Beyonce has gone country, and MAX is here to document the occasion. Unfortunately, they allowed this documentary to pass through with TTS audio description, which is disappointing. MAX has largely steered clear of the Test To Speech Robodescriptions, using voices that sound similar to those we encounter on a regular basis in our other accessibility tools as the thing that helps to enhance our entertainment. It’s not really an enhancement so much as the minimum. And I do mean minimum. Text To Speech audio description is less costly, because they skimp on voice talent. That voice talent missing on a documentary short about black country artists not feeling seen in their industry prior to Beyoncé seems like an odd choice. If I was diving into the TTS fray, I wouldn’t have started with a doc about marginalization, since in some ways that is exactly what TTS does. Instead of getting any kind of entertainment experience, the movie is narrated by a voice that sounds a hell of a lot like the screen reader that is helping me type out this review.

On the merits of the actual documentary, it did feel weird that Queen Bey doesn’t make any kind of appearance, and people just talk around her. I would have loved a sound bite from her as to her thoughts on the lack of black country artists, but the doc does a nice job of managing the lack of Ms. Carter. I would have preferred a feature length documentary, but you get what you can get.

I’m not a fan of the audio description, but this short documentary is important and asks the question about why it is so easy to count all the popular black country artists on one hand. I’m pretty sure plenty of black people grew up in the south, and grew up on country music, hoping to one day bring representation. That door just needs to be opened for them to get through. They can’t all be expected to achieve Beyoncé level success before jumping into country. Our next big country artist shouldn’t be Rihanna.

Final Grade: B+