Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ features country music icons
Beyoncé has released the track list for her upcoming “Cowboy Carter” album:
• “American Requiem”
• “Protector”
• “Bodyguard”
• “Spaghetti”
• “II Most Wanted”
• “II Hands II Heaven”
• “Blackbiird”
• “16 Carriages”
• “My Rose”
• “Dolly P”
• “Alligator Tears”
• “Levii’s Jeans”
• “Oh Louisiana”
• “Tyrant”
• “Texas Hold ‘Em”
• “Daughter”
• “Just for Fun”
• “The Linda Martell Show”
• “Riverdance”
• “Amen”
• “Sweet Honey Buckin’ ”
• “Flamenco”
• “Smoke Hour” with Willie Nelson
• “Smoke Hour II”
• “Jolene”
• “Desert Eagle”
• “YaYa”
The “Cowboy Carter” album drops Friday and will feature 27 songs, including “Dolly P” and “The Linda Martell Show.” Martell was one of the first commercially successful Black female artists and the first to play the Grand Ole Opry. She released one album and is known for the single “Color Me Father.”
Willie Nelson is featured on the song “Smoke Hour.” There’s also a cover of “Jolene,” confirming what Dolly Parton said about her oft-covered classic being featured on “Cowboy Carter.”
Beyoncé revealed earlier this month that the album has been more than five years in the making and 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.” That experience was a 2016 performance of “Daddy Lessons” with The Chicks on the Country Music Association Awards.
The singles “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” were released with no warning in February, after a commercial tease during the Super Bowl. “Texas Hold ‘Em” made Beyoncé the first Black woman to top Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Houston’s 93Q was the first country station in the country to officially add “Texas Hold ‘Em” to its rotation.