From a young age, Frankie Staton awoke singing songs she heard in her dreams. Between 1977–1981, she nurtured her innate musical gifts as a singer and pianist performing at the High Point Market, the world’s largest home furnishings tradae show, where she reached a global audience of 70,000–80,000 attendees from over 100 countries during her formative years.
Inspired by that exposure, Staton relocated to Nashville in 1981, where she became a resident performer at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel & Convention Center while also appearing in many of the venues that helped define Music City. Her piano-forward storytelling approach—the intersection between country, americana, jazz and singer-songwriter traditions—was ahead of its time, particularly as an African American woman navigating a genre resistant to change.
Despite industry resistance, Staton carved out lasting visibility, performing for 10 years on The Ralph Emery Early Morning Show and making multiple appearances on Nashville Now. In 1997, she challenged a New York Times assertion that diversity did not exist in country music by founding the first Black Country Music Showcase at the Bluebird Café. Within five years, the platform elevated more than 60 country artists of color nationwide, creating opportunities where few had existed.
On February 7, 2023, Staton made her Grand Ole Opry debut, using the moment to honor artists of color whose dreams never materialized in earlier eras. Her cultural impact is further recognized through inclusion in the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum’s American Currents: The State of the Music – Unbroken Circle exhibit series. Her story and advocacy have been featured in Rolling Stone and Billboard, as well as the Amazon documentary For Love & Country and the Hulu documentary CMA Fest: 50 Years of Fan Fair.
Today, Frankie Staton continues to write and perform music that moves fluidly between genres—country, Americana, jazz, singer-songwriter, and cinematic soundscapes—using songwriting and storytelling to both entertain and educate audiences worldwide.
Frankie Staton, Photo by Cyndi Hornsby