By Any Means: The Album Artists Featured on Apple Music's Color Me Country Radio With Rissi Palmer

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Nov 12, 2026, 12:15 ET

Radio Special and Highlight Video Out Now

The radio special is now available on Apple Music's Color Me Country Radio show page for on-demand play. A video of conversation highlights is also now available for playing on each artist's Apple Music profile.

The radio special and highlight video are now available on Apple Music's Color Me Country Radio show page for on-demand play.

The radio special will air globally for free on Apple Music 1 at 5 PM Eastern Time on Sunday, November 15.

Color Me Country curated the opening acts in each city on Ole Smoky Roadshow's Moonshine & Music: The By Any Means Tour.

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Anzie Blue Records and Apple Music today announced the release of Apple Music's Color Me Country Radio with Rissi Palmer radio special and highlight video for By Any Means: The Album, in conversation with the album's musical director Pynk Beard and performing artists Steve Ray Ladson and Denitia.

L-R Steve Ray Ladson, Rissi Palmer, Denitia, Pynk Beard

L-R: Steve Ray Ladson, Denitia, Pynk Beard, Rissi Palmer.

The radio special is available now for on-demand streaming on Apple Music's Color Me Country Radio show page. A 37-minute highlight video of the Apple Music studio conversation is also available for playing on the Apple Music artist pages for Pynk Beard, Steve Ray Ladson, Denitia, and Rissi Palmer. The radio special will air globally for free on Apple Music 1 at 5 PM Eastern Time on Sunday, November 15.

In this special episode of Color Me Country Radio, Rissi Palmer is joined by Pynk Beard, Denitia, and Steve Ray Ladson to discuss the making of By Any Means: The Album, recorded at Muscle Shoals' historic FAME Studios. The project reimagines iconic civil rights-era hits through a powerhouse lineup of contemporary Black roots artists. Together, they unpack how the album reclaims the deep historical through-line of Southern Black culture; from food and family to soul and country music. This potent combination of music and conversation serves as a living testament to community, authenticity, and "joy as resistance."

Palmer explained in the episode why By Any Means: The Album resonated with her: "One of the themes of Color Me Country for the last couple years has been 'joy as resistance.' Because the world is so dark, because the music business is so bleak sometimes, I wanted to make sure that we kept the focus on 'and still we persist' and 'still we rise' and 'we're still here.' And so if my ancestors can find reasons to sing and dance and make love and make music and make babies and make good food and all that kind of stuff, so can I. And so this album to me, this community, this pairing, this group of artists that you aggregated is one of the most perfect examples of joy as resistance.

The episode was filmed at Apple Music's Nashville studio, and was preceded by a visit to United Record Pressing. Founded in 1949, United Record Pressing was the first vinyl processing plant in the American south, and was a crucial record processing plant for Black-owned independent record companies like Motown and Vee-Jay Records (who released The Beatles' debut American single and album).

The By Any Means artists visited United Record Pressing's recreation of the "Motown Suite," where Black Motown artists and executives could lodge amid segregation. State Fair of Texas emcee Ian Saint presented Pynk Beard with a vinyl art gift by Dallas-based artist Mikki Mallow, that commemorated Pynk Beard's State Fair of Texas main stage performance with fellow By Any Means: The Album artists Steve Ray Ladson and The BoykinZ on the day after the album's release.

Apple Music's By Any Means: The Album episode premiere date coincides with Ole Smoky Roadshow's coast to coast Music & Moonshine: The By Any Means Album Tour, which launched in Palmer's hometown of St. Louis on November 6. The Ole Smoky Roadshow tour features Pynk Beard and Ladson, plus album artists Elsie and Stella Prince; with special guests Tone Stith, 2'Live Bre, and Tatiana Marie Clark at select shows.

Color Me Country Radio host Rissi Palmer selected a local opening act at every show. Palmer — who received the Academy of Country Music's 2024 ACM Lift Every Voice Award — remarks "Color Me Country Radio and The Color Me Country Foundation are so proud to have handpicked each of the openers for this tour. I believe in lifting up my peers through grants and opportunities, and this partnership with Anzie Blue Records and Ole Smoky Distillery has made that mission possible with this historic and culturally significant tour. Y'all are in for a soulful and joyful experience!"

By Any Means: The Album is inspired by the feature film BY ANY MEANS, starring Mark Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Matteen II, distributed domestically by Paramount Pictures. The film, directed by Elegance Bratton, was inspired by the true story of Mississippi civil rights activist Vernon Dahmer Sr. — and the FBI hiring New York mobster Greg Scapa to help investigate Dahmer's 1966 murder by KKK members.

Musically directed by Anzie Blue Records' country artist and GRAMMY®-nominated songwriter Pynk Beard, By Any Means: The Album brings together artists across generations and genres to reinterpret songs connected to the sound and spirit of the 1960s. Brandy, Kashus Culpepper, Keb' Mo', Tone Stith, and others put their own stamp on songs from iconic artists — including three performers in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's premiere induction class: Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, and James Brown.

Much of the album was recorded at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama in less than a week — bringing the project to a place with deep roots in American soul music and to Pynk Beard's home state. Pynk Beard elaborated in the Apple Music episode about how gathering artists in Muscle Shoals created a real community: "It meant the world to me to be able to call a Reyna Roberts and a Denitia, and a Keb' Mo', and a Brandy and say, 'Hey, babies. Please, I love you and I appreciate what you do. Come help me do this.' It still hits me from time to time. We did that. That really happened. We met in Muscle Shoals. We went to work together… I got to hug these people. I got to take pictures with them. We got to chat. I got to get to know them… It starts with the people. The sound comes from the people."

Denitia concurred, saying in the episode that "Recording in Muscle Shoals is so special. Walking into FAME, you can feel it. You can feel the legacy. You can feel how just so much great music has been made there and so much sweat was put into it. And making music and being an artist, especially being a Black artist at that time, it's not as easy as it is today."

Ladson added, "Just to have all of that talent in one room and knowing Muscle Shoals to be like a staple for where a lot of the hippies and a lot of the Black musicians got their start. Rick Hall took a chance back then letting the cats come in there and record… like Aretha, Arthur Alexander and all that. So, it was hard for us to get recording back then. Percy Sledge got his first hit out of there, you know what I'm saying? So, that's another reason why I wanted to be there… to be around a bunch of artists that's making history right now from the history there, it's kind of like rolling over into time. They couldn't have picked a better place to do it."

By Any Means: The Album is bookended by the original title track written by 17-time Oscar® nominee Diane Warren, performed by Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees The Isley Brothers and Nashville singer-songwriter David Kushner. The "By Any Means" original title track makes The Isley Brothers the latest of more than 40 Rock Hall inductees to release a Diane Warren composition. The "By Any Means" music video, directed by Fran Strine and available for playing on Apple Music, has been nominated for a Hollywood Music in Media Award (HMMA) for Best Music Video.

Net proceeds from By Any Means: The Album benefit the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC), supporting the organization's work to advance equity, expand opportunity, and create pathways for the next generation of artists, creatives, and music industry professionals.

BY ANY MEANS: THE ALBUM tracklisting

01. "By Any Means (Film Version)" — The Isley Brothers & David Kushner (original song by Diane Warren)
02. "We Shall Overcome" — Pynk Beard (gospel song, invoked by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his final address)
03. "What a Difference a Day Makes" — Kashus Culpepper (popularized by Dinah Washington)
04. "Hit the Road Jack" — Brandy & Pynk Beard (popularized by Ray Charles)
05. "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" — Tone Stith (popularized by James Brown)
06. "These Arms of Mine" — Saekyi & nanawho (popularized by Otis Redding)
07. "Please Mr. Postman" — Ariel J. (popularized by The Marvelettes)
08. "Talking About My Baby" — Parson James & ASHBY (popularized by The Impressions)
09. "I Love Your Lovin' Ways" — Elsie (popularized by Nina Simone)
10. "Mrs. Robinson (interlude)" — Stella Prince & Alex Devin (popularized by Simon & Garfunkel)
11. "Stand by Me" — Elsie (popularized by Ben E. King)
12. "Be My Baby" — Tatiana Marie Clark & Denitia (popularized by The Ronettes)
13. "Bring It on Home to Me" — Keb' Mo' & Pynk Beard (popularized by Sam Cooke)
14. "When a Man Loves a Woman" — Reyna Roberts (popularized by Percy Sledge)
15. "Georgia on My Mind" — 2'Live Bre & The BoykinZ (popularized by Ray Charles)
16. "A Change Is Gonna Come" — Steve Ray Ladson (popularized by Sam Cooke)
17. "By Any Means (Single Version)" — David Kushner & The Isley Brothers (original song by Diane Warren)

Stream By Any Means: The Album here: https://orcd.co/byanymeansalbumoutnow

Preorder the special edition vinyl here: https://orcd.co/bamsoundtrack

BY ANY MEANS: THE ALBUM tour dates

November 6 — ST. LOUIS, MO — Delmar Hall — opener: Brian Owens
November 8 #! — NASHVILLE, TN — Ole Smoky Distillery (free) — opener: Kenny Sharp
November 10 — NEW ORLEANS, LA — The Howlin' Wolf — opener: Joy Clark
November 11 *! — ATLANTA, GA — Smith's Olde Bar — opener: Justin St. Clair
November 12 — JACKSONVILLE, FL — Ritz Theatre & Museum — opener: Seckond Chaynce
November 13 — MYRTLE BEACH, SC — Ole Smoky Distillery (free) — opener: Magnolia Rising
November 17 — LOS ANGELES, CA — Desert 5 Spot — opener: Miko Marks