The Racial Limitations of Country-Soul Crossover in Bobby Womack's BW Goes C&W, 1976

Bobby Womack's BW Goes C&W (1976) presents a case study in country's long entanglement with race and genre boundaries. Though Womack incorporated country references on other albums, this was his only country album. It is sonically proximal to pop country of the 1970s, while including elements of soul and R&B. Womack aimed to make not just any country recording, but one that would address a black audience and highlight—visually and aurally—a black identity. This article provides close readings to show how Womack's album engaged with country music while actively confronting racial exclusion in the genre. Today's discourse about race and genre provide opportunities to reconsider these issues in country music's history—a history that continues to ramify. For comparison, I address parallels in recent country music, demonstrating that the genre-color line that hemmed in Womack is under scrutiny. But this scrutiny is a far cry from change. Womack explicitly confronted racial issues in BW Goes C&W, yet these remain just as troubling in 2020 as they were in 1976.