Going for a ride in the country

When Queen Bey performed her country-tinged Daddy Lessons with the Dixie Chicks at the 2016 Country Music Awards, it went down like Mahler at a hoedown.

The backlash inspired this smart, playful revenge.

“Said I wasn’t country enough, said I wouldn’t saddle up,” the Texas-raised R&B superstar reminds us on opener Ameriican (sic) Requiem.

Cowboy Carter is a play on her married name of Knowles-carter and a knowing nod to country royalty the Carter family.

The first single Texas Hold

’Em was a gloriously upbeat banjo-enhanced slice of misdirection that topped the US country charts.

Legends Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson make cameo appearances to endorse her. “You know that hussy with the good hair you sing about?” says Dolly, referencing Bey’s song Sorry. “Reminded me of someone I knew… except she had flaming locks of auburn hair...”

Cue Beyonce’s reinvention of Jolene. She’s no longer pleading with her rival, she’s warning her off: “I’m a queen, Jolene. I’m still a Creole banjee bitch from Louisiana. Don’t try me.”

Despite all that, this is more a Beyonce album than a country one. Other tracks range from the bopping 70s pop of Bodyguard to the psychedelic Sly Stone stomp of Ya Ya via Spaghetti’s hip-hop. Best of all is haunting ballad Daughter.

Bey covers the Beatles Blackbird as Blackbiird, repeating the ‘ii’ theme as we’re meant to see this as part two of her 2022 dance-driven Renaissance album.

Her aim is to remind us that the black country tradition stretches from Deford Bailey to Charley Pride, via Ray Charles and guesting Linda Martell, and to stress music’s unifying power.

We get turns from Miley Cyrus, Pharrell Williams, and Post Malone on the sex-charged Levii’s Jeans.

Beyonce also finds time to have a pop at the Grammys. Cross her at your peril.