Beyonce has made recent headlines with two surprise country singles “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages”
Beyonce has made recent headlines with her two surprise country singles “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages”. The 32 time Grammy Award winning Houston native surprise released these singles during Super Bowl LVIII after a Verizon commercial she starred in. These songs reportedly will be on “Act II” of her Renaissance trilogy project, slated for release on March 29th, 2024. Beyonce’s foray in country music is not totally new as the singer did have country-styled song on her 2016 magnum opus Lemonade. Nor is the backlash she is receiving new. But what is worth noting is once again, Beyonce is using herself as a potential martyr for the cultural and racial zeitgeist that is African American’s contributions to country music.
A radio station in Oklahoma recently came under fire for refusing to play Beyonce’s country songs. Writer Emily Schmall, in her 2024 article for The New York Times, “Beyoncé Fan’s Radio Request Reignites Country Music Debate”, writes, “In Oklahoma, a small country music station that initially refused a listener’s request to play a new song by Beyoncé was forced to change its tune after an uproar from fans who say that Black artists are too often excluded from the genre…The Black Opry — a social media hub for Black artists and Black fans of country, blues, folk and Americana — used the radio station controversy involving Beyoncé to direct her fans online to its playlists on Spotify featuring other Black artists in country music.
Charles Hughes, the director of the Lynne and Henry Turley Memphis Center at Rhodes College, said that the Oklahoma radio station’s initial dismissal of Beyoncé symbolized how “country radio has systematically excluded artists of color,” particularly women.”
What does it mean if a Black woman from Houston,Texas who makes a foray into country music and not be accepted or embraced? As many have mentioned, this hasn’t only happened to Beyonce. Tim Ghianni, in his 2019 article for The Tennessean, “Ray Charles: Country Music Wouldn’t Be The Same Without Him”, wrote, “one could argue that the most influential man in country music’s worldwide success was a blind, black R&B pianist from Georgia. ‘When Ray did I Can’t Stop Loving You, that was probably the time when country music was heard by more people than ever before,’ says Willie Nelson. ‘He kicked country music forward 50 years. Before him, a lot of people had probably never heard of songs by Don Gibson or Hank Williams’… Country’s thread runs through the tapestry of Charles’ career. As a teenager he played “hillbilly music” in Florida roadhouses. His last official visit to Nashville was in 2003 to perform Behind Closed Coors for CMT’s 100 Greatest Songs of Country Music special.”
Time will tell how Beyonce’s foray into country music will continue to shape the future for Black artists in country music.