<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1uQJnn_0vjKNkKK00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1uQJnn_0vjKNkKK00" width="1600" height="1153" >Palmer Talks New Music in Podcast, Prepares for Rison in the Fall FestivalRISON - During this week’s episode of the Free Range Conversations podcast, Rissi Palmer recalls her first performance in Arkansas as she prepares to head to Rison as one of the featured performers at the Rison in the Fall Festival, Saturday, Oct. 12.The podcast is available to stream on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and on ClevelandCountyHerald.com below.Country star Palmer chats with Festival Director Douglas Boultinghouse and Cleveland County Herald Publisher Britt Talent and remembers her time performing at the Arkansas State Fair.Palmer said one of her first singing jobs was part of a St. Louis-based group called Team 11, sponsored by a television station. It was an experience she likened to that of the early 1990s Mickey Mouse Club featuring young stars Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.“We came on after they were judging chickens,” she shares with a laugh recalling her early career performing at the state fair.Her next performance in Arkansas was quite the step up as she returned to perform at Walmart headquarters in Bentonville to celebrate the release of her album years later.The GRAMMY Award-nominee was born in Pennslyvania outside Pittsburgh, and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri (and now lovingly calls North Carolina home), but she credits her parents’ Georgia roots, and spending time there with family for turning her onto country music.“I grew up listening to country music,” she said. “My parents were huge music fans. We listened to a little of everything. My mom really loved country music. We listened to Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Kenny Rogers.”Palmer jokes on her acclaimed Apple Music Radio Show “Color Me Country” that Rogers is “The gateway drug to country music for black people.”She said she grew up listening to country music in tandem with artists like Chaka Khan, James Taylor and Aretha Franklin, and being a child of the 1980s, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Wynonna Judd.“My music, I’ve always thought of as kind of an amalgamation of all those things,” she said. “It’s a mixed bag because I’ve been exposed to so many.”Palmer said legendary roots singer-songwriter Phoebe Snow inspired her to pick up the guitar, but no one inspired her more as a songwriter than Patty Griffin.Boultinghouse joked that he and Palmer could probably spend the entire podcast dissecting Griffin’s 1995 album “Living With Ghosts” as the two spouted song titles they loved from the prolific folk songwriter.He noted that when listening to Palmer’s debut album from 2007 that all of those influences are present, the 90s country styles of Judd, and the R&amp;B styles of Houston and Carey.Palmer remastered and re-released the album earlier this year to all streaming platforms, which is part of what prompted Boultinghouse to reach out to bring her to Rison.“It’s such a phenomenal album, and Rissi’s an incredible talent,” he said. “It’s great seeing that album have a second life.”At its release in 2007 with its hit single “Country Girl,” Palmer became the first black female artist to place on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart since 1987.The album even features a cover of Patsy Cline’s “Leavin’ On Your Mind.”Since debuting, Palmer has gone on to release additional albums, “The Back Porch Sessions,” “Best Day Ever” and “Revival,” which showcased Palmer’s music expanding into soulful, rootsy R&amp;B and country mix.She is currently recording a new album that she describes as “Southern Soul” that will be released next year, but fans attending the Rison in the Fall Festival will get to hear some of that music live as she plans to premiere new music during her set at the festival.“You guys are gonna be my test audience,” she said.In addition to performing her own music, Palmer uses her platform and “Color Me Country” show to champion other black artists in country music, and honoring those that came before her, like Linda Martel.During the podcast, Palmer and Boultinghouse discuss the hardships women sometimes face in country music compared to the men, how they’re marginalized at country radio, something she says black artists face similarities when it comes to airplay… and where streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music have helped change that dynamic.“It’s equalized things for independent artists,” Palmer said.The star also shares her excitement of playing before Charles Esten at Rison in the Fall.“Y’all got Deacon Claybourne!” she says. “I was a huge ‘Nashville’ fan," referring to the hit television series that ran from 2012-2018 on ABC, and later on CMT.In fact, Palmer was almost cast on the show.“I got called for casting,” she said. “Unfortunately I was none months pregnant.. and I couldn’t play anyone’s love interest.”Other fun stories listeners will get to experience in the Free Range Conversations podcast is the time Palmer and Boultinghouse bumped into one another at an ice cream truck in Nashville, the art of songwriting and storytelling, plus her appreciation for small towns and what she looks forward to when she comes to Rison.</div></body>

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Free Range Conversations, Episode 13: Music Star Rissi Palmer Shares Country Roots, Arkansas Memories

RISON - During this week’s episode of the Free Range Conversations podcast, Rissi Palmer recalls her first performance in Arkansas as she prepares to head to Rison as one of the featured performers at the Rison in the Fall Festival, Saturday, Oct. 12. The podcast is available to stream...