Gatekeeping Country
A case study of 'Cowboy Carter' and the country music industry
“Three chords and the truth.”
“I wrote him back a letter and I told him it was not the perfect country & western song/ Because he hadn't said anything at all about mama/ Or trains, or trucks, or prison, or gettin' drunk.”
What more do you need than this to define country music? A lot, apparently. Who, then, gets to be the final arbiter of what is country music?
With the release of Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” then Beyonce’s “Country Carter,” plenty of people and organizations have decreed these albums as Not Country. Because of their history in other genres? Because Lil Nas X is gay? Because they’re both Black? Because they’re both unapologetically Black? And did Tracy Chapman’s Pop Grammy-winner “Fast Car” suddenly become country when Luke Combs covered it? What about “I Swear,” shared by both country’s John Michael Montgomery and R&B’s All-4-One in the early 1990s? Dolly Parton’s quintessentially country “I Will Always Love You” works just as well with Whitney Houston’s pop oeuvre.
This case study will explore the Fault Lines of race (Black vs. White) and gender (women vs. men) within the country music industry, specifically around the release of Beyonce’s “Cowboy Carter” album in comparison to Lil Nas X, Darius Rucker, and early country artists, like Charley Pride, DeFord Bailey, and Linda Martell.
Black influences on country music
Country music sprung up from roots in all directions: the Scots Irish ballads of Appalachia. Fiddle music from immigrants, and banjo music from African slaves. Gospel hymns, minstrel shows, and the Blues. Its evolution has been just as diverse: country, western, bluegrass. Nashville vs. Bakersfield. Outlaws vs. Countrypolitan. Rock influences and pop influences. It has always been a mash up of musical styles, a melting pot fed by those for whom the American Dream feels like a pipe dream.
“The banjo, for the first hundred years, is a black instrument,” said Rhiannon Giddens, a founding musician of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, during an interview for Ken Burns' Country Music documentary. Giddons played banjo for "Texas Hold 'Em."
“You had a lot of African servants, also known as slaves; they are the players for these dances. They learn these European [fiddle] tunes, and so the fiddle and the banjo start getting combined on the plantation. It’s an African American innovation, this idea of those two instruments together. You don’t have country music without fiddle and banjo. And you don’t have fiddle and banjo music without black people.”
The Country Music Hall of Fame is currently re-exhibiting "Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues Revisited," which explores the thriving rhythem and blues scene in Nashville during the mid-20th century. It has three Black artists in its hall:
- Deford Bailey was one of the first performers introduced and the first Black performer on WSM's Grand Ole Opry radio show. He was also the first performer to record in Nashville (Carter and Hillman, 1982).
- Charley Pride was country's first Black superstar, best known for his countrypolitan crossover hits like "Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'" (Langolis, 2024).
- Darius Rucker, who originally gained fame as the lead singer of rock band Hootie and the Blowfish, began his country music career as a solo artist in 2008 (Darius Rucker biography, n.d.).
Moving center stage
Numerous artists appear alongside Beyoncé on "Cowboy Carter": Jay-Z. Dolly Parton. Paul MCartney. Willie Nelson. Some are newer Black country artists, like Rhiannon Giddens, Guy Clark Jr., Tiera Kennedy, and Brittney Spencer. But one female Black name may not be known — but it should.
Linda Martell sppears on two tracks. Born in 1941, she was the first commercially successful Black female country artist iand the first Black female country artist to play the Grand Ole Opry, playing 12 times. However, she is not among the three Black artists in the Country Music Hall of Fame, all of whom are men.
But being the first at anything, especially as a black woman, is usually an uncomfortable place to be. Particularly when its in a white male dominated industry, like 1960s country music.
“I remember that well,” she says. “You’d be singing and they’d shout out names and you know the names they would call you" (Browne, 2020, para. 3).
Country singer Linda Martell poses for a portrait, circa 1969, in Nashville, Tennessee. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Country singer Linda Martell poses for a portrait, circa 1969, in Nashville, Tennessee. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
The song quoted at this beginning of this case study—"You Never Even Call Me By My Name" by outlaw country artist David Allen Coe—namedrops Charley Pride, country's first Black superstar. It's hard to find a county music fan of a certain age who isn't familiar with Pride's countrypolitan hit music. And while he didn't invent the subgenre, Pride is perhaps one of its better-known artists.
To this day, it's a subgenre with plenty of detractors who decry it as not country enough, a complaint that Beyonce can certainly identify with.
Pride was active from the mid-1970s until his COVID-related death in 2020. He was the only Black country singer signed to a major label until the early 1990s (Kennedy, 2020).
“They used to ask me how it feels to be the 'first colored country singer. Then it was 'first Negro country singer;' then 'first black country singer.' Now I’m the 'first African-American country singer.' That’s about the only thing that’s changed. This country is so race-conscious, so ate-up with colors and pigments. I call it 'skin hangups' — it’s a disease.”
"It was a great thing for me. I was just a little kid and I was getting flak from my family for the music I listened to. Here was somebody that looked like me singing country music – that wasn't supposed to be" (Rucker, 2021, para. 1).
In the mid-2000s, Rucker shifted into country music as a solo artist. Radio stations in Nashville rejected his music telling him that "they didn't think it was going to work because I was African American" (Rucker, 2021, para. 3). But he's seen that change in the nearly 20 years he's been in the industry.
"Country music has this stigma of rebel flags and racism, and that's changing. I think it's changing drastically. And I'm just glad. I hope I'm remembered as one of the people that tried to fight that, and one of the reasons that changed" (Rucker, 2021, para. 7).
Darius Rucker peforms during the Grand Ol' Opry's 5,000th Saturday Night Show on Oct. 30, 2021. (Alan Poizner)
Darius Rucker peforms during the Grand Ol' Opry's 5,000th Saturday Night Show on Oct. 30, 2021. (Alan Poizner)
In 2019, a young gay Black man hit the top of the Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart with "Old Town Road." Written by Montero Hill, aka Lil Nas X, the song gained popularity on TikTok before hitting it big. However, after a short period, Billboard removed it from the country list, telling Rolling Stone in a statement that the song “does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version” (Sisario, 2019, para. 5).
The song gained new life with a remix with Billy Ray Cyrus of "Achy Breaky Heart" fame. The song has been labeled any number of genres by different outlets, but the inclusion of Cyrus seemed to solidify it in the country camp. Lil Nas X calls it "country trap."
Ben Sisario, in a New York Times article, points out that plenty of White musicians have did not get booted from country lists when for including hip-hop beats and production techniques in their music. "Do those performers have more leeway than Lil Nas X?" (Sisario, 2019, para. 6).
In Sisario's article, Charles Hughes, the director of the Lynne & Henry Turley Memphis Center at Rhodes College, says yes.
“Black artists have been influential in country a long, long way back,” Hughes said, “but country has rewarded white artists that have taken advantage of those influences, without giving black artists the same opportunities” (Sisario, 2019, para. 9).
'Beyoncé has always been country'
The casual Beyoncé fan would be forgiven for believing that “Cowboy Carter” was her first foray into the world of country, when nothing could be further from the truth. Literally. Beyonce was born and raised in Houston, Texas, where the Knowles family annually attended the Houston stock Show and Rodeo.
“[W]e went to rodeos every year and my whole family dressed in western fashion. Solange did a whole brilliant Album and Project based on Black Cowboy Culture. It definitely was a part of our culture growing up," said Beyoncé's mother, Tina Knowles, in an Instagram post.
In USA Today, Marcus K. Dowling outlined six instances where Beyonce showed her country colors before “Cowboy Carter.” Perhaps the most relevant instance was her performance of “Daddy Lessons” with the then-named Dixie Chicks at the Country Music Association's 2016 awards.
After the performance, Travis M. Andrews wrote in the Washington Post's Morning Mix:
"All to say, the song seems genre-less, which is arguably a current trend in country. (See: Sturgill Simpson’s pedal-steel-drenched cover of Nirvana’s “In Bloom.”)
It’s a fitting set of influences for Beyoncé, who was born in Houston and owns a house with her husband, Jay Z, in New Orleans.
She might not be a country musician, but the song certainly seemed to fit into the ever-expanding definition of country music."
But plenty of people were not fans of the performance. Country musician Travis Tritt tweeted his displeasure at the inclusion of a pop artist at the awards show, clearly not buying Beyonce as a country artist.
Evolution of Country Music
Click any image below to launch a video of the song.
Earliest days
Known as the "father of country music," Jimmie Rogers sings "Blue Yodel No 1 (T For Texas)."
Countrypolitan
Charlie Pride–one of three Black artists in the Country Music Hall of Fame—was best known for "Kiss An Angel Good Mornin'," a crossover hit with the pop charts.
Country pop
In the 1990s, artists like Garth Brooks further blurred the line between country and pop in hits like "Friends in Low Places."
Post-country?
Currently at the top of Billboard's Hot Country is Shaboozy's "A Bar Song (Tipsy).'
'Cowboy Carter' comes to life
It started with a Super Bowl ad.
Then she dropped two singles—"Texas Hold 'Em" and "16 Carriages"—and a slew of social media posts. In one Instagram post, she explained the impetus behind this album:
"This album has been over five years in the making. It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed…and it was very clear that I wasn’t. But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive. It feels good to see how music can unite so many people around the world, while also amplifying the voices of some of the people who have dedicated so much of their lives educating on our musical history.
The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me. act ii is a result of challenging myself, and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work."
And she continues to have her detractors. Azealia banks posted an Instagram story text post, calling Beyonce's cover art portrait "whiteyounce Donatella Bianca Bardot" and calling her a "literal pick me." She continued "Ur always sharing ur platform with white women who are so jealous of you but have such a long history of sabotaging other Black womens careers" (Turner-Williams, 2024, para. 4-5).
She was also called out for her gigantic American flag imagery.
"Cowboy Carter" took the top spot on three Billboard charts: the U.S. Billboard 200, which tracks the most popular albums regardless of genre; U.S. Folk Albums; and U.S. Top Country Albums, where it held the top spot for four weeks and stayed on the chart for 17 weeks (Billboard, n.d.). "Daddy Lessons," in comparision, ranked second 46 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and 26 on the U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts (Billboard, n.d.). Which categories could "Cowboy Carter" be up for at the next Grammy Awards? Could it be included in the Country Music Association Awards this November?
References
Abad-Santos, A. (2016, November 4). Beyoncé, the CMAs, and the fight over country music’s politics, explained. Vox. https://www.vox.com/culture/2016/11/4/13521928/beyonce-cma-awards-controversy-deleted-performance
Andrews, T. M. (2015, November 3). Think Beyoncé ‘doesn’t belong at the CMAs’? Then you don’t know country. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/11/03/think-beyonce-doesnt-belong-at-the-cmas-you-dont-know-country/
Beyoncé Chart History. (n.d.) Billboard. https://www.billboard.com/artist/beyonce/chart-history/clp/
Butler, B. (2019, April 13). Billboard tried to fit ‘Old Town Road’ into a neat box. But that’s not how we listen to music anyway. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2019/04/13/billboard-tried-fit-old-town-road-into-neat-box-thats-not-how-we-listen-music-anyway/
Browne, D. (2020, September 2). Linda Martell, country’s lost pioneer. Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/linda-martell-black-country-grand-ole-opry-pioneer-1050432/
Carter, W., and Hilman, R. (1982, July 3). Death claims Deford Bailey at 82; was Grand Ole Opry's 1st musician. The Tennessean. https://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/country-mile/2019/09/12/deford-bailey-country-musician-broke-barriers-african-american-artists/2264613001/
Cyrus, B.R. [@billyraycyrus]. (2019, April 5). It was so obvious to me after hearing the song just one time. I was thinking, what’s not country about [text]. Twitter. Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20191010180548/https://twitter.com/billyraycyrus/status/1114299875359887360
Darius Rucker biography. AllMusic. (n.d.). https://www.allmusic.com/artist/darius-rucker-mn0000956675#biography
Dowling, M. K. (2024, February 12). Look back at 6 times Beyoncé has 'gone country' ahead of new music album announcement. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2024/02/12/beyonce-new-album-gone-country/72567818007/
Fiddle and banjo tunes and dance music. PBS. (n.d.). https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/country-music/roots-of-country-music-fiddle-and-banjo-tunes-and-dance-music
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Green, S. (2023, July 8). Black female country artists you should know. Country Town. https://countrytown.com/features/black-female-country-artists-you-should-know/Y8XZd3Z5eHs/08-07-23
Kennedy, M. (2020, Decemeber 20). Charley Pride, a country music Black superstar, dies at 86. Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/music-charley-pride-country-music-774ff52dd02d1d857983b1e9f41fcf34
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Knowles, T. [ @mstinaknowles]. (2024, February 17). I just came across this video on my IG feed! We have always celebrated Cowboy Culture growing up in Texas. [video]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3dXVCfuAtY/
Langlois, L. (2024, March 21). The legacy of Country Music's first Black superstar. The Tennessee Tribune. https://tntribune.com/the-legacy-of-country-musics-first-black-superstar/
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Public Broadcasting Service. (n.d.). Explore the roots & branches of Country Music. Country Music: A Film By Ken Burns. https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/country-music/roots-branches-of-country-music/
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Sforza, L. (2024, June 16). Darius Rucker says country music ‘still’ carries a ‘stigma of rebel flags and racism. The Hill. https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/4724439-darius-rucker-says-country-music-still-carries-a-stigma-of-rebel-flags-and-racism/
Turner-Williams, J. (2024, March 20). Azealia Banks blasts Beyonce’s 'Cowboy Carter' era: 'I don't get why you have to be in White woman cosplay'. Complex. https://www.complex.com/music/a/jaelaniturnerwilliams/azealia-banks-beyonce-cowboy-carter-era-white-woman-cosplay
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Yahr, E. (2019, April 5). Billy Ray Cyrus and Lil Nas X Record “Old Town Road” remix after Billboard Country Chart controversy. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2019/03/29/billboard-pulled-lil-nas-xs-viral-old-town-road-country-chart-it-ignited-controversy/
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