After teasing new music in a Verizon ad that aired during Sunday’s Super Bowl XL, Beyoncé hits the charts with two country and Americana-inspired hits, “Texas Hold’em” and “16 Carriage.” It rose rapidly. These singles are the first releases of her long-awaited “Act II” project, which will debut on March 29th as a follow-up to her acclaimed 2022 Act I “Renaissance” album.
“Texas Hold’em” is a banjo-heavy track with stomping beats that inspires a new TikTok dance trend, as Beyoncé sings, “This is a real live boogie, this is a real live hoedown.” Probability is high. Meanwhile, “16 Carriages,” an uplifting and intimate ballad about Beyoncé’s childhood, features steel guitar and a powerful organ with a Southern gospel influence.
Fans and music experts say the two releases further confirm rumors that Act II will be a full-length country album and portend a new cultural shift in music. ing.
“This album refines and redefines what country is and takes it to another level,” said Alice Randall, a songwriter, author, and professor of African American and diaspora studies at Vanderbilt University. I hope that he will guide us in the direction of progress.” . “It’s about tearing down a country and rebuilding it. That’s the modern sound of country and western.”
Randall pointed to the influence of Beyoncé’s first country song, “Daddy Lessons.” The song was an evocative single that many critics considered one of the best songs from Beyoncé’s 2016 album Lemonade. In a historic and widely shared moment at the Country Music Awards, Beyoncé performed the song with the Chicks, who later released her own cover. He is credited with influencing the Yeehaw Agenda, an internet movement that reclaims black cowboy culture through music and fashion.
But Daddy Lessons also exposed the deep rifts that still roil the country music industry. There was an outcry from some country music fans who thought the song did not belong to the genre. And the Recording Academy seemed to agree, rejecting the song from consideration. Grammy Award for Country Music. These events reflect the barriers that Black artists have often faced over the genre’s 100-year history, from Ray Charles to Lil Nas X.
Darius Rucker, a Grammy-winning country singer with 10 No. 1 hits, left the solo rock band Hootie and the Blowfish to pursue country music. He often talks about the resistance he later encountered. “When I started working at radio stations and stuff, people told me to my face, ‘My audience will never accept a black country singer,'” Rucker told ET Canada. In an interview last year.
But black artists have long influenced the genre, starting with the banjo.
Musicologists believe that plucked string instruments originated in Africa and made their way to the Americas with enslaved people brought from West and Central Africa in the 17th century. “My understanding of black country music goes back to the birth of the first black child to an enslaved African woman in the Americas,” Randall said. His recent book, My Black Country, chronicles the black influence in country music’s past. , present and future.
In her book, she examines the unknown role of Louis Armstrong and Lil Hardin Armstrong in Jimmie Rodgers’ Blue Yodel #9. Scholars consider this song to be one of the most influential country songs of all time. We spotlight Florence (Givens) Joplin as a lost pioneer of the genre. And we’ll dig into the modern-day contributions of people like Beyoncé. Beyoncé’s work has long reflected a commitment to honoring and capitalizing on musical legends and Black history.
For example, on “Texas Hold’em,” Beyoncé features Grammy and Pulitzer Prize-winning musician Rhiannon Giddens on banjo and viola. The Greensboro, North Carolina native is considered a folk music icon and has dedicated her career to celebrating the unsung heroes of American music history.
viral post An article on social media published hours after Beyoncé’s release shed light on Giddens’ defense. One user responded, “This whole album is going to be like a lesson in the roots of country music.”
In fact, Randall believes the singer’s potential country music album could highlight black artistry in the genre, just as she recognized black queer and ballroom culture with “Renaissance.” I’m thinking about it.
“She is a true cultural curator,” Randall said. “A lot of people forget that the majority of cowboys were people of color, even going back to ‘Lemonade’ and ‘Daddy Lessons.'” It helped me remember and encouraged me to learn it.”
In doing so, Randall said Beyoncé is spotlighting and building on a deep tradition. Scholars believe this path was first blazed by Ray Charles.
“For me, one of the greatest albums in the history of country music is Ray Charles’ “The Modern Sound of Country and Western Music,” Randall said. Charles’ music experimented with jazz, gospel, and rhythm and blues before releasing his critically acclaimed country album in 1962.
“I think Beyoncé’s album is a similar moment,” she said. “She’s trying to do what Ray Charles did with this new album.” [his album]. And if what she’s already done within her country is any indication, I think she’ll take it further. ”
But Randall was wary of the reception Beyoncé might receive, pointing out that “Ray Charles didn’t receive those flowers in the first place.”
“I hope the country music establishment embraces this album and Beyoncé in the same way we should have embraced Ray Charles from the beginning,” she said. (Charles won’t be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame until 2022, but critics often cite him for reviving the genre and introducing it to new listeners.)
“I hope Beyoncé gets the reception that Ray Charles didn’t get.”