RALEIGH, N.C. — Durham-based country music artist Rissi Palmer is the subject of a new PBS American Masters documentary, which hometown folks got a chance to see ahead of its television premiere.
“Rissi Palmer: Still Here” had a special advanced screening March 15 at the Durham County Main Library, with Palmer and the film’s director, Dilsey Davis (also from Durham), on hand for a Q&A. The documentary premieres on PBS March 24.
Palmer, born in a Pittsburgh suburb and mostly raised in Missouri, has lived in Durham with her husband and daughters for a number of years.
She became the first African American woman to chart a country song in 20 years, when her single “Country Girl” peaked at No. 54 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in 2007. She is one of only five African American women to ever hit the Billboard charts in the history of country music.
Palmer recorded a cover of R&B artist Jordin Sparks’ single “No Air,” but has said in interviews that she was raised listening to and singing country music.
Palmer also was featured in a 2004 documentary, “Waiting in the Wings: African Americans in Country Music,” which aired on CMT (Country Music Television).
In the new PBS documentary, Davis followed Palmer as she worked on an upcoming album, “all while managing family life and one of the busiest professional years she has had in a decade,” read a news release.
In addition to a recording career, Palmer hosts an Apple Music radio show “Color Me Country,” celebrating other Black, Indigenous and Latinx artists.
How to watch ‘Rissi Palmer: Still Here’ on PBS
The Rissi Palmer film is part of an American Masters short series called “In the Making,” which will focus on nine artists “whose work explores and influences American culture today,” said a news release from PBS.
The first installment of “American Masters: In the Making,” hosted by Audra McDonald, features the Palmer film and a film on opera singer J’Nai Bridges.
It airs at 9 p.m. ET March 24 on PBS.
More info: Get more info on the series or watch it at pbs.org/americanmasters and the PBS App.
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