Can Beyoncé bring country music back to its Black roots?
Her new singles "Texas Hold 'Em" and "16 Carriages" rewrite Nashville history
Beyoncé’s new country track “Texas Hold ‘Em” opens with something that’s probably never been featured in a hit pop song: A gourd banjo, played by roots musicians Rhiannon Giddens, in the clawhammer style of the Black banjo tradition.
It’s a striking moment, not just because of how good it sounds, but because of how the inclusion of this instrument, played by this musician, in this style, makes a bold statement about where country music came from, and where it might be headed.
As music journalist Taylor Crumpton told Switched on Pop producer Reanna Cruz in our most recent episode, “Beyoncé’s Country,” the singer has always maintained her country bonafides. On “Formation,” she declared, you’ll “never take country out me.” On “Daddy Lessons,” she sings about rifles, bibles, and “second amendment rights.”
Despite this country cred, Taylor told us that when Beyoncé performed “Daddy Lessons” at the 2016 Country Music Awards, she was met with hostility and dismissal by country icons such as Travis Tritt. So with two new releases firmly planting a flag in the genre, many are curious to see how Nashville responds to the new superstar in its midst. Will it be acceptance, rejection, or something in between?
Like Lil Nas X before her, Beyoncé’s new songs shine a light on how color shapes our perception of “who is country.” Back in November 2023, we interviewed music chart expert Chris Molanphy about his book on “Old Town Road,” and he had countless examples of largely forgotten Black artists who helped give white artists their sound:
One of the first major Grand Ole Opry stars way back in the 1920s was DeFord Bailey, who was called the Opry's harmonica wizard, basically the most significant Black country star before World War II.
And then several of the titans of country music, like the Carter family, were advised by Black creators. “Will the Circle be Unbroken,” which was popularized by the Carter family, was formulated by A. P. Carter out of an old gospel tune that an African American minister had already reworked and recorded, and they were advised by a Black slide guitarist named Leslie Riddle.
When you think about Bill Monroe, the so called father of bluegrass, he was advised by an exceptional Black player named Arnold Schultz, who basically took Bill Monroe around to clubs and let him watch him play. And that's how bluegrass was formed.
Hank Williams is considered one of the godfathers of country music. He basically says, “All the music training I ever had was from a guy named Rufus ‘Tee Tot’ Payne, who would roam the streets playing for handouts, and Hank Williams would tag along.
Either way, Beyoncé’s quest to remind country music of its Black roots marks something of a turning point, as does her inclusion of artists who have already been doing this work, including Giddens, guitarist Justus West, organist Gavin Williams, and pedal steel player Robert Randolph. This shift has informed our teams’s listening habits this week:
Country we’re listening to
Charlie: Otis Taylor, “Ten Million Slaves”
This is a song that was brought to my attention by one of our listeners, who heard it as inspiration for Beyoncé’s “16 Carriages.” It's off of Otis Taylor's 2008 album, Recapturing the Banjo, very much in line with the sort of projects that Rihanna Giddens has spent so much effort on. And the song “Ten Million Slaves” is obviously powerful in its title. It uses an ongoing refrain about the ten million slaves who were forcibly transported in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. It's a very powerful song but one still filled with poetic detail.
Nate: Robert Randolph and the Family Band, “Find a Way”
Listening to “16 Carriages” and hearing the pedal steel playing of Robert Randolph led me to rediscover this brilliant musician and his fantastic band. A song like “Find A Way” represents a melange of multiple American musical traditions colliding together, anchored by the ecstatic abandon with which Randolph and his band play. Listening to this track has been one of the most electric musical experiences I've had in a while. From the start, the song just jumps from the speakers into your room. A sterling example of the way listening to Beyoncé's latest hits can open up all these other musical adjacent musical worlds to explore.
Reanna: Toby Keith, “How Do You Like Me Now?!”
Toby Keith passed away a few weeks ago, and in the weeks since I have been near obsessed with understanding his catalog, mainly because he is so foreign to me, musically as well as politically. So I've spent a while over the past two weeks listening to his deep catalog, and the way that he writes hooks, and the timbre of his voice, is unmistakably remarkable. It’s also indebted to the same Black country musicians that Taylor Crumpton and Chris Molanphy have discussed, even if Keith never acknowledged this lineage.
Though in many ways he is the representative of entrenched country paradigms, he's able to connect with people on a deep level because of his musicality. Thinking specifically of “Whiskey for my Men, Beer for my Horses” with Willie Nelson, or the song “Should Have Been A Cowboy” off of his debut record, “How Do you Like Me Now?” — He is able to write hooks so effectively, and he's able to connect, I think, with women and men, and non-binary people like myself, because he's able to access such innate emotions in the human spirit.
Loved seeing a small breakdown of Toby Keith’s music. It’s easy to dismiss some forms of art because they come from or go to a place where our ideologies don’t align. Looking at what makes it endearing and sometimes enduring is a good step towards understanding other viewpoints.