As black woman, Rissi Palmer is country rarity

The 26-year-old Palmer, tall and attractive, knew from a young age that she wanted to sing, and performed in an entertainment troupe as a teen. She sang Shania Twain and Faith Hill hits and was encouraged to pursue a career in country. Until then, she wasn’t sure she could.

“There was no one in country music that looked like me,” she says. “So I didn’t think I could be a country singer because there weren’t any other than Charlie Pride, and he’s a guy. I didn’t think it was a viable thing to do.”

When she was 19 she got her first shot at stardom when R&B superproducers James “Jimmy Jam” Harris III and Terry Lewis (Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey) offered her a deal on their Flyte Tyme Records.

It was the chance of a lifetime, but after much soul-searching, she did the unthinkable and turned them down.

“A lot of people in my family said, ’I can’t believe you just did that. That’s money.’ But I couldn’t imagine having to sing something I didn’t feel, I didn’t identify with and didn’t feel sincere about,” she says.

A long gap followed in which she worked menial jobs, sang jingles, wrote songs for a publishing company — anything to support herself while she hunted for a country recording contract.

Label drawn to talent and spirit
She was about to give up and focus on being a professional songwriter when a chance meeting led to a deal with 1720 Entertainment, a small Atlanta-based independent label that started only a few years ago. Terry Johnson, president and CEO of the company, says he was drawn to Palmer not only for her talent, but for her heart and her spirit as well.

“At the end of the day, I’ve got to believe in the individual as a person, that they’re going to have longevity and be able to take all that comes with success. I really believe that about Rissi, and that’s what sold me on her,” Johnson said.

Last summer, Starbucks Entertainment distributed a four-song “Country Girl” EP that put Palmer among the top 5 best-selling country artists on iTunes, alongside Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood.

Radio has been slower to embrace the song, which has peaked at No. 54 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

Jay Frank, senior vice president for music strategy at Country Music Television, which has been playing the “Country Girl” video regularly, says Palmer has the talent to break through to a mass audience if she finds the right song.

“I think Rissi’s raw talent has enabled her to not have anybody look at her music with prejudice,” Frank says. “When I see comments from what people think of her, it really boils down to the music.”

For her part, Palmer knows she has a lot to overcome. But just as she did in the dank honky tonks in Nashville, she keeps plugging away.

“Aside from the black thing, I’m a new artist — a female artist — on an independent label. A lot of radio people are saying, ’I like it, but is she going to be here six months from now, or a year from now?”’ she says. “We’re trying to show people that we’re here to stay, we’re here for the long haul.”

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