don't know if you see the commercials I do when I click on these videos, but that one for Taco Bell drives me nuts because of the way that lady says she is a "chicken girlie."  WTF does that even mean.  Sorry, that has nothing to do with this song, which has an excellent chorus - "if you think we live in the land of the free, you should try to be black like me."  Her voice is wonderful.  But again, calling this country just feels really generous to me.

She came up singing in a Baptist Church in Arlington, but says that racism was still pretty prevalent in Arlington.  After enrolling in the local public school the discrimination forced her to change to a private school.  How damn sad is that?  She was inspired to try a singing career by seeing LeAnn Rimes sing the Star Spangled Banner before a Texas Rangers game.  She moved to L.A. to sing and attend college.  While struggling to make it she even sang background on some other albums, before ending up on American Idol - she didn't make the top 24 so she didn't get much airtime apparently.  After she moved to Nashville and got signed, she was the only black female artists signed to a major label in the country genre.  Later, she was the first black female to ever be nominated for the Best Country Solo Performance category and then the first black woman to top the Canada Country chart.

Several of her top songs on Spotify are with other folks - Kane Brown, Maroon 5, someone named Lukas Graham, but her top streamer is a 2022 single that definitely sounds more traditional country.  "Somethin' Bout You," with 15.3 million streams.

Still has some pop sensibility but I could definitely see some of the other country ladies doing that sort of tune.  Catchy for sure, if a little generic with the pablum like the t-shirt, the eyes, the smile, etc.  A couple EPs to start the career, and only one album - 2021's Remember Her Name.  The top track from there is "Lay It On Me" with just over 15 million streams.

That dress is really weird, like an AI thing put on her in post-production.  While this one has some steel guitar in the background, it just sounds more like an adult contemporary R&B tune.  Heavily produced.  Not my place to tell her what kind of music to make, but I just think she has a great voice and could lean a little further into doing real country.  Go the direction of Kacey or Miranda or Brandi and see what happens.

I doubt I will do this show.