[aruanan]

it feels fraught with the racist meme that all African-Americans are supposed to be able to sing well.

No, they're all supposed to have rhythm; and, knowing a lot of real Africans, I can say they certainly would not have gotten it from there.

Hank Williams, Jr. is notorious for going flat at the ends of phrases and needing things bumped back up to pitch.

There are a lot of vocally really interesting singers out there who have rough (Tom Waits) or quirky voices (Elvis Costello) that would never ever be found on Radio Disney who, nevertheless, still have something interesting to say, an interesting way to present it, and manage to sing on pitch.

[aruanan]

A good example of non-Disney voices that are natural, unaffected, and yet very talented are found on Brasil Roots Samba.