Beyonce’s new album ‘Cowboy Carter’ inspires conversations about role race plays in music in Triad

GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — The release of Beyonce’s country-inspired album “Cowboy Carter” has started important conversations about the role race plays in music.

Beyonce’s experimentation with a new sound has people questioning what is considered country and who is qualified to sing it. Beyonce is mostly known for her pop hits and R&B ballads. But with this album and the collaborations with other Black country artists on it, she’s sending a message to the world that music has no color or gender, and it doesn’t come from just one race or culture.

More than 100 years ago, musical genres were introduced to categorize the music we listen to. Now we have rock, blues, jazz, country and more. Oftentimes, those genres draw lines in the sand between different cultures and races.

“Cowboy Carter” has caused a buzz in the music world and in UNCG Assistant Professor David Aarons’ classroom. As an assistant professor of ethnomusicology, Aarons is used to detailed discussions about genre, instruments and lyrics. Recently, he gave his class an assignment to listen to “Cowboy Carter” from start to finish. This lesson goes beyond just the music. It’s also a lesson in the history of race and racism in country music.

“To understand the debate about country music, I think we have to go back to the 1920s with the rise of commercial recording industry. So in the 1920s, lots of record labels or talking machine companies … realized that they could make money from recorded music. They set up two different series. There was race records and hillbilly records. Race records was music that they believed came out of Black communities and could be targeted towards Black audiences. Whereas, hillbilly records was music that they believed was created by white audiences and would appeal to only white audiences. And so hillbilly records eventually became country, and race records became R&B,” Aarons said. “One of the issues with this marketing scheme … is that it reinforces these distinctions between white music and Black music for the sake of marketing.”

Of course, music isn’t just Black and white. Country music specifically was born from a mix of different regions, cultures, sounds and traditions.

“In reality, Black Americans were listening to fiddle tunes, and they were playing fiddle tunes. They were singing ballads. White Americans … were enjoying the blues and singing the blues and participating in jazz. So these categories created this idea of like a distinct culture between Black and white when on the ground, it wasn’t necessarily the case,” Aarons said.

The designation of genres created room for some races to be excluded from certain genres over the years. It’s part of the reason why Beyonce’s entrance into the country music world is jarring for some. For decades, it has been a predominantly white genre with little room for Black artists to gain success due to predetermined notions of who can sing what.

“It’s important to recognize that Black people have also been contributing to and recording music that one would consider country since forever. Black musicians have been playing the banjo in North America and the fiddle. Black musicians have been singing ballads in the 1920s and thirties with the hillbilly recording industry, Black musicians were also recording. They weren’t promoted … Their faces weren’t used because it was promoted as a white genre,” Aarons said. “So for … Black or non-white person to want to participate in country, that’s part of the tradition, too … It’s not something unusual or something interesting or strange. It’s actually just been there for a long time.”

Beyonce used this album to give some Black country artists an overdue spotlight. Linda Martell, who was the first Black country artist to play at the Grand Ole Opry, is featured on the album. The project also features Triad native and country musician Rhiannon Giddens, Tanner Adell and Shaboozey, who is an artist who combines hip hop, country, rock and Americana. The album also featured legends who are well-known and loved in the genre like Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson.

“Beyoncé, by highlighting so many Black country artists and just the existence of Black country artists, … shows that genres can sometimes give us a skewed understanding of how society works and how music works,” Aarons said.

A Greensboro-based musician and producer also got a shot to show his skills on this album.

Gavin Williams is used to playing around with different sounds and instruments while producing music. It worked in his favor when he was asked to spice up one track in particular four years ago.

“A friend of mine by the name of Dave Hamley called me with a few beats that he had,” Williams said. “He’s like, ‘Gav, I need you to just play around on all these records.'”

Williams was given no clear instructions. He was just told to “play”. He added his touch and sent the tracks back. He didn’t hear anything back for years. Superbowl Sunday 2024 was when he got the call he’s worked for his entire career.

“Someone called me in LA and said, ‘Congratulations … You’re on Beyonce’s album,'” Williams said. “I literally stopped the car and just broke down.”

One of the tracks he was sent and played on ended up being one of the lead singles from the “Cowboy Carter” album: 16 Carriages. Williams is heard on the track playing the organ during the chorus of the song.

“They just said put something there, and I felt like organ would be the perfect thing to add instead of a piano or something like that. Just something that gives a little soul to it,” he said.

That soul he learned growing up in church can now be heard in a country-inspired song by Beyonce. It’s an example of the overlapping of genres that has been happening in music for generations.

“Musicians are playing multiple things, and they’re doing multiple things. They’ve always been doing that. And so that’s what I think is being reflected in the album as well. It’s just how musicians operate and have operated,” Aarons said.

As a producer, Williams says he feels like there isn’t a genre he can’t do. It’s why the debate around Beyonce doing a country album surprised him.

“I think it’s kind of sad that this even has to be a conversation. Music is supposed to be the thing that draws everybody together,” Williams said. “As a Black man, as a person … it saddens me where we have to have a line again drawn in music.”

“You always have to have those people that kind of come in, shake things up and make it a safe or a better place for other artists like them to be able to work. And I think she did her job. I think she did it where now you have to pay attention to other African-American country singers, which is a beautiful thing,” Williams said.

As music continues to evolve, Aarons says it’s important to remember that music comes from a plethora of regions, religions, cultures, races and experiences and that genres are just categories and not necessarily a reflection of what specific groups of people listen to exclusively.

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