Highways, released Oct. 14, 2022, is Denitia’s latest project, and it’s one that takes her back to her “root of influence,” as she said when I asked her about what inspired the album. If there’s one thing you should know about country music, it’s that the best things you can have are a good acoustic guitar and a knack for melodies and visceral storytelling. Denitia has them all.
Currently based in New York’s Hudson Valley, Denitia’s musical landscape encompasses places like Houston, Nashville, and Brooklyn, where she honed her songwriting skills and artistic identity.
Growing up with R&B, pop, and gospel roots, Denitia’s folk/country turn is laced with pieces of her past and the comforting blanket of tomorrow. Denitia pulls you into her world through singles like “All the Sweet Tea” with its bouncy twang and chorus that’s sticky like a toasted marshmallow and opening track “Highways” with its traditional folk base and mellifluous vocals that lend themselves to driving down their titular namesake.
“Highways is an album inspired by wide open roads, life transitions, and making home wherever you want home to be,” Denitia told Keke, describing the album’s story.
When asked about what inspired her shift from atmospheric R&B to country, she said, “I grew up listening to country music, among a lot of other genres, but some of my earliest favorite music was country. When I started to play guitar and write songs as a teenager, I definitely had that as my root of influence.”
With those roots to guide her, Denitia has definitely carved out her own corner in country as a Black and queer artist. Her use of she/her pronouns in her lyrics is a refreshing sound for listeners well-versed in country music’s straight, cis-male sphere.
In more recent years, other queer country and folk artists like Brooke Eden, Orville Peck, and Allison Russell have proved that there’s room for everyone in the country world.
“I really just want to tell my story through this music and be honest. There’s something sublime that I’m always striving for – this mix between poetry and realism – and something that inspires me about music [and] art in general is how a specific human story can translate to something so universal, even transcendent,” she said, hitting the nail on the head for what country music is supposed to be all about—real, raw human stories.
She also shared, “Being vulnerable in everyday life is something that can be a struggle for me sometimes, but I always want to keep this safe space in music.”
In a 2019 Time piece, it was noted that while Black Americans had as much to do with the creation and evolution of country music as white people did, “commercial decisions by white industry executives led to their exclusion from the genre for decades,” as seen in the Ken Burns documentary Country Music that aired on PBS the same year.
“As a result of exchanges and borrowing and theft and parody, southern music pre-World War I was fundamentally multicultural,” a history professor told Time. Many of the most well-known names in classic country music were taught and mentored by Black artists, such as Rufus “Tee Tot” Payne who mentored Hank Williams, or Gus Cannon who taught Johnny Cash.
Today, thanks to the success of acts like Lil Nas X, Breland, and Mickey Guyton, Black country artists’ voices are being heard in the mainstream circles of country music and radio.
Denitia said of playing and listening to country music:
“It’s definitely a part of how I got my start – playing in bars [and] clubs in Nashville, some of my first records had that Classic Country and Americana influence. Then I moved to Brooklyn where I started to experiment with production and electronic sounds. But an acoustic guitar and a melody has always been at the heart of how I create music. I’ve been talking about making a record like this for years, and I finally did. It definitely feels like coming home in a way.”
In regards to bringing her R&B expertise with her in her jump to country music, Denitia noted that she brings “the sensibilities of all the types of music that I’ve written and am interested in into this record.”
For her, music has “always been about creating an experience – something to immerse in.”
And that she did with Highways, which takes you on a journey of identity and Americana on a road trip toward healing. The soft, earthy vibes Denitia has created are welcoming and captivating. It comes at a time that feels seasonally sound, right at the beginning of autumn when the leaves are turning and everything gets cozier, yet the last few tendrils of summer still cling to the air.
“I feel like I’m still me, but playing with a different palette of colors,” she said.
Catch Denitia on tour through Nov. 7, 2022, and stream her new record Highways here.
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