COWBOY CARTER by Beyoncé

Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé's eighth album and Act II of a planned trilogy after Renaissance, arrived on March 29, 2024, via Parkwood and Columbia. It's her country record, sort of, rooted in her Texas upbringing but sprawling across the whole musical map of the American South, and built on a big idea: Americana reclaimed, with the Black pioneers who helped build it put back in the frame.

The album plays like a radio broadcast, with Dolly Parton, Linda Martell and Willie Nelson as the DJs, and it makes room for rising Black country voices like Shaboozey, Tanner Adell and Brittney Spencer, over acoustic playing from the likes of Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney and Nile Rodgers. With "Texas Hold 'Em", a Black woman sat on top of both the Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs with a country tune for the first time. At the 67th Grammys it won Album of the Year and Best Country Album, the latter a first for a Black artist.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.