Beyoncé's hotly-anticipated foray into Country, COWBOY CARTER, is finally here and has brought with it a resurgence of mainstream interest in the genre.
The second act in the songstress and mogul's trilogy celebrating historically Black music genres, the project not only educates listeners on the oft-disregarded Black roots of Country, but shines a light on its bright Black future.
In addition to the much-buzzed-about additions of well-known country heroes like Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson, Beyoncé highlighted Black Country pioneer Linda Martell, the first commercially successful Black Country artist.
While Martell initially broke ground in Nashville in the late 1960's, a host of new artists are tearing back through the invisible walls set up in the genre that ultimately inspired the creation of COWBOY CARTER in the first place. With features from some of today's hottest new Country music stars, Bey shook up the Country status quo and possibly the future of the Country music charts.
Take a look at the Black Country artists the songstress introduced to new audiences with her latest release.
With a huge social media following and her viral hit “Buckle Bunny” ruffling a few feathers while launching dance challenges across TikTok, Tanner Adell is Country’s Gen Z darling.
When Beyoncé’s shock drop of two Country singles shook the internet on Feb. 11, the songstress took to X (formerly Twitter) and said “As one of the only black girls in country music scene, I hope Bey decides to sprinkle me with a dash of her magic for a collab.” Her wish was granted as Bey tapped her for supporting vocals on COWBOY CARTER’s second track, “Blackbiird.”
Up next for Adell, her own Hoedown at DC’s Broccoli City Festival in July.
This Nigerian-American Alt-Country star has made waves for bridging elements of Hip-Hop and Afrobeat into his own brand of Country.
Featured on both Beyoncé’s “Spaghettii” and “Sweet Honey Buckin’,” Shaboozey has released three albums and has previously been featured on the soundtrack of Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse – at the young age of 28.
His fourth studio albulm Where I’ve Been, isn’t Where I’m Going, will be available on May 31.
No stranger to the ESSENCE Festival stage, Brittney Spencer has been making waves in Country music for several years. The Baltimore-born songstress also backed Bey’s captivating vocals on her re-tooling of the classic hit by The Beatles, “Blackbiird.”
It’s a fitting moment for Spencer who, much like Beyoncé herself, has been vocal about the challenges she has faced as a Black woman breaking into Country.
“I think any Black person can understand what that’s like being in any predominantly white space,” she told ESSENCE in 2022. Now she and Bey are breaking Country’s boundaries together.
This Louisiana native captured the hearts of The X-Factor judges over a decade ago. Though he didn’t walk away with a win on the talent show, he did walk away with a captive fan base eager to hear his signature style of R&B-tinged Country and has spent his years performing the Nashville circut and advocating for Black voices in country in projects like 2022’s For Love & Country.
After releasing his debut album, Something To Dance To in June 2023, he caught the attention of the Queen Bey herself to end up duetting with her on COWBOY CARTER‘s infectious track about masking pain with a good ol’ time, “JUST FOR FUN.”
An Alaska native, this banjo-strumming songstress has been honing her Country chops in Nashville since 2020. As one of the few Black female Country soloists, she released her second album, Bad Girl Bible, in 2023.
As she told The Tennesseean in November 2023, “My whole life has been spent preparing for the superstar future I feel God has planned for me, whenever the time is right for that to happen.” With this spotlight shined by Beyonce, it seems that time may be now.
The first Black woman to perform in Nashville’s legendary Grand ‘Ol Opry, Martell’s groundbreaking music blended elements of Gospel, Country, and R&B, leading her to become the first Black woman to land mainstream success in the Country genre. Her 1970 album, Color Me Country, hit number 40 on the US Country charts.
Martell was awarded with Country Music Television’s Equal Play Award in 2021, with a musical tribute by Darius Rucker, Rissi Palmer, Mickey Guyton and Carrie Underwood, in recognition of her contributions to Country as a Black woman.
On COWBOY CARTER, Martell’s rich voice carries the listener through two of Beyoncé’s tracks, Spaghettii” and “The Linda Martell Show,” each of which find her discussing the concept of “genre” in music and the beauty of blending them together to create something fresh.
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