Beyoncé Knowles, the big Bee has ventured into the country music genre with Cowboy Carter. That is old news. Everyone around the world saw the proclamation with her cute cowgirl hat at the Grammy’s and her overbearing husband’s (Jay-Z) speech about how she hasn’t won the prestigious and political Grammy. There is probably a child in a small Ethiopian desert village starving with no food thankful he was shipped the new Cowboy Carter album to comfort his bloated malnutritioned stomach.
Yes, everybody has heard the album by now. The Country music establishment has been less than accepting of the Houston native’s first attempt at the beloved genre. This is nothing new. The Country higher ups hate anything new. Look what they did to the Outlaw movement in the 70’s. Why are people so up-in-arms about Beyoncé moving into Country? Especially with so many modern and new black Country artists emerging.
After all, she is from Texas y’all. She can put a southern drawl and twang on her voice when she needs it. And boy does she know how to accessorize Louis Vuitton with a bright, good guy white cowboy hat.
Beyoncé’s public relations team seems to be working overtime to convince you that there is a racial issue with Bee going country. Even MSNBC commentator Ayman Mohyeldin rose to the occasion stating,
“Let’s be very clear here. This is just the very latest flashpoint of the long and ugly history of racism within the country music establishment.”
MSNBC
Mohyeldin goes on to cite issues with other black artists that had problems. He talks about Lil Nas X and his “Old Town Road” being removed from country music charts for not having enough elements of country music. He also brings up Beyoncé getting backlash for singing with The Chicks at the CMA’s. Mohyeldin had to touch on country star, Morgan Wallen’s N-word video and Jason Aldean’s video… I’ll give him that one. Aldean is a racist pignut.
As the video goes on, Mohyeldin quotes from The Washington Post that,
“Musicologists speculate that the precursor to the plucked string instrument originated in Africa and arrived on American shores during the 17th century with enslaved people taken from West and Central Africa.”
MSNBC
I want you the reader to hang on that word speculate for a moment. Much like the beginning of this article where I’m being facetious about the starving child, I said, “There is probably.” Speculate means they don’t know. That sneaky kind of passive language means that they are banking on the loud majority of consumers aren’t educated enough to understand that this was just someone simply talking out of both sides of their crooked mouth.
From that same article he recites another quote, this time from Professor of African American Studies at Vanderbilt University Alice Randall. She said,
“As I understand Black country music, it goes back to the arrival of the first Black child to an enslaved African woman in these Americas.”
MSNBC
Mohyeldin isn’t wrong when he says that Black people have always been a part of folk and country music. He brings up artists like Darius Rucker, Charlie Pride, and Ray Charles. Mohyeldin also left out Lead Belly, Arnold Shultz, and DeFord Bailey. He also missed the more modern performer, Reyna Roberts, who is fantastic.
Let me be very clear here, the genre of country really originated from Scottish/Irish immigrants. The whole basic rhythm of country music came from Celtic music. Africans did bring the banjo in through the slave trade. No doubt they were in the beginnings. There is no dispute. Except the ancient Mesopotamians had the banjo (gourd-lutes) around 1500 BC, they brought the banjo to the Mediterraneans who then brought the instrument to the sub-Saharan Africans, and they brought it to America in the late 1700’s. It was also Joel Walker Sweeney who is credited as the first white boy to play the banjo. He is also credited as the man to invent the modern banjo, adding frets and the infamous fifth string.
The real issue with Beyoncé’s country, is not racism. It has to do with authenticity. When you listen to the latest album, it is in fact a damn fine Beyoncé album. It just isn’t country, just like “Old Town Road” has elements of country, but it is a Hip-Hop song. That would be like calling “Ms. Jackson” by OutKast a blues song because they do a blues breakdown with the harmonica. It is still Rap/Hip-Hop.
Beyoncé wants to call Cowboy Carter a Country album because she puts some country elements into some of the songs. She uses song titles like “Riverdance” (Irish origins) to give the song some dirt, backroad street cred. Sounds Country, might even sound like an Irish folk song, but when you listen to it, it is just another Beyoncé club song. The lyrics are subpar at best, it is repetitive, and it has a nice beat. It is the typical formula song.
Take the hit song, “Texas Hold ‘Em.” It is the same formula as “Riverdance” and most of her musical catalog after Destiny’s Child. “Riverdance” is filled with lyrical country clichés about tornadoes, whiskey, and Texas Hold ‘Em, which the song title isn’t even in the song. The song has nothing to do with playing cards, it really isn’t about anything. The track is just another dance song by Beyoncé with a call to action to get on the dance floor and give her some garanteed downloads.
I will say this… Cowboy Carter has one of the best songs I’ve ever heard from Beyoncé’s long and successful career. The song “Daughter” is a beautiful song, The very beginning of the vocal melody is literally half the phrasing of the song “Ghostriders in the Sky.” The song takes its own life and soul, especially when she mixes in the opera song, “Caro Mio Ben” at about 1:56 in the arrangement. It is truly breathtaking. Still not country.
The lyrics tell an amazing story of a person dealing with the evil in their heart and the Devil passed down from the father. I’m in love with this song. Still not country.
The closest Beyoncé gets to country on this album is “Protector” and the track, “II Most Wanted,” a duet with Miley Cyrus. Even this one treads a line. Given the Pop Country landscape this one could be considered a country song. It, however, took an injection of authenticity from Miley Cyrus to give this an authentic country edge.
The other almost country is the gorgeous song “Protector.” Absolutely, I gave this song a few listens. It is so sweet. It is a song that any parent can relate to no matter what musical background you gravitate towards.
These two songs are as close as it gets to country, yet they keep pushing the spectacular crap-tastically contrived “Texas Hold ‘Em,” and the I’m a young and underpaid pop star song “16 Carriages,” and of course the cover of “Jolene” which she just pulled a Weird Al Yankovic on with the lyrics.
I’m guessing doing “Jolene” was her way of cutting the line to prove she can be country, instead her lyric change just makes her sound like a shallow person. The original by Dolly Parton showed a vulnerability that all humans have inside. Beyoncé’s shows insecurity and a person who might have some serious impulse control issues. It is the lyrical equivalent, a soundtrack if you will, to any Jerry Springer episode.
Coming back to the real issue, Cowboy Carter isn’t a race issue, it is an authenticity issue. Perfect example, we know that this has been being pushed as Beyoncé’s country coming out party. Between the media hype, the yelling about racism, and her dressing like a limited-edition country Bratz Doll we know that we are supposed to take this as a serious country album.
Yet, Bee tried to come off humbling amidst the chaos in an Instagram post from March 19, 2024 stating:
“This ain’t a Country album. This is a “Beyoncé” album. This is act ii COWBOY CARTER, and I am proud to share it with y’all!”
Beyonce’s Official Instagram
Earlier in the same post she also stated, “The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me 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.”
She literally tried to be dismissive of the genre while boldly stating that the album is a country album.
She is right, this is a Beyoncé album and if you like her music you will love this album. All in all, I think this album is a majestic mountain peak in her long catalog of music. To call this a country album is a contrived attempt to seal in a Grammy nod or a CMA award that would be as deserving as a Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame entry for Luciano Pavarotti because he worked with U2 and Bryan Adams once. To keep pushing this as country music is doing the album a monumental disservice. Cowboy Carter is so much better than that.
Cowboy Carter is going to be that album that award ceremonies will look at twenty plus years down the line and acknowledge the brilliance and boldness of her musical peregrination.