Dispelling The Myth That Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” is a Country Album

Story Highlights:
- Beyoncé has never referred to her album Cowboy Carter as country. Conversely, her statement of “This ain’t a country album, it’s a Beyoncé album” continues to be used in the promotion and marketing of the album.
- Cowboy Carter wasn’t even originally known by that name. The original name of the album was Beyince, and was changed after public pressure ensued to call the album “country.”
- Calling Cowboy Carter a country album insults Beyoncé’s artistic intent to “bend and blend genres.” The album was meant to be a genre-breaking work, not to be defined by any specific genre, including country.
In the aftermath of Beyoncé winning the Grammy for Best Country Album at the 2025 Grammy Awards, it begs for a deeper look into the album, along with the marketing, conversation, and media coverage surrounding it, and how we ultimately got here. With the amount of complexity and nuance in the subject, it deserves a deep dive that starts at the very beginning when Beyoncé first released the initial songs, all the way to the landmark Grammy win.
Due to the depth and length of the discussion, you can also listen and/or watch via YouTube below.
So once and for all, is Beyoncé’s 2024 album Cowboy Carter actually a country album, or not? This seems to be a question vexing many music fans and journalists alike who are wrestling with where exactly the album should land. Of course, conversations about what is and isn’t country can be super annoying and tedious all on their own, while many wonder if genre even matters anymore. But when it boils down to who should win things like Grammy Awards and in what specific genre categories—and how history should regard certain albums—the question becomes a bit more important.
And when you take a deep dive into the Cowboy Carter question, what you find is that Beyoncé herself doesn’t feel comfortable calling the album country. In fact, demanding that Cowboy Carter be considered country actually insults Beyoncé’s artistic intent, and the purposeful approach she took with the album, which parallels the hypocritical standpoint some musical pundits take when they previously claimed genre didn’t matter, but now demand that Cowboy Carter be called country, or the album is a victim of “gatekeeping” or “racism,” or some other scandalous offense.
So let’s take a deep, objective look, and attempt to answer the question, is Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter truly a country album?
To determinedly answer the Cowboy Carter question, we first have to rewind to back to Beyoncé’s previous album released in 2022 called Renaissance, or in elongated form, Act I: Renaissance. A quick but interesting tidbit to note is that Beyoncé actually recorded the lion’s share of Cowboy Carter before Renaissance, and originally planned to release Cowboy Carter as Act I. Cowboy Carter was recorded in the years before the pandemic, while Renaissance was recorded during the pandemic.
Beyoncé believed the world needed something a bit more upbeat and inspiring after the turmoil of the COVID-19 era, and so instead of releasing Cowboy Carter first, she released Renaissance as a uncharacteristically dance-infused album from a performer known more for pop, hip-hop, and R&B. Specifically, Renaissance is meant to evoke and reclaim Black dance music styles such as late ’70s disco and house-style music.
It was shortly after the release of Renaissance that the theories that the three acts of the album trilogy would act as reclamation projects for Black music emerged, and that Act II might be a country or country-inspired project. After all, Beyoncé is originally from Houston, Texas, and has displayed country influences in the past, namely her song “Daddy Lessons” from her 2016 album Lemonade.
So amid rumors of potential collaborators and the sound of the music Beyoncé had been working on, a theory that Act II would be a country album was already entrenched in the minds of fans and media even before a peep was made publicly about Act II. This is a very important point to highlight, because the preconceived notion about what Act II would ultimately be very likely influenced how Cowboy Carter was ultimately presented to the public. It very well could be that public perception wishcasted Cowboy Carter into a country project, whether it was meant to be one originally, or not.
All this was the setup for Beyoncé’s big reveal during the 2024 Super Bowl on February 11th. A minute-long Verizon commercial featured Beyoncé trying quote/unquote “break the internet” by doing various things, like revealing an AI lookalike robot, and flying in a rocket into space. When none of these things worked to “break the internet,” the commercial ends with Beyoncé saying, “Okay, they ready. Drop the new music.”
It was at this time that the tracks “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” were released to streaming services, and the Cowboy Carter era began … well, kind of. We didn’t have a name for the new album yet. We didn’t really even have any explanation from Beyoncé about the new music at all. All we had were two songs. But for those that were expecting Beyoncé’s new album to be country, they had all the info they needed.
Scores of articles and stories in prominent news outlets declared unequivocally that Beyoncé was releasing a country album. One especially viral story published by Time Magazine even declared quote, “The greatest lie country music ever told was convincing the world that it is white … [Beyoncé] did not need white validation to classify her country—she has been country for the entirety of her life. It is her trumpet. A trumpet that must be blown, for the walls of Nashville’s Music Row to fall down, so the rightful heirs of country music may come in.”
Yet while most fans and much of the media took the juicy headline “Beyoncé goes country” and ran with it, there were ample indicators very early on that what was actually happening with the Beyoncé rollout was much more complex and nuanced. First of all, the songs themselves might have sounded country-influenced, but they certainly weren’t slam dunk “country” compared to what most people would consider country.
Most interestingly though is what the metadata for the tracks said, meaning the digital information that gets distributed with the songs that tells streaming services, radio programmers, etc. how long a song is, who the writers and producers are, if there are any explicit lyrics in them, and what genre they belong in. Instead of “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” being marked “country” as you would expect for country songs, they were marked “pop.”
Now remember, at this time, Beyoncé has made no statements saying her new album is going to be country. There was no such pronouncements in the 60-second Super Bowl commercial, and Beyoncé hadn’t said anything publicly at this point. The only thing claiming the new music was country was Beyoncé’s fans and certain music pundits. Though most streaming services don’t list the genre information for a track, Apple Music does, and both “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” were clearly listed as “pop” initially.
Also note that “Texas Hold ‘Em” was also marked with an ‘E’ for “explicit.” This would also factor into the situation as things unfolded.

This initial slotting of the Beyoncé songs as pop came with its own backlash, controversy, and claims of racism and gatekeeping against both Apple Music, and ironically, Beyoncé’s own label who had filled out the information. Apple was immediately swarmed by members of Beyoncé’s notorious Stan army, the Beyhive, demanding the songs be labeled as country. But as this was happening, others stepped into clarify that it was Beyoncé’s Parkwood Entertainment label that was responsible. So then the ire turned to the label, which also began to receive pressure to call the songs country.
This would be a minuscule controversy compared to what was about to ensue, but it illustrates the disconnect between what Beyoncé and her label were saying, and what the public was perceiving, and demanding. This became especially exacerbated in the coming hours and days when the the idea that country radio was refusing to play “Texas Hold ‘Em” became a massive media story, making it all the way to the network evening news broadcasts.
Eventually, under pressure, the metadata for the tracks themselves was changed from “pop” to “country.” But even after the initial release of “Texas Hold ‘Em,” the song was not available for radio play to country stations, and for a host of reasons. First, the version of the song released to the public was marked “explicit,” meaning that it would be against the law to play it on public airwaves. Any radio station who played “Texas Hold ‘Em” uncensored could face fines or the loss of their license by the FCC.
For a track to be played on country radio, it has to be serviced to country radio, meaning the track has to be sent to radio stations through a distribution service such as Play MPE. These companies are important because they distribute clean versions of explicit tracks, along with helping both the radio stations and charting organizations such as Billboard to keep track of who is adding and playing songs on their station.
Similarly to how Beyoncé’s own label Parkwood Entertainment were the ones that initially marked “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” as pop, they also initially serviced the tracks to pop radio, and pop radio only. They did not service them to country radio, as confirmed by Billboard at the time. Not only is this the second major indication that perhaps Beyoncé and her camp did not consider “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” country songs, it also put country radio a step behind adding the songs compared to pop stations.
As Billboard would go on to report, not until pressure was mounting on country radio stations to play Beyoncé’s songs did Parkwood Entertainment then work to get “Texas Hold ‘Em” to country stations. This happened on the afternoon of February 13th—2 1/2 days after the songs were initially released. Yet by this time, it was already too late. A massive controversy had already ensued that claimed that country radio was refusing to play “Texas Hold ‘Em.”
Even with servicing a song to country radio, this doesn’t mean it will be automatically added by country radio stations, or even considered for play. As Billboard explained at the time, “Country radio has traditionally been reluctant to play songs that aren’t serviced to them or then actively promoted by the label.”
Beyond the date that a song is actually serviced to a radio station, you also have the official “adds” date. The adds date is when the label formally requests for radio stations to add a particular song. In the case of Beyoncé and “Texas Hold ‘Em,” it was announced on February 14th that the official adds date would be February 20th.
Radio stations do not have to wait for the official “adds” date to add a track to their playlist, but there are multiple reasons why the “adds” date is important to a single.
First, the top-added tracks on country radio for a given week get aggregated into their own chart. Going #1 on this chart or getting into the Top 5 is usually considered a good sign for a song. This accolade is then often advertised in radio trade publications such as Country Aircheck and Billboard Country Update to highlight that a song is receiving high consideration and traction on the country radio format, enticing other stations that might be reluctant to play the track to get on board.
Long story short, Beyoncé’s own label was asking country radio stations not to play “Texas Hold ‘Em” until February 20th. But well before that official adds date, country radio was being attacked as racist for not playing the track. Yet ironically, there actually were some radio stations that added “Texas Hold ‘Em” almost immediately, even before the track had been officially serviced to them, let alone before the official adds date.
According to Billboard, “In the first 24-plus hours of release … eight reporters to Billboard’s Country Airplay chart played ‘Texas Hold ‘Em,’ … according to Mediabase.”
Nonetheless, there was already a full-throated revolt against country radio for refusing to play the song, including accusations of racism and gatekeeping. On February 14th, Forbes posted an article titled “Beyoncé’s New Songs Aren’t Getting Played On Country Radio — Despite Streaming Success.” The article specifically cites Billboard‘s statistics that only eight of the radio stations that report to Mediabase had added the song, characterizing it as a shocking statistic that spoke to country radio’s refusal to play the song.
But the adds date for “Texas Hold “Em” wasn’t until February 20th—six days after the Forbes article was published. Nonetheless, this “only 8 country radio stations” stat became a constant refrain in criticism of country radio’s supposed refusal of Beyoncé, with scores of other outlets going on to cite this statistic.
Also confusing the issue was the very viral, yet very anecdotal story of a lone country radio station in Oklahoma initially claiming that they wouldn’t play “Texas Hold “Em”—before reversing course almost immediately. A X/Twitter user named Justin reached out to KYKC in Oklahoma on February 13th to request they play “Texas Hold ‘Em.” The user got back the response, “We do not play Beyoncé on KYKC as we are a country music station.”
This response set off a social media firestorm that reached all the way to the national news, with hundreds of articles and news stories published about it. But as we know now, on the morning of February 13th when the email exchange between the X/Twitter user and KYKC happened, “Texas Hold ‘Em” had not been serviced to country radio yet, only pop radio. It was also nearly a week before the official “adds” date.
KYKC General manager Roger Harris said in a statement on February 14th, “We initially refused to play it in the same manner if someone requested us to play the Rolling Stones on our country station. Fact is we play Beyonce’ on TWO of our other stations and love her…she is an icon. We just didn’t know about the song….then when we found out about it, we tried to get the song….which we did and we have already played it 3 times on KYKC, our country station. We also play her on 105.5, KXFC-FM and KADA-FM 99.3.”
In other words, the primary country radio station at the heart of the controversy played “Texas Hold “Em” before the song had even been officially serviced to country radio, facilitated by the fact that the station already had it in their system due to pop sister stations already playing the song. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to play it at all, because it hadn’t been serviced to them yet.
Nonetheless, the media firestorm that ensued characterized the entirety of country music as rejecting Beyoncé. It also created an environment of fear throughout country radio that if the song was not added by a country radio station, they could be the next one on the national news being accused of racism for not playing the track. This made adding Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” on country radio a compulsory action throughout the format, irrespective if a program director or DJ believed it was country, or if their listeners wanted to hear it.
On February 19th—a day before the official “adds” date for “Texas Hold ‘Em,”—MSNBC once again cited the stat of “only eight country stations” playing Beyoncé from Billboard aggregated seven days previous and said, “Let’s be very clear here. This is just the latest flash point of the long and ugly history of racism within the country music establishment.”
What happened when “Texas Hold ‘Em” officially went for “adds” on country radio on February 20th? It became the most added track on the format, with 75 of the 157 reporting stations adding the song according to Mediabase. Lo and behold, just like is hoped whenever you set an adds date, “Texas Hold ‘Em” did so well, Beyoncé’s label used the moment to promote the track in country radio’s trade periodicals.

But even with Beyoncé getting the coveted “#1 Most Added” crown, it did not stop the misrepresentation that country music was gatekeeping Beyoncé due to racism, and that she was still not being played on country radio. On February 28th—eight days after “Texas Hold ‘Em” became the “most added” song on country radio—a petition was started on MoveOn.org titled, “Stop the racism and gatekeeping! Play Beyoncé’s new country songs on your radio stations NOW!,” which resulted in a rash of further media reports.
The petition and the reporting surrounding it underscore that even as Beyoncé was being supported at country radio more than many other artists within country music, the falsehood that she wasn’t being supported at country radio at all persisted. Meanwhile, in the midst of claims of racism at country radio, Black country artist Kane Brown also scored his 11th #1 single with the song “I Can Feel It.” Though it’s fair to recognize that Black and Brown artists have historically struggled at country radio, eleven #1 singles by Kane Brown underscores that Black performers are not going entirely unrepresented, and characterizing it as such is an element of Black erasure itself.
But pushing aside the massive controversy with country radio, through this whole period Beyoncé had still not made any public statements about her new music, had not characterized it as country, and hadn’t even really given any hints about what she has in store. There was no confirmation that Beyoncé considered the new music country. If anything, every indication from Beyoncé and her label was that they didn’t consider it country. That is why they labeled the metadata for the tracks as pop, and sent the songs to pop radio, and only sent the songs to country after public pressure ensued.
This all led up to a post on Instagram on March 19th from Beyoncé herself. This was really the first time she ever addressed the new music. In the post, Beyoncé explained the inspiration behind the album, saying in part, “It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed…and it was very clear that I wasn’t.”
Most everyone is assuming this has something to do with the 2016 CMA Awards, which also happened to be the 50th Anniversary presentation of the awards. Beyoncé was booked as the centerpiece of the awards, and performed her song “Daddy Lessons,” which some were characterizing as a country song at that time. Along with the [Dixie] Chicks, Beyoncé received the largest performance slot of the entire presentation.
Beyoncé’s appearance at the 2016 CMAs was criticized by some, including Travis Tritt, and Alan Jackson reportedly walked out when Beyoncé was performing. But they were not the only performers who took issue with Beyoncé taking time and attention away from country performers on a country music awards show. Black country and roots artist Rhiannon Giddens did too. She had performed on the CMA presentation with Eric Church via their song “Kill A Word.”
Rhiannon Giddens said in a 2017 interview with the Associated Press, “I’ve studied this music. You know what I mean? I’m not coming from another genre. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Justin Timberlake did it last year, and that was a lovely moment … I just know what angered me about it was that it overshadowed two other performers of color who were kind of naturally there—Charley Pride, who’s a huge figure, and then myself as a guest of Eric Church.”
There was also a controversy that ensued when the CMA deleted video clips of Beyoncé performing that were posted on social media. Some country fans posted critical, and in some cases, outright racist statements under the videos. Initially, the CMAs were attacked for creating a forum for Beyoncé criticism to persist. Then ironically, after the CMAs deleted the posts, they were attacked for trying to erase Beyoncé’s appearance on the CMAs entirely, as if people would forget it happened simply if they deleted the videos.
Later it was revealed that it was actually Beyoncé’s own camp that requested the CMAs delete the videos since the CMA had not obtained proper permission to post them in the first place. But similar to the radio controversy with “Texas Hold ‘Em,” the canard persisted that somehow the CMAs had done something wrong, when they were the ones who invited Beyoncé to perform in the first place.
It’s also important to underscore that even though most people assume the moment Beyoncé did not feel welcome in country stemmed from her CMA appearance, there has never been any confirmation of this. Around the same period, Beyoncé submitted her song “Daddy Lessons” to the Grammy Awards as a country song, and it was rejected by the Grammy’s country committee. This very well could be the moment Beyoncé felt rejected. After all, the Grammys play a big role in Cowboy Carter, as would be revealed later.
But the more important part of Beyoncé’s March 19th Instagram post when trying to determine if Cowboy Carter is country or not is when she said her intent was to “propel past the limitations that were put on me. act ii is a result of challenging myself, and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work.”
In other words, as opposed to claiming Cowboy Carter was a country album, Beyoncé said it was her artistic intent to quote/unquote “bend and blend genres together” and “propel past the limitations” country puts on performers. What are genres? They’re a generally defined set of benchmarks that delineate one type of music from another. As Beyoncé says herself, her intent with Cowboy Carter was to push past those benchmarks delineating the music as country.
Then at the end of the March 19th Instagram post, Beyoncé leaves nothing left for interpretation. She states unequivocally, “This ain’t a Country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.” More than any pundit’s opinions from any side of the debate, this is the nail in the coffin of the idea that Beyoncé ever intended for Cowboy Carter to be country.
Some still love to refute and debate this point about Beyoncé’s statement as perhaps an opportunistic pull quote, or a twisting of Beyoncé’s words. But to emphatically underscore and emphasize that specific quote once again, just before Cowboy Carter‘s release on March 29th, a company was hired to promote the album in New York City with projections on the side of prominent buildings. Arguably the most prominent was on the side of the famous Guggenheim Museum. The phrase selected to project on the side of the building was “This ain’t a Country album. This is a “Beyoncé” album.”

This quote was also underscored once again on a website Beyoncé launched at beencountry.com. The horizontally scrolling site acts as sort of a scrapbook from Beyoncé’s life, with little moments where she’s either pictured in a cowboy hat or otherwise interacting with the country world, along with artifacts of country music’s Black legacy. When you scroll to the very end of the site, there is the quote again, strategically and intentionally placed saying, “This ain’t a Country album. This is a “Beyoncé” album.”

Unfortunately though, this quote from Beyoncé coming out 10 days before the album itself was too late. Due to the controversies swirling around the initial release of the two debut singles being labeled pop, the controversies surrounding country radio supposedly not playing “Texas Hold ‘Em,” and the pervasive assumptions about the music preceding the music itself, Beyoncé’s own words didn’t even seem to matter. To many fans and journalists, Cowboy Carter was country, full stop.
And beyond all the evidence amid the rollout of Cowboy Carter that it wasn’t country, when the album itself was released on March 29th, there were numerous indicators that calling it country wasn’t just incorrect, it was insulting of Beyoncé’s artistic intent.
For the sake of argument, let’s just say that the first single from the album “Texas Hold ‘Em” is a country song. Traditionalists will balk at this characterization, and perhaps fairly so. But you can find comparable tracks to the song that have played on country radio in the past. Beyoncé’s augmented cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” is probably more country than it is anything else. And though Beyoncé’s take on “Blackbiird” by The Beatles is more folk in nature, sure, call it country too.
But the amount of country material on Cowboy Carter doesn’t come anywhere close to being 50% of the total music in a way that would qualify it as more country than pop. Three or four out of the 24 tracks (not counting interludes) does not justify calling an album country.
A lot of people have cited the presence of Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton on the album as a confirmation that Cowboy Carter is country. Willie’s and Dolly’s participation was revealed about a week before the album, and the assumption was that they would appear in collaboration with Beyoncé. But that didn’t occur. Instead, they simply appear in autonomous spoken word interludes.
Another one of the major talking points about Beyoncé and Cowboy Carter was how the banjo is a Black instrument, and Beyoncé’s efforts would work to reclaim this legacy along with the legacy of Black performers in country music. What is true is that country music does have a deeper Black legacy to go along with its primary Scots-Irish roots through early Black minstrel players, blues performers, and the banjo’s origins in Africa. And despite this legacy being chronicled in country history books, the public tends to be surprised to learn this.
But out of the 27 tracks on Cowboy Carter, only one actually features a banjo: “Texas Hold ‘Em.” Incidentally, only one song features steel guitar, and that’s “16 Carriages.” Since these were the first two songs released from the album, it once again gave the false impression the entire album would include country instrumentation as opposed to just these two songs. For the record, it’s Rhiannon Giddens who plays the banjo on “Texas Hold ‘Em”—the same performer who said that Beyoncé’s appearance at the 2016 CMA Awards overshadowed her own.
Not only does the overall lack of country instrumentation on the album create another mark against calling it country, it also feels like a massive missed opportunity to stimulate the Black reclamation of country’s roots many give the album credit for. In mainstream country music, one of the common criticisms is about pop songs that try to pass themselves off as country by employing what’s often referred to as the “token banjo”—meaning using a banjo to try and make a pop song country.
But Cowboy Carter doesn’t even do the token banjo thing. Most of the songs are pop, and stay pop, and if anything, gravitate more towards hip-hop, and a curious amount of opera and classic rock sounds. Meanwhile, songs like “Riverdance” and “Sweet * Honey * Buckin’” seem to scream for banjo, and instead feature acoustic guitar playing what traditionally would be a banjo part.
And along with multiple covers songs constituting the more country-sounding songs of the album, there are samples galore from across genres. “I Fall To Pieces” by Patsy Cline is interpolated into one of the final songs, but you also have parts of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide,” Chuck Berry’s “Maybellene,” “Down by the Riverside” by Rosetta Tharpe,” among many others. This prevalent use of sampling and borrowing of songs, beats, and riffs is very emblematic of hip-hop, and very rare in the country genre.
Beyoncé also received high praise for including pioneering Black artist Linda Martell on the album. Unquestionably, Martell’s name recognition skyrocketed through the release of this album, of which Beyoncé deserves credit for. Martell was the first Black woman to play the Grand Ole Opry in 1969. But again, Martell’s participation on the album is not as much in a collaborative role, but simply as a narrator in interludes.
Martell says at the start of the decidedly non-country song called “Spaghetti,” “Genres are a funny little concept, aren’t they? Yes they are. In theory, they have a simple definition that’s easy to understand. But in practice, well, some may feel confined.”
This is a critically important moment on the Cowboy Carter album. Though the first 1/3rd of Cowboy Carter does include some country-ish songs and sounds, after the song “Spaghetti,” the album takes a decidedly pop and hip-hop turn.
But more importantly, Linda Martell saying “some may feel confined” by genres is yet again a signal from Beyoncé that she didn’t want this album to be confined by country. Then later in the album during the track, “The Linda Martell Show,” Martell says, “Ladies and gentlemen, this particular tune stretches across a range of genres, and that’s what makes it a unique listening experience.”
Both of Linda Martell’s appearances on the album speak to the dismissing of genres as opposed to the adherence to them. But Martell’s presence on the album also gives another huge tell that Cowboy Carter was never intended to be a country album. Instead, it was meant to be a pop album with perhaps a few country inflections. In fact, originally, the name of the album wasn’t even Cowboy Carter.
After the announcement of the album, a set of pre-order links were presented to the public. This is when it became clear that vinyl copies of the complete album would not be made available until 3 1/2 months after the release—a strange development for such a landmark release. You mean they weren’t already manufacturing vinyl before the Cowboy Carter announcement to be ready for the March 29th street date?
Instead, fans were told if they wanted a vinyl copy on the release date, they could purchase what was described as Cowboy Carter limited edition copies, available in black vinyl and various colors. But in lieu of including the full compliment of 27 songs, the complete liner notes, and the Cowboy Carter cover that people have become accustomed to, these limited-edition copies had five less tracks, no interior paperwork at all—just a QR code—and an entirely different cover with Beyoncé wearing a sash that said “act ii – Beyincé.”

In truth, these vinyl edition copies aren’t special editions. They’re actually the original version of the album. The original album was not called Cowboy Carter, it was called Beyincé. It also didn’t include the three tracks that involve Linda Martell, namely “Spaghetti,” “The Linda Martell Show,” and “Ya Ya,” and also did not include the song “Oh Louisiana.”
In other words, Cowboy Carter wasn’t originally Cowboy Carter. It was an album that was supposed to include a few country-inspired tracks, but overall be the pop and hip-hop album most people hear when they listen to it. It was only after the overwhelming perception by the media and the public that the album would be country, and the controversies that swelled surrounding marking the first two songs as pop, and country radio supposedly not playing the songs that an audible was called, the title and cover art were redone and switched, and Beyoncé’s Act II – Renaissance started to be marketed as “country.”
The evidence is empirical, unequivocal, and overwhelming that Cowboy Carter was never intended to be a country album until the press and the public demanded it. Beyoncé and her label Parkwood Entertainment were forced to capitulate just as much as anyone, though Beyoncé still stayed true to her original vision by saying in her Instagram post, “This ain’t a country album.”
Though you might be reluctant to trust a country music outlet making these claims, there were others pointing out these discrepancies, and asserting that Cowboy Carter was not country.
As NPR journalist Santi Elijah Holley said in an April 3rd feature,
“We wanted a country album from her. Badly. Black and Brown country music fans (myself included) have been shouting ourselves hoarse, trying to enlighten people about the history, influence and ongoing presence of Black folks in country music, but our words had largely fallen on deaf ears. Just by putting on a Stetson and mentioning the word ‘country,’ Beyoncé accomplished what we lowly music writers had been trying to do for years. We wanted a Beyoncé country album, so we invented it.“
Pop writer Chris Richards writing for The Washington Post also concluded the album was not country, stating, “Rumored to be her big pivot into country music, Beyoncé has headfaked us all, opting instead for an omni-genre grandeur that still only manages to feel cosmetic at best.”
Writing for The Ringer in an article titled “‘Cowboy Carter’ Isn’t a Country Album. It’s a Beyoncé Album,” Meecham Whitson Meriweather states, “Bey has adamantly stated that the newly released Cowboy Carter is not a country album, despite its imagery, Western aesthetic, and country music homages. It is, instead, a ‘Beyoncé album,’ a declaration that she exists outside the box society has tried to place her in. In fact, she is the box, unpacking and creating something new each time.”
This quote from The Ringer underscores and emphasizes that it’s not just “gatekeeping” and “racism” that might bring one to the conclusion that Cowboy Carter is not country. It’s a respect for Beyoncé’s artistic intent, and not wanting to limit the bounds of her music by putting it in a genre box.
One important element to the discussion of genre and Cowboy Carter is timing. As Beyoncé has explained, she’d been working on the album for five years and actually intended for Cowboy Carter to be the first act to her 3-act Renaissance project, not the second.
If released a few years ago, Cowboy Carter would have coincided with what was called the “Yeehaw Agenda” that took place around 2018-2019 where pop and hip-hop performers wore cowboy hats and adopted other country imagery as a style trend. This was also around the time of Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” moment.
If Cowboy Carter had come out during that time, perhaps it would have made more sense, and may have made a greater impact on the direction of the country genre. Instead, it feels dated to certain listeners. As country is actively moving in a more country direction, Cowboy Carter cuts against that grain. This might be one of the reason’s Cowboy Carter was also very poorly received commercially.
Though the album sold great in its first two weeks and was at #1 on Billboard’s Top 200 albums chart, Cowboy Carter enacted a precipitous fall off afterwards, especially for an album from one of the most popular music performers in the world. It feel to #50 in just 13 weeks, and fell completely out of the Billboard 200 after 28 weeks.

Part of Cowboy Carter‘s poor performance was probably due to a mild reception from the public. But part of it was also due to a massive lack of promotion behind the album. There was no tour, no public appearances, and despite all the controversy about country radio not playing Beyoncé’s tracks, her label Parkwood Entertainment pulled all radio promotion behind the album from country and all other formats in mid April, less than a month after the release.
Ultimately, the impact of Cowboy Carter on country music, and on culture in general has been pretty mild. It definitely did not cause “the walls of Nashville’s Music Row to fall down, so the rightful heirs of country music may come in,” as Time Magazine claimed right after the release of “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages.”
So what was the ultimate aim of Cowboy Carter?
In an article titled “Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ isn’t a country album. It’s worse” by Chris Richards of The Washington Post, he declares, “It’s an album about awards shows. That’s the only way I’ve been able to process the intrinsic corniness of this new Beyoncé album, ‘Cowboy Carter,’ which, very much like the most punishing of Grammy nights, runs way too long, yet still finds time to involve Post Malone.“
In the next to the last track on Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé grouses, “AOTY, I ain’t win,” about never winning the all-genre Grammy Album of the Year. Beyoncé is the most-awarded artist in Grammy history with 32 Grammy wins, but apparently, that’s not good enough because she’s never won Album of the Year. Potentially, that is what Cowboy Carter was custom made for, to win the Album of the Year Grammy. It also might be why Beyoncé’s motivation for the album was not her 2016 CMA Awards experience, but her Grammys experience with “Daddy Lessons” being rejected as a country song by the Grammy committee.
Beyoncé’s husband Jay-Z called out the Grammys directly while receiving the Dre. Dre Global Impact Award at the 2024 Grammys in February for never giving his wife Album of the Year. Jay-Z said, “I don’t want to embarrass this young lady but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won album of the year. So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work.”
This set the table for Cowboy Carter that was announced just a few weeks later, and set the table for the 2025 Grammys where Beyoncé was nominated for Best Country Album, Best Country Song, Best Country Solo Performance, and Best Country Duo/Group Performance. Beyoncé was nominated in every single country category for an albums she said herself wasn’t country. She was also nominated for Best Americana Performance for her song “Ya Ya,” along with her all-genre nominations, including Album of the Year.
Lo and behold, compelled by Beyoncé Stans, media pundits, and Jay-Z’s speech, at the 2025 Grammy Awards on February 2nd, Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter won Best Country Album, despite Beyoncé herself saying it wasn’t country. She also finally won the all genre Album of the Year. As Beyoncé she said in her Best Country Album speech, echoing numerous inferences on her Cowboy Carter album, “I think sometimes genre is a code word to keep us in our place as artists.”
But that is the reason for genre-specific Grammy categories. There are Grammy awards for albums, artists, and songs that defy genre. It’s called pop. The point of genre specific categories is to highlight works that adhere to the respective genres.
Many will ask why genre even matters anymore. It’s because it’s the Dewey Decimal system for music. It makes it easier for listeners to discover music that might most appeal to them. Sure, artists should be allowed to explore influences outside of their native genre, or “bend and blend” genres if they wish, just like Beyoncé has done with Cowboy Carter. But there’s no reason to place a nonfiction history book in the fiction mystery section.
The other reason genre matters is because it’s also a fundamental element to the fabric of American culture, and its erosion could have critical downstream effects. Country should be respected no different than hip-hop, blues, and R&B from manipulation or exploitation.
On Friday and Saturday nights, fans of country music gather in dancehalls all across Texas to two-step, just like their parents and grandparents did, and just like their children will do in the future. When people are married, or when loved ones are laid in the ground, country songs are played to mark these occasions.
Far away from the eyes and ears of the masses, folks will always gather on porches and around campfires with acoustic instruments, impressing fingers on wood and wire to re-awaken the ancient melodies that went to make up what we refer to as “country music” today. From the tip of Florida, to the redwood forests of California, to the outback of Australia, to even Scandinavia in Europe, actual country music made by people from the country will continue to thrive while popular radio continues to churn out product under the “country” banner.
Country music is for the people and by the people, Black and White, young and old. It exists in the hearts of country fans. It’s in their hearts where it’s most ultimately defined. It tells the stories of their lives. It’s a long-standing continuum that despite the best efforts of the intellectual/elite class, interlopers from other genres, the media, corporate overlords controlling its commercial aspects, or awards shows, will always survive in it’s most important and elemental form of a given era.
Because that what country music has always done, and that’s why country music always will be.
Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter might be country-inspired, and that’s cool. But like Beyoncé says herself, “This ain’t a country album.”
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February 3, 2025 @ 7:42 pm
I enjoy this blog, Trigger, but I think it’s way past time you let the whole Cowboy Carter thing go.
February 3, 2025 @ 8:05 pm
Last night, one of the biggest and most revered institutions in music declared Beyonce’s “Cowboy Carter” as the best country album of the last year. From now on until forever, this will be what is recorded down in the history books. The very least I can do is offer my little counter-argument for anyone interested in finding out the truth about “Cowboy Carter,” and how online canards turned it into a country album against Beyonce’s wishes.
My intent with this article is to bookend and close out Saving Country Music’s coverage of “Cowboy Carter,” though I can’t rule out future coverage if necessary. But from the beginning, the people complaining about the Beyonce coverage here have been aggressively wrong in their assessment that it is not relevant. It is the absolute most relevant thing that this website has ever covered, while “no one cares” comments work to undermine the truth of this issue more than actually disagreeing with the opinions or assessments shared.
February 4, 2025 @ 6:07 am
I mean, you used an awful lot of words to say “I can’t believe the Black lady won when all those WHITE artists were sitting right there,” but do go on. You’re not showing your racism at all.
The sooner you accept that ALL American music has Black roots – and that includes country music – the happier you will be. This MAGA nonsense has no place in country music. Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson would be ashamed of you and others like you.
February 4, 2025 @ 9:19 am
Hey Lisa,
I understand that it is easy to get swept up in the emotions of these issue, and that I presented a lot of words and information here that might be too hard or too time consuming to digest. That is why I also made it available on audio/video form.
But if there is one top line thing that I hope everyone takes from all of this is to understand that saying “Cowboy Carter” is not country is not insulting Beyonce’s work. Calling it country is the insult. It’s an insult because Beyonce’s artistic intent was (in her words) to “bend and blend” genres, and calling it country limits the work, confines it, as opposed to breaking down limits, which was Beyonce’s objective.
People got swept up in the idea of a “Beyonce country album,” and didn’t actually understand what her objective was. That is why she herself said, “This ain’t a country album. This is a Beyonce album,” and underscored and emphasized that quote as part of the rollout of the album.
I get it. People don’t like their preconceived notions challenged. And it’s much easier to simply chide “racist” or “gatekeeper” at someone. But if you actually take a beat to listen to what I say, it will unlock the real truth about Beyonce’s album, and the truth Beyonce herself has been attempting to communicate, though so few are listening.
February 4, 2025 @ 9:26 am
I said what I said, sir. You dedicated a wall of text screeching about a Black woman in country music. You have no room to castigate anybody about emotions when you and every white man on this board are melting down.
February 4, 2025 @ 9:50 am
Fair enough Lisa. Thanks for lending your perspective to the discussion.
February 4, 2025 @ 2:46 pm
Lisa your comments are so emotional and no reasoning and automatic goes to name calling and racist calling.
I am asian living in the south and after listening to the alblum, it is not really typical country music…the music is not quite there, no southern accent.
Hell you can call red yellow all day but that is your opinion. If your brain say it’s country to you, be happy. To me it is not.
Nothing to do with race and calm down you all.
February 4, 2025 @ 2:55 pm
Beyoncé already have tons of awards and no need for any angry netizen to defend her if she should get country album or not. It is a self pad in the back from peers anyway to begin with.
If Beyoncé and her marketing team say it’s not country, then it is not.
Let’s not make it into a race argument. No one care about identity politics anymore. You are just human.
February 4, 2025 @ 5:30 pm
Oh, someone’s showing their racism alright.
February 5, 2025 @ 7:43 pm
Trigger ain’t racist. C’mon now.
If anything, it was Rhiannon Giddons that sounded like she was gatekeeping, arguing how Beyonce’s presence in 2016 overshadowed her. Her statement seems to assume that suddenly the world would know who Rhiannon Giddons is had Beyonce not had the gall to perform on the show.
But if the Grammys are a joke, and Beyonce’s album is kind of a joke…then there’s not much else that needs to be said. But Trigger isn’t a racist, his argument (as longwinded as it was) didn’t have anything to do with race.
February 5, 2025 @ 8:46 pm
For the record, though some think the length of this article is due to an “obsession” with this topic, it’s simply due to the complexity of it, and the nuance that is necessary to address the issue objectively. The other reason this is so long-winded is because there is so much empirical evidence that “Cowboy Carter” isn’t country, it takes a long time to present it all. The metadtata issue, the radio issue, the album itself, the Linda Martell statements, Beyonce’s statements, the original cover and title. There’s just reams and reams of evidence, and because of the importance of this topic, all of this evidence deserved to be in one place.
February 6, 2025 @ 6:11 am
Her statement seems to assume that suddenly the world would know who Rhiannon Giddons is had Beyonce not had the gall to perform on the show.
Now that’s a damn silly statement. I’m guessing you don’t know much about her? Rhiannon Giddens is a folk artist and musicologist. She is NOT part of the mainstream country music world and I don’t see anything to suggest that she has ever wanted to be part of that world. She mainly makes traditional American black folk music knowing that there is little to no interest in that music in the black community and that the white people that make the vast majority of her audience tend to be a certain kind of music nerd.
February 6, 2025 @ 9:37 am
@Jack W,
Did you see the comment Rhiannon Giddens made? It’s in the article. Here:
“…But they were not the only performers who took issue with Beyoncé taking time and attention away from country performers on a country music awards show. Black country and roots artist Rhiannon Giddens did too. She had performed on the CMA presentation with Eric Church via their song “Kill A Word.”
Rhiannon Giddens said in a 2017 interview with the Associated Press, “I’ve studied this music. You know what I mean? I’m not coming from another genre. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Justin Timberlake did it last year, and that was a lovely moment … I just know what angered me about it was that it overshadowed two other performers of color who were kind of naturally there—Charley Pride, who’s a huge figure, and then myself as a guest of Eric Church.”
Seems that she was angered about being overshadowed. Her words, not mine.
February 7, 2025 @ 7:49 am
@Andrew
Yes, I’m familiar with those comments. As a matter of fact, it was me that tipped Trigger off to the existence of that AP interview video. Have you watched video? She also goes on talk about the “very important point” that Eric Church was trying to make with the song they performed (Kill a Word). Now maybe it’s partly because I am such a Rhiannon Giddens/Carolina Chocolate Drops homer (e.g., I’ll be traveling with my daughter from the DC area to Durham, NC for her Biscuits and Banjos Festival which includes a CCD reunion), but my impression was that her anger about her as a “person of color who was organically there” being overshadowed was not as self-involved as commenter Drew (and maybe you) thinks it was.
February 7, 2025 @ 8:00 am
I can confirm that Jack W is who tipped me off to the Rhianon Giddens video, which really has been a linchpin for so much in regards to this story, including probably the reason Beyonce reached out to Giddens to appear on “Texas Hold Em.” But if the idea is that Giddens is angry she is not as famous as Beyonce, that’s to completely misunderstand the career objectives of Giddens, which has been decidedly non-commercial, almost to a frustrating manner from my perspective.
February 6, 2025 @ 7:37 am
Cash was more conservative than you think and a huge supporter of America. I wouldn’t try to pin down his beliefs regarding modern movements.
As for Willie Nelson. I don’t care what the Austin hippie says about my opinions. All that weed fried his brain.
February 13, 2025 @ 12:56 pm
Even Waylon got tired of Willie and his Bullshit
February 4, 2025 @ 7:01 pm
Counterpoint: the Grammys have rarely if ever been relevant in acknowledging the best country music of the year.
Lee Ann Womack deservedly won album of the year from the CMAs for There’s More Where That Came Frrom and wasnt even nominated for a Grammy I believe. Bill Anderson and Dolly Parton got nominated for an award, but somehow not for country (Bill freakin Anderson!).
The Grammys might award some very deserving independent country artists, but purely from a country perspective they are never relevant to what’s going on in country.
February 4, 2025 @ 8:09 pm
Anderson and Parton were nominated in the “American Roots Music” category for “Some Day It Will All Make Sense?” two years ago.
Why not laud the Grammy Oganization for offering a category to honor old-style country, folk and blues music (when the Country category is geared toward the highly engineered sound that characterizes commercial country music today).
Bill and Dolly certainly appreciated being recognized for their performance and did not object to the category name.
February 8, 2025 @ 11:04 am
Online canards didn’t submit the album, serve on the committee to certify it belonged in that category, or any structural component required to submit work for consideration or choose the finalists for any given category.
And truth be told, this wouldn’t be the first time an artist ended up in a category folks thought was incorrect. The truth it, it’s not for us to decide.
I’m not going to guess as to your intent with this piece because it surely can’t be a serious assertion that you know Beyonce’s intent with more certainty than the folks that made those decisions is kind of wild.
I actually expect fans of most artists to be disappointed after the awards each year because there’s generally a lot of talent represented but only one person can win each category. I don’t appreciate when it becomes sexist or a combination of racist & sexist. It’s also just fine to say that something isn’t for you without invalidating its existence.
February 8, 2025 @ 12:19 pm
Hey Heather,
So first off, I challenge anyone to bring forward a quote from Beyonce where she claims “Cowboy Carter” is country. I have been presenting this challenge for a year now tomorrow, and so far, nobody has been able to meet it. Meanwhile, I can present a quote from Beyonce herself where she said, “This ain’t a country album. It is a Beyonce album,” and then took that quote, projected it onto the side of the Guggenheim Museum in New York during the promotion of the album, and also made it the conclusive statement on a website promoting the album.
I appreciate that Beyonce’s label, Parkwood Entertainment, submitted the album to the country Grammy category, and that in some respects, this would mean they believe it’s country. But that is why it’s important to zoom out and look at the FULL aspect of the rollout of the album, from the rumors swirling before the first two songs were released, all the way up to the album winning the Grammy for Best Country Album.
When “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” were released, Parkwood Entertainment released them as pop songs, with pop metadata, and submitted them to pop radio, and not to country radio. When this happened, Parkwood Entertainment—Beyonce’s own label—got attacked by Stans for not calling the songs country. That set the table where they had no choice but to submit it in country to the Grammys, or the label would have been attacked. And since the Grammys were attacked previously for rejecting “Daddy Lessons” in country and were called racist, they were compelled to accept “Cowboy Carter” once it was submitted.
” I don’t appreciate when it becomes sexist or a combination of racist & sexist. It’s also just fine to say that something isn’t for you without invalidating its existence.”
This is the grave, fundamental misunderstanding of what is being argued here. In multiple Beyonce statements—including when she won Best Country Album, before and after the album release, and in the album itself—Beyonce is explicit in her feelings that genres, and country specifically, are confining to the creativity of artists. It is not the refusal to call “Cowboy Carter” country that is insulting to Beyonce. It is the INSISTENCE it be called country that is insulting to Beyonce and her artistic intent, confining the work to a genre when her desire was to break genre barriers down.
If you actually listen to Beyonce and “Cowboy Carter” with the most open heart and mind, this is what you’ll find. And I’m one of the very very few apparently who did so. That is the ULTIMATE sign of respect to Beyonce, and Cowboy Carter.
February 3, 2025 @ 9:30 pm
You’d never know it from thi site, but, funny, most of the music/entertainment world did not even take note of Beyonce winning the Grammy for best country album. The news in the mainstream media was that she won the Grammy for best ALBUM, period. (Apparently only the fourth black woman–the first since Lauryn Hill a quarter-century ago–to win it.)
February 4, 2025 @ 7:00 am
He seems to be focusing a lot more on this album than on any other album that is mislabeled as “country.” Something about this one really seems to be getting under his skin. Under a lot of people’s skins, it seems.
One has to wonder why.
February 4, 2025 @ 8:40 am
Especially jarring when there was similar ire devoted to Lil Nas X. Not great.
February 4, 2025 @ 9:31 am
Yes, because just like Lil Nas X, the amount of outright lies that swirled around that situation were incredible, and it was imperative someone present the truth to the public in a clear and objective manner. At least in the case of Beyonce, you do have scores of other outlets making similar points to mine because they actually took the time to regard Beyonce’s work and listen and digest her own statements. With Lil Nas X, I was not only a direct victim of the misinformation, I was the only one challenging the prevailing narratives.
February 4, 2025 @ 9:28 am
Maybe that’s because it just won the Grammy for Best Country Album and Album of the Year. Wouldn’t you think that any album that did that and was labeled “country” would elicit extended commentary here? Maybe that’s because they rest of the media has also been obsessing over this album, and forwarded verifiably false canards that have fed into the misconceptions about this album that have resulted in not just the mislabeling of “Cowboy Carter,” but insulting the intent Beyonce approached this album with.
Maybe the entire point of this article/video was to lay this out unarguably. And in the void of being able to argue the points here, some folks are resorting to personal attacks or undermining statements about the messenger as opposed to forwarding their own theories or counter-arguments.
There was a whole lot of evidence presented here to back my claims, including commentary from NPR, The Washington Post, and other outlets, let alone all the evidence coming from Beyonce herself. I encourage the skepticism of readers to help steel man these arguments.
February 3, 2025 @ 8:03 pm
You’re missing an important piece of evidence about the Grammys. Beyoncé’s team had to enter Cowboy Carter into the country categories for them to be nominated in the country categories. Isn’t that a declaration that she (even somewhat) believes it to be country?
February 3, 2025 @ 8:16 pm
It is my strong belief that Beyoncé does not believe “Cowboy Carter” is a country album. If she does believe this, it’s strange that she’s purposely avoided declaring such, even at this late date and after winning two country Grammys, while actively declaring and doubling down on the idea that it’s NOT a country album, including dispelling the ida of genre in her Best Country Album speech. This assessment isn’t just taken from her “This ain’t a country album” quote and other rhetoric. It’s taken from the messages in the album itself delivered by Linda Martell.
I saw the look on Beyoncé’s face when she won Best Country Album. It was genuine shock. She knew she was going to win Album of the Year. Best Country Album came out of nowhere. Because even she’s knows it’s not country. After all, she told us it wasn’t.
The fact that her label Parkwood Entertainment submitted it to the Country Grammy category certainly is something to wonder about, just like why they initially submitted “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” to pop. But I don’t think it explains away the fact that Beyoncé wanted to make an album that purposely defies genre as an artistic expression, and the Grammys—along with her own fans—demanded it be put in a box, completely misunderstanding, and frankly, insulting her intent.
I feel like I’m the only person in the world who is actually listening to Beyoncé, and understanding what she’s trying to say through this album.
February 5, 2025 @ 7:46 pm
Can they just submit the album for the Country Grammy category and cross their fingers and hope for the best? Is that what happened here?
In other words, there’s no real penalty for submitting and not getting accepted, right?
February 5, 2025 @ 8:43 pm
Any artist can submit any song or album in any category, as far as I understand. Then the Grammys have screening committees made up of industry professionals, artists, songwriters, etc. who asses those entries. In a genre-specific category, they work has to at least be 51% of a genre to qualify. As another commenter assessed below, “Cowboy Carter” did not meet that threshold, and I would concur. In 2016 when Beyonce’s “Daddy Lessons” got rejected, it was a MASSIVE controversy, which set the table for “Cowboy Carter.” Arguably it would have been the music version of WW3 if the Grammys had rejected it. I’m not sure they even had a choice.
February 3, 2025 @ 8:27 pm
Great stuff trigger, totally spot on. Though i dont need convincing. Peesonally i dont consider beyonce that good of a pop singer and shes def not a counrry crooner. Its obvioys beyonce and people like her want country to expand across its borders to include sruff that is as far or even further away from country than bro country is. Dei enforced on the country listener. But you can call a man a woman or a duck a chicken but saying it doesnt make it neccesarily so. Her album should have been in a genraless category not a country category.
February 3, 2025 @ 11:07 pm
David the Duke (VERY revealing name) thinks “DEI” is “enforced” on the country listener? Who is forcing you to listen to anything?
February 4, 2025 @ 3:20 am
Well the word listener is probaby incorrect, ill say country audience. Which includes those who watch country awards and such. Either way my point still stands.
February 4, 2025 @ 10:40 am
Just because your point stands doesn’t make it any less dumb.
February 4, 2025 @ 7:03 am
Just like a lot of other people, David seems to be much more upset about this album being labeled as country than any other music that is mislabeled as country.
Do I think the album is country music? Not especially, but it’s no more or less so than the average Luke Bryan or Cole Swindell album.
Personally, I’m starting to be glad that it won Best Country Album because it’s making a bunch of MAGA morons cry like little bitches.
February 4, 2025 @ 8:23 am
I don’t read this as Trigger being racist (if you’re going to imply/dance around it, at least have the guts to say it). From what I read I don’t think Trigger has a problem with Betonce’ as much as with those around her (record co., fans, Grammys, etc.) creating a perception – Beyonce’ did a country album! – that Beyonce’ herself has said is not true. As Beyonce’ has said, assigning a genre is limiting.
The way I see it, Beyonce’ is following her artistic instincts and all the rest are using the album to virtue signal.
February 4, 2025 @ 2:22 pm
As I have said from the very beginning of this saga: Beyonce might be one of the most honest actors in this entire thing. She first announced her new music a year ago next Saturday. In that entire time, she has NEVER said the album was country. She has only expressly stated that it is NOT country.
Don’t take my word for it. Take the word of Black female journalist Santi Elijah Holley writing for NPR who said, “We wanted a Beyoncé country album, so we invented it.”
This is what happened. This is why I highlighted other people’s words in this article, including the words of Black women about this issue.
People are so ingrained to believe this is a country album, and that anyone saying otherwise is racist, the truth can be screaming in their face, all they know to do is scream back.
February 4, 2025 @ 9:35 am
“Do I think the album is country music? Not especially, but it’s no more or less so than the average Luke Bryan or Cole Swindell album.”
This is completely untrue. First, similar to the rest of popular country music, the last albums from both Luke Bryan and Cole Swindell are some of the most country works they’ve done, because that is where the popular genre is trending. They are WAY more country than “Cowboy Carter,” and it’s not even close. You could potentially make that argument about a Florida Georgia Line or Sam Hunt record, but you would have to go back years to the top relevancy of these artists. As I explained in this article, “Cowboy Carter” is fit for 2019, because that is the year it was made. Timing is a HUGE element to all of this, and one of the culprits for the album’s sheer lack of resonance.
February 4, 2025 @ 2:07 pm
You said it yourself: Luke Bryan and Cole Swindell may have made “the most country works they’ve done, because that is where it is trending.”
That doesn’t make it country: it makes it a manufactured product that is simply that: following the trends. They lack any authenticity which is a huge component to country music.
Beyonce’s album may not be traditional country or alternative country. But at least it feels authentic and artistic and not just some product made to follow a trend. And I still maintain that her album is no less country than the average Luke Bryan or Cole Swindell album.
The uproar is that some see her as an “interloper” and as undeserving because country isn’t where she has made her bones in the past. I have no doubt that for some people there is also a racial issue at play. I don’t specifically think that that is your issue but denying that that is where some people’s mindset comes from is just plain ignorant.
I doubt the uproar would be anywhere near as strong if “Best Country Album” had been given to Luke Bryan.
February 4, 2025 @ 12:23 pm
Not upset at all. Just pointing out the facts, the left leaning people here seem the ones upset.
February 3, 2025 @ 8:35 pm
Here is Rick Beatos take on the Grammys last night. He talks at length about Cowboy Carter and comes to the same conclusion as you Trig. It’s about a 15 minute watch.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Za7SyfGmJ3o&pp=ygUKcmljayBiZWF0bw%3D%3D
February 4, 2025 @ 9:00 am
I watched that last night and it was a good video. Rick is very quick to praise good music from any genre. Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter’s albums should have been considered above Cowboy Carter for Album of the Year.
On one hand I find it amusing that Taylor Swift and Beyonce actively role-play as victims. Really?! It’s also bad for culture that ‘victimhood’ is now some sort of virtue and Swift’s and Beyonce’s fake victimhood is bleeding out into culture.
I think award shows are overwhelmingly pointless. Same with the Oscars.
February 4, 2025 @ 12:22 pm
When you replace all actual virtues and values with hierarchies of power and oppression, then oppression becomes a virtue in itself. This is why everyone loves to compete in victimization games.
February 5, 2025 @ 3:05 pm
Swift’s entire career is built on victimhood.
“Teardrops on my Guitar,” anyone?
February 5, 2025 @ 3:22 pm
So Taylor Swifht writes a song about heartbreak, and that means she’s playing up “victimhood”? If that’s the case, you just indicted pretty much every single country music artist in the history of ever. In truth, you just don’t like Taylor Swift, and so you’re assigning negative traits to her. I have never seen Taylor Swift bitching about no winning awards, or that she has not received proper attention for her music, in large part because it would be untrue. Beyonce had more nominations, and more awards than any other artist in Grammy history, and continued to complain the Grammys did her wrong. THAT is victimhood.
February 6, 2025 @ 7:42 am
Trigger,
Swift built her career on portraying a poor, neglected average white girl facade.
She doesn’t need to complain publicly – only drop a hint and her stans in the media and on X do the rest.
I know you consider yourself a Taylor apologist and that is fine. Still, she developed her empire on being the underdog and successfully maintained that image despite dating a Kennedy and owning more money than some third-world countries. It is fascinating to study.
You are right. I don’t like Swift. Why should I? She represents the cult of celebrity. You have a quote about music’s importance in culture.
February 6, 2025 @ 8:17 am
Just saying if you want to cite examples of using victimhood for self-promotion, there are WAY better examples. Maren Morris is another.
February 6, 2025 @ 11:16 pm
I think Jay-Z made it a race issue in 2024 and then spent 40 million campaigning for album of the year. The whole racist country music station story looks like a marketing plot of n hindsight
You’re racists if you do not play it, we better all play it or will be racist, brilliant marketing gamesmanship
February 3, 2025 @ 8:56 pm
As the big biz loose ground and grow increasingly out of touch with the audience, their desperation is shining through bright. I have no doubt in my mind that marketing one genre as another and unorganic blending of genres with be the two main trends in naunstream music 2025.
February 3, 2025 @ 11:01 pm
As someone tweeted on X, “the grammys felt like Kamala won”. Watching the show, did feel an F U to Trump. Some of Trevor Noah’s jokes, Lady Gaga and Chappel Roans pro trans speech, Kendrick Lamar winning big and then Beyonce winning he big prize felt like the icing on the cake.
I wonder if there were some political motivations behind the decision and its not just about music
February 4, 2025 @ 7:50 am
Every article gets the readers it deserves trigger.
February 3, 2025 @ 11:05 pm
Good God, how many words can one person spill over this? And your entire thesis hinges on her (once again, tongue-in-cheek – I know you disagree) “this is a Beyonce album” line, despite the fact that she accepted a nomination and award for – get this – a country music album. It’s almost like you cannot accept anything but the straightest literal interpretation, when so much is telling us otherwise.
But more importantly, I will never understand the rabid gatekeeping around genre. Good music is good music, and always subjective. We can come to a generally more shared understanding of what makes “good” music, but genres never are and never have been static (unless they are “dead” I suppose, and country ain’t dead). That you are uncomfortable with boundaries being pushed and hard categorization being dismantled is your burden I guess, but it is not authoritative and not representative of what many country music fans seem to care for. Genre can be useful shorthand for conveying a general sound and ethos, but it simply cannot capture the nuances inherent to the creative music process. Country is constantly changing thanks to many talented and thoughtful artists, Beyonce included.
That you have focused so much ire on not only Beyonce, but also (historically) Lil Nas X is alarming. I don’t think it’s deliberate bigotry, but I think it begs a bit more self-reflection.
February 3, 2025 @ 11:27 pm
Apparently, there weren’t enough words here if you’re still falling for the canard that Beyonce released a country album. And the entirety of the argument does not hinge on the Beyonce quote. There’s the metadata of the initial tracks. There’s the sending the tracks to pop radio instead of country. There’s the last minute change of the album’s title and cover art. There are the quotes from Linda Martell on the album itself. When she accepted that country Grammy, Beyonce said, “I think sometimes genre is a code word to keep us in our place as artists.”
How about … and just hear me out … what if the person you’re accusing of “gatekeeping” is perhaps one of the few if only people who actually listened to Beyone’s public statements about the album, listened to the overt and veiled messages embedded in the album, regarded the artist’s intent, and understands that calling Beyonce’s album country is actually limiting of it’s creativity, and insulting to the message she was trying to share?
And by the way, there is absolutely no indication that “This ain’t a country album” is “tongue-in-cheek.” You would have to ignore everything else Beyonce has said in her statements and in the album to believe that. Her intent was to “bend and blend” genres.
But people have been so conditioned to adhere to the hive mentality when it comes to this issue, the truth can be screaming in their face, and to avoid it, they curse the messenger.
February 3, 2025 @ 11:15 pm
In virtually every genre of music people with a modicum of discernment are gonna treat Grammy winners as something to avoid. IMO, SCM should treat the Grammys like we treated Costa Rica in WWII.
February 4, 2025 @ 9:41 am
Honestly, I think saying that he Grammys don’t matter is a bit of cope. Of course they matter. To what extent, we can debate, and it varies year to year, and trophy to trophy. The Grammys were HUGE for Sturgill Simpson when he won Best Country Album. He wouldn’t be playing arenas at the moment if it wasn’t for that. They were HUGE for Sierra Ferrell this year in way we will be measuring in the coming years. One Grammy would have been validating for Sierra. FOUR puts her in an elite class.
These things matter, whether we want them to, or not. Engaging with that process is the only way to hopefully influence he outcomes.
February 4, 2025 @ 1:42 am
Look Trigger I understand that Cowboy carter isn’t very country, but I think it’s time
to let it go we’ve aruged about this for a whole year and she ain’t coming back to country
February 4, 2025 @ 9:45 am
I agree it’s time to let it go. But it also would have been a dereliction of duty not to offer a complete summation of the last year and what has happened with this album, since so many outlets and institutions much bigger than this one will continue to forward falsehoods about it. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing that if someone didn’t offer a spirited rebuttal, those lies would persist unchallenged.
These moments are what define country music in history. It’s imperative we recognize this, and speak to them. Ignoring them in hopes they go away is hubris.
February 4, 2025 @ 2:32 am
A great article Trigger, so many new found country experts telling me what is and what isn’t country because they one a petrol station Johnny Cash CD and a Beyonce album. Thanks for taking the time write this.
February 4, 2025 @ 3:30 am
B.B. King often cited Jimmie Rodgers as his biggest influence. He also said that his generation of pop, blues and country singers all carried the legacy of Rodgers on their shoulders.
Up until the late 90’s it was still possible to catch a whiff of this legacy when we listened to the commercial country channels. Even Garth Brooks included a good cowboy song on his albums back then.
Then; all hail bro country (shame on Hank jr. for carrying the torch ), and the legacy withered until it was completely gone.
I listened to her album, once. It’s not country, but it sounds like any other song streamed and airwaved as country these days.
February 4, 2025 @ 8:19 am
I Love B.B. King.
February 4, 2025 @ 3:53 am
This would be the same as giving the Rolling Stones the country Grammy for their album Sticky Fingers just because of the song “Wild Horses”…
February 4, 2025 @ 3:56 am
It’s not a good album. And it’s not country. There are at least 1367 better albums made last year. And it wasn’t even a good musical year.
February 4, 2025 @ 1:39 pm
Wild Horses and Dead Flowers are more country sounding than most of what was nominated this year. Just sayin’.
February 4, 2025 @ 4:51 am
The Grammy’s really think they did something here. I’m sure they’re snuggly patting themselves on the back. Meanwhile, I have a Zach Top vinyl being delivered today, and Don Williams was the last artist I streamed on Spotify. Let’s just keep on keeping on y’all.
February 4, 2025 @ 5:17 am
The Jay Z mafia for lack of a better term has been a pox on the music entertainment industry long before this. Cowboy Carter was just the latest conquest. For years they have held down and held back artists that won’t kiss the ring in rap, pop and urban/soul music. These people are amongst the worst people in the industry. Country is just a new frontier. Fuck J and fuck B. But it’s not just country that they’ve soiled with their shit. Been going on a long time.
February 4, 2025 @ 8:38 am
Yes, and that mafia also has a monopoly on The Super Bowl and other cultural institutions. The irony here is that as they cry about under-representation, they’re truly the ones in charge. The 2025 Grammy Awards were illustrative of this.
February 4, 2025 @ 11:26 pm
They are close with one of the biggest criminals in music (p diddy ) and must be involved in deep shit but hey Americans has a fish memory and they own the f media and the f industry .. they really destroyed music for real
Everything is just a f agenda fir more that 10 years now
February 4, 2025 @ 6:13 am
Comments like these from the white country music fans are EXACTLY why Beyonce recorded the album. Thank “y’all” for showing your ignorance and racism. “Y’all” are exactly the stereotype of the Deep South that the North continues to have despite it being centuries after the Civil War. “Y’all” sound like dirt road living, possum cooking, cousin marrying, white hood wearing ignoramuses who put Mountain Dew in your baby’s bottles.
“Y’all” could have easily ignored the album if you wanted it to die on the vine. But you didn’t. You were SO obsessed with “proving” that the Black lady had “no right to MY WHITE MUSIC” that you drove it to the Grammys.
Fix what’s wrong inside of you that you literally write a whole wall of text that can be summarized in one phrase: MAGA. Though, in actuality, “y’all” are just DYING to say the N-word. IF ONLY you thought you could get away with it.
February 4, 2025 @ 10:08 am
Take another Prozac, ma’am.
February 4, 2025 @ 10:10 am
Get bent, MAGA moron. You’re all screaming “DEI” on this board as if you’d have a Grammy were it not for Beyonce. The truth is “y’all” don’t run anything but your toothless mouths. And that ain’t Black people’s fault.
February 4, 2025 @ 11:01 am
Ok, take two.
February 4, 2025 @ 10:15 am
@L-A-K–And I thought Beyonce recorded the album because she liked the songs and she thought that she could meld genres and had a fresh take on it and that there would be a market for it–including a segment of people who were not fans of hers and never bought a Beyonce album before.In fact, I still think that.
February 4, 2025 @ 10:55 am
I’m Canadian and certainly not pro-MAGA and this is clearly not a country album.
February 4, 2025 @ 10:55 am
You clearly have a lot of hatred and preconceived notions/biases in your heart. I hope you find a more constructive output for these things in your life, it will make it much better for you and those who come into contact with you. This is no way to generalize, speak about, or interact with other people, and normal people don’t behave in this way, regardless of which side of any “fence” they may be.
February 4, 2025 @ 2:32 pm
I am a centre left British man, centre left here is far left in the US. It’s absolutely not a country album. I am so far from MAGA it’s perhaps your prejudices on show here.
February 4, 2025 @ 4:52 pm
All this anger over an album Béyoncé herself said is NOT a country album.
Fortunately, less and less people are watching these bullshit award shows. A fun night out for the industry and catwalk fetishists.
February 4, 2025 @ 6:35 am
Del McCoury submitting a Latin, or Contemporary Bllues album and winning…
Bothers me to say it, but it somewhat cheapens Sierra’s achievement.
This fiasco was DEI at its finest
February 4, 2025 @ 8:36 am
Now I want a Del Latin album more than anything.
February 4, 2025 @ 9:29 am
I guess “DEI” is the new code for the N-word amongst the MAGA crowd.
February 4, 2025 @ 10:17 am
You obviously got issues with black people. I know for sure that they’ve got a lot of issues with the middle class, wannabe white do-gooders who doesn’t personally know a black person.
My collegues and neighbours are white and yellow, but mostly black and hispanic, and they’re sick and tired of these overtly new-liberal ways.
Especially when it comes from wealthy, white middle aged women, who knows nothing about hard-working colored people.
You’re fake, ma’am.
February 5, 2025 @ 3:06 pm
“When everything is called a slur, nothing is a slur.”
February 4, 2025 @ 7:51 am
You are approaching writing with markers on a mirror territory here Trigger.
February 4, 2025 @ 7:55 am
Not a single credible retort only “quit writing the truth” and not-so-subtle suggestions that Trigger is racist for daring to go against the Beyhive.
February 4, 2025 @ 8:04 am
Lost in all this, I listened to Cowboy Carter…one time. It just isn’t good country music. Newtonian physics says to every action is an equal and opposite reaction. Cowboy Carter was shoved down the throats of folks who appreciate quality country music through white guilting. This bullshit merits a strong rebuke. Be good, don’t suck and don’t piss on my leg and tell me its raining.
February 4, 2025 @ 8:22 am
All this focus is lost.
Rhiannon Giddens gets screwed over, again.
Pick up the torch.
February 4, 2025 @ 8:34 am
Yes, it is a little bit ironic here that Beyonce walks away with three Grammy Awards, and Rhiannon Giddens gets none, and narry a mention. In many respects, Beyonce is also overshadowing Sierra Ferrell, even though she won more Grammy’s, and beat out Beyonce to do it.
Granted, I don’t think anyone saw Rhiannon Giddens as a front runner this year.
February 4, 2025 @ 9:04 am
Maybe it’s me, but i think just about anything Rhiannon & Franco turn out, is world class.
February 4, 2025 @ 8:39 am
Last night I was sitting in my den drinking whisky and listening to Merle Haggard when a bunch of jack booted thugs broke in and started smashing my vinyl and beating me. As their kicks rained down on my head I cried out “Why is this happening?” One of them spit on me and said “We’re from the Academy and theres a new Cowboy in town.” As they left 16 Carriages began to play and I wept.
February 4, 2025 @ 8:49 am
I think we need to talk about the lack of straight white Christian men in modern pop music.
February 4, 2025 @ 9:50 am
The SCM state of the union address described the Beyonce issue as a distraction. If this is how distractions are handled I guess I can look forward to a tidy 1,000 words on the squirrels outside SCM’s window.
This is my last click on a Beyonce article. I urge other readers to abstain as well. Perhaps this will feed back to the SCM algorithm to allow time to address “…one of the greatest challenges we face … how to meet the rising volume of songs and albums that make it increasingly difficult [to] find what might most appeal to you.”
And when the articles from the new algorithm start to appear, I promise to click them–multiple times.
February 4, 2025 @ 2:39 pm
Hey Charlie,
One of the underlying points of the State of the Union address was to address this very topic. What it said was pop stars like Post Malone and Beyonce were distractions from the fact that country is sounding more country than ever, not that there were distractions from more important topics.
What I said was, QUOTE:
“Some still believe that the singular role of Saving Country Music is to post in-depth album reviews as opposed to also broaching critical subjects on the way country music is discussed in the media and Academia, perceived in the public, and managed from an industry standpoint. All of these things are critical issues to the effort to save country music, including, if not especially issues such as Beyoncé and her supposed country album.
Though album reviews always have been and always will be a cornerstone of Saving Country Music coverage, sometimes other subject matter takes greater precedent, even if it’s something you don’t particularly enjoy reading. This isn’t just a music recommendation website. It was a website founded to save country music, with one of its many functions being music recommendation and review.”
https://savingcountrymusic.com/the-2025-saving-country-music-state-of-the-union-address/
If you don’t want to read the Beyonce articles, DON’T READ THEM. I won’t be offended. Read whatever you want, and ignore the rest. I appreciate, read, respect, and take to heart all criticism sent to this website. But this topic is non-negotiable. This is what Saving Country Music was founded to do.
And like I have said in other comments, it’s these bitchy, “I don’t care” comments that undermine the mission of Saving Country Music more than prominent online people proclaiming me racist for posting articles like this.
There’s a reason Beyonce won Album of the Year, and its because people will mobilize behind her no matter what, and defend her full-throat, so much so they will give into lies they are told, like she released a country album. Meanwhile, when I try to offer a factual counter-argument, I am undermined by my own readers.
This is why they continue to win, and this is why my efforts here to tell the truth about Cowboy Carter failed. If anything, I should have addressed this topic more, not less. In truth, I had this article/video prepped for a while, but didn’t get it done before Grammy voting ended, because I prioritized other things.
And last but not least, if you think these Beyonce articles are click magnets, you’re mistaken. EVERY OUTLET is posting articles about Beyonce at the moment. My Sierra Ferrell Grammy articles got 3X the traffic of the two Beyonce articles combined, because nobody was talking about her.
Everyone thinks they know the economics of what’s going on here. I am the only one who actually sees the numbers.
February 4, 2025 @ 10:51 am
SO what you are saying, if I understand it correctly, is that her album is not Country…? 🙂
What’s Country is Trey Hensley and Rob Ickes won a Grammy as well!
Never mind, its for a Blues album. This DEI shit has gone too far!!
February 4, 2025 @ 11:00 am
I wish Beyoncé made a country album, I think that would have been cool.
February 4, 2025 @ 11:01 am
OK, I decided to break this down track by track and here is what I concluded about the albums genre make-up. I rated each track a primary and secondary genre.
This is the outcome:
1. Country – 22%
2. Pop – 21%
3. R&B – 18%
4. Rock – 11%
5. Folk – 9%
6. Funk – 7%
7. Other – 7%
Looking at it is this way, it is not a Country album, but it is more of a Country album than anything else. It is exactly what you might expect a Pop/R&B singer to do with a Country ‘themed’ album. Beyonce absolutely nailed it when she said “This is not a Country album, its a Beyonce album”. She bended and blended genres. Country was the aesthetic, the working brief, the inspiration, but she didn’t limit herself to the genre for the album.
I don’t have a major issue with her winning, because I don’t care for any of the other records that were nominated, and I appreciate it when artists blend genres (Stapleton did this on his record too, and Kacey’s is a folk/pop album).
Think back to Sturgill winning best Country album, and how all celebrate it, but ‘Sailor’s Guide’ is also a genre bending album with folk, funk, soul and rock all blended into the sound. I have seen the Johnny Blue Skies album at the top of many country year end lists (mine included), but if we are honest, its barely a country album.
February 4, 2025 @ 2:45 pm
According to the Grammy instructions to genre screening committees, an album must be 51% of a specific genre to qualify in genre specific categories. So using your metrics, “Cowboy Carter” would NOT qualify in country, and would either be sent to a different category, or sent to the non-genre-specific categories like Album of the Year, which “Cowboy Carter” won.
This is what happened to Beyonce’s song “Daddy Lessons” in 2016. The committee deemed it not country enough. This resulted in a MASSIVE public backlash, and accusations against the Grammy Awards of racism. All of this is what set the table for “Cowboy Carter” as explained in the above article/video.
As for the other projects, I agree that Sturgill, and Musgraves’ albums also are not purely country. But they did meet that 51% threshold. This is the difference.
Also, unlike Beyonce, neither Sturgill or Musgraves expressly stated, “This ain’t a country album.”
February 4, 2025 @ 11:49 am
Found this article after listening to cowboy Carter in full and was surprised how the second half of her album was mostly pop and hip hop songs. But I think the same can be said for artists like Taylor swift who wanted to do pop but were still under the country umbrella. There were songs in Red that were pure pop leaning but within a “country” album. I think Beyoncé set out to do what she did with Lemonade but more extensively where she’s created an album with several genres in it but it’s interesting the marketing is still country and the imagery as well. I think she still deserves recognition for what she did in Cowboy Carter. Who did you think should’ve won Country Album or AOTY?
February 4, 2025 @ 5:15 pm
If it was my pick, the Best Country Album would have gone to Sierra Ferrell. She won the Saving Country Music Album of the Year, and I think her four Grammy Awards substantiate that she is a transformational character in country music. In years previous, there was usually an independent artist considered among the mainstream ones. This is how Sturgill Simpson won Best Country Album.
February 4, 2025 @ 11:52 am
Hahahaha, oh my god!!!
Show me on the grammy where the black lafy hurt you!
This is now waaaaay beyond sad.
February 4, 2025 @ 12:22 pm
: D You going to allow responses to Lisa Ann Klein, in the same vein she is throwing hatred? As well as several others, who are here just for political attacks?
Just asking.
Don’t get cute with your answer.
Reply with intelligence.
February 4, 2025 @ 3:44 pm
Yeah I am surprised that he’s being cordial with her when she’s giving bad faith responses. The people that are defending Beyonce don’t like Country music – plain and simple.
February 4, 2025 @ 1:45 pm
This discussion is quite honestly tiresome and ridiculous.
For all intents and purposes of music categorization and marketing, it’s a country album. She would not have included Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and other former and current country artists like Post Malone, Miley Cyrus and several other Black country artists if it weren’t country. She wouldn’t have submitted the album and songs to the country categories. She would not have lamented how people said she “spoke too country” then said she “wasn’t country enough”.
At its heart it is a country album. But Beyonce hasn’t operated in or been tied to a single genre for at least the past 12 years. This album is clearly indicative of that. Her previous album was categorized as “dance/electronic” yet had R&B and hip-hop/rap. The album before that had a country track (the reaction to her performing said track at the CMAs being the whole reason why we’re here today) and had a rock song that earned her a nomination in the rock category.
That’s why she said it’s a “Beyonce album”.
And quite honestly, I hate to pull out the “race card” but I cant help but feel like all this hostility would not have existed had Beyonce been a White person and/or she went to Nashville to beg for their blessing and acceptance (Luke Bryan let it slip that her CMA snubs were due to the latter).
February 4, 2025 @ 2:54 pm
” and other former and current country artists like Post Malone, Miley Cyrus…”
Ha!
As explained above, Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson only appear in voice tracks, similar to Linda Martell. Some of this has been verified to have been added AFTER the canard that “Cowboy Carter” was country started to trend. They were not collaborators.
As for the race thing, I think the hostility being pointed at Beyonce is coming from people who continuously insult her efforts with Cowboy Carter by trying to stuff it in the “country” box, when she said herself emphatically that the point of the album was to break out of it.
The true insult Beyonce is suffering is from the folks not listening to her.
February 4, 2025 @ 3:49 pm
Thats not true. Trigger has brought up lots of artist that he thought werent really doing country, fgl, morgan wallen just to name a couple. They arent black. Funny how it just gets real big pushback when its beyonce. She hasnt earned any special priviledge. Just reading the title to this site should tell ya what you need to know.
February 6, 2025 @ 7:34 am
Parton and Nelson’s participation doesn’t automatically mean country. Those two have answered every beck and call since the 1980s.
They can’t say no to a collaboration. Genre integrity means nothing to them.
February 6, 2025 @ 8:14 am
The other issue with Willie and Dolly’s participation is that it was not in a collaborative role. They basically recorded voice memos and sent them in for interludes. I mention this in the article because this is an important key when asking, “Is this country?” If Beyonce had recorded songs with them, you could make a stronger case. Instead, her real collaborators were Post Malone, Miley Cyrus, and Shaboozey.
February 4, 2025 @ 2:37 pm
Trig said his peace and brought facts and a reasoned argument to help support his conclusions on what he considers a significant event in country music. I respect that. But I think this whole argument on whether or not this is a country music album could be settled with the opinion of a true country music expert…what’s Shaboozey’s take?
February 4, 2025 @ 3:55 pm
Reading thru some of these comments is just plain tiring. These idiots crying about “racism” just need to be treated like a crying baby in the 1980’s and left in the other room to finish crying without receiving any attention. Every single person who truly believes that Beyonce deserved this win, is not a country music fan in that they appreciate and understand Country music older than 1999 and back. Sadly the same is mostly true for most Jelly Roll and Zach Bryan fans but it is blatanly true for Beyonce fans. She and her husband paid for the award, and losers with white-guilt handed it to her.
February 4, 2025 @ 4:49 pm
Strait spoken truth.
February 5, 2025 @ 2:56 am
…this is plain rubbish mr. strait and you know it. since the pandemic country music has entered one of its artistically and commercially strongest periods in its entire history. the figures and the musical output don’t lie. just analyse what has been going on here at scm since then for some clues. you sound like a sad man stuck in a self-constructed past that never existed like you make yourself believe out there in la la land.
why don’t you break the habit of a lifetime and start spreading opinions that carry elements of facts within? and, please, feel free to increase that content over time, if you can.
February 5, 2025 @ 7:17 am
take the tampon out of your ass
February 5, 2025 @ 3:04 pm
Run back to Country Universe.
You and Kevin can celebrate the win there.
February 4, 2025 @ 6:45 pm
In the context of the Grammys (I assume that’s what we’re talking about) I don’t know that it matters whether it’s a country album.
The Grammys and everyone who pays attention to them needs to acknowledge that it’s about marketing and politics that determines the categories, not objective or even subjective ideas about musical classification.
I’ve been saying this since Bill Anderson and Dolly Partons wonderful duet “Someday It’ll All Make Sense” got nominated for a Grammy but not for Grammy…Bill Anderson is as country as any living country singer gets. To the Grammys that doesn’t matter.
February 4, 2025 @ 11:36 pm
Why dont you talk about the hypocrasy and double standards with the justin timberlake thing
You recall the outrage against ( man of the woods ) ? I bet she just stole his ideas .. compare songs like
Living of the land ..its the same f concept but he was destroyed for it and called a trump fan lol
This fake ass culture war they are fabricating and using really destroyed the american music scene .. so much ignorance about music now and every moron on sm think they are the biggest expert
Its the end
Here is food for thought
She has a song on that denim and guess what .. man of the woods was actually a collab with that same denim brand
February 4, 2025 @ 11:42 pm
For those bringing dolly and willy in
Chris Stapleton was on man of the woods ? Did that make it a country album ? Say something was even rejected by country radio btw
Dead fish go with the flow … whatever sells on sm
February 5, 2025 @ 11:56 am
Look at the bright side. Country fans will never have to speak this artist’s name again.
February 6, 2025 @ 9:11 am
It my review of Texas Hold’em I applauded Beyonce for making the ultimate bro country checklist song. It almost sounded like a nail in that coffin for me. She did better than the bros because she is Beyonce. Even so it a terrible song by Beyonce standards.
I imagine Rhiannon appearing on the opening of it was because of a big paycheck for a little work.
February 6, 2025 @ 9:17 am
Her Grammy awards in were so obviously the Grammys trying to erase the stench of racism.
But whatever. I am more pissed Sierra Ferrell was shoved in the Americana category when she is way more country than Beyonce.
And I still say Americana was genre invented by country artists pushed out from their own genre by radio, labels, and the bros. Which makes it all the more insulting to me as a country fan.
I am glad Sierra swept the categories. But still…
February 6, 2025 @ 10:20 am
Bear. Americana started officially in the 90s via the alt- country movement, which at the time included Alejandro Escovedo, Lucinda Williams, Rodney Crowell, Johnny Cash, Gillian Welch, Son Volt, Wilco, Whiskeytown, and a bunch of others. Eventually the term alt- country fell out of favor, and Americana became a go to term. They used to describe it as too country for country, though that wasn’t totally accurate. Bands like Wilco and Son Volt were way more rock and roll than anything else. Whatever. It’s morphed substantially over the last 3 decades to include folk stuff, string bands, old- timey, country- rock , blues, gospel, old school soul and R & B and really anything they feel like adding. John Oates, Stephen Stills, Tom Petty? War and Treaty, Mavis Staples etc.
Basically a lot of things I listen to get lumped into it. I guess personally I have a love hate relationship with it. But it’s become a catch- all category.
Take Sierra Ferrell. She’s at heart an old school soul playing Carter Family era mountain music, mixed with a tinge of 60s honky- tonk, gypsy jazz, 30s cabaret jazz, and a faint hint of bluegrass. Everything she dabbles in is antiquated in a good way, but very much an artifact of the eras she’s covering. If we just agree to call her ” country” on the basis of her mountain music and honky- tonk sound, I get it.
But let’s say ideally we got ” country radio to play her stuff, would it aesthetically or sonically make sense to play Jeremiah, or Lighthouse or Fox Hunt back to back with Lainey Wilson, or Brad Paisley or Carly Pearce? Or are we suggesting that ideally we’d deep six all that ” modern stuff” and start playing only indie artists like her, Turnpike, Crockett etc. Country music, referring to the industry bearing the name, has little interest in the antique styles she works in. Thats why I continue to assert that her best fit as a genre or format given her style is Americana. I think of past artists who played the old timey stuff like Gillian Welch, Iris Dement and Old Crow Medicine show who are rarely called ” Country music” usually they get categorized under Americana.
I do think Trigs onto something with his Dewey Decimal system of categories and sub- categories.
Some here have suggested some of these sub categories be implemented like Pop Country or Southern Pop. But until we start to see a distinction like that, I think we remain stuck where we are. File it under Americana for better or worse.
February 8, 2025 @ 12:39 pm
Thank you so much for the great & informative article.
February 13, 2025 @ 1:02 pm
The Grammys are known to get shit wrong from time to time anybody remember 1989 when Jethro Tull stole the Grammy for best Hard Rock album from Metallica’s And Justice for All album….. Grammy voters are fucking morons sometimes so its not surprising they had their head up their ass with this one.