Color Me Country Radio host Rissi Palmer joins Willie Jones on Crossroads Radio’s Apple Music Country today to discuss the Nashville music scene, their love for the genre, and representation for all artists in country music. Rissi promises she’ll have a new album by the end of the year, and that she wants Willie to feature on it. Plus, Rissi shares her favorite hits from other genres and the story of when she found out she would be in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Listen to the episode here.
Rissi Palmer on Releasing a New Album and wanting a feature with Willie
Willie: Are you working on releasing a new album by chance?
Rissi: I am. I’m working on a new album right now actually. I just started writing, and I might need a Willie Jones feature.
Willie: You know you got that. I mean, you ain’t even got to ask.
Rissi: Bet.
Willie: Straight up.
Rissi: I just have to make time in between. As you know, it’s really hard whenever you have a show, and you’re doing shows, and all that stuff, it’s hard to fit in. But I’m going to have… I’m going to say it here, and y’all hold me to it. By the end of the year, there will be a new Rissi Palmer album.
Willie: We got to hold her to it.
Rissi: Hold me to it.
Willie: By the end of the year, there will be a Rissi Palmer album. Aye, and if it don’t come by the end of the year, we still going to be waiting on it, we still going to want it. You know what I’m saying? Take your time.
Rissi: Give me hell. Give me hell if I don’t. Because I’m one of those people, if I say it, I’m going to do it. So give me hell if you see me, and I don’t have an album out by the end of the year.
Rissi Palmer Reaction on Country Hall of Fame Induction
Willie: So, what was that call like for you when they hit you up and was like, “Yo, we throwing you in the Country Music Hall of Fame.” That’s huge.
Rissi: I didn’t believe it at first, like when the guy was telling me, I was like, “Wait, what are you saying? So what does that mean?” And he explained it like three times, and then finally I was like, “So wait, what you’re saying is…” He’s like, “Yes, that’s what I’m saying.” And so I immediately, I just started crying and I was just like, I have to go. I’ll talk to you later. Thank you so much. And I sobbed, because again, for a really long time I did this and it felt like rejection for a really long time. It felt like running up and trying to chip away at this really big rock. And I wasn’t making any headway. And so having this moment come full circle was like, really, I don’t know. It was very emotional.
Rissi Palmer on Representation In Country Music
Rissi: “First of all, okay, so there was a study that was just released last week. Over 20 years of radio airplay in country music; artists of color, men and women, only account for 1% of that airplay. For Black women or women of color, we represent 0.06%. So in the grand scheme of music and entertainment, that is really crazy, how low that number is. We’ve been, for years, taught this narrative that country music is White people’s music, only enjoyed by White people. That’s not true. You and I are living testaments to the fact that that’s not true. There are so many artistes that we will never know their story, will never have this moment that we’re having. I felt like it was important to tell those stories for that reason. Everybody deserves to have their moment. Everybody deserves to have their name said.”
Willie Jones: “Yes.”
Rissi: “Everybody deserves to be remembered. There’s holidays, that’s what All Saints Days is, that we remember our ancestors, and so their memory never dies because we talk about it. I feel like that’s what the show does. That’s what the show is about, is giving everybody that moment to talk about what they’ve been through, talk about what they do, share their art, and to have their name said, to be remembered.”
