‘Call Me Country’ explores singer’s dive into country
Beyoncé Knowles-carter will be the focus of a new CNN documentary titled “Call Me Country: Beyoncé & Nashville’s Renaissance.” Here’s a first look at the trailer.
The documentary explores the Grammy Award winning singer’s recent dive into country music with her latest album “Cowboy Carter” and the impact it’s having on the music industry. The film will also explore the ongoing conversation surrounding the genre in relation to Black musicians.
“Call Me Country” from CNN Flashdocs is coming to Max in late April, which marks almost a month since the “Ya Ya” singer released her eighth studio album.
The CNN documentary features some prominent Black voices in the country music scene, including banjo player Rhiannon Giddens, who is featured on Beyoncé’s hit “Texas Hold ‘Em.”
It also includes interviews with acclaimed artists such as John and T.J. Osborne of Brothers Osborne, Rissi Palmer, Aaron Vance and Denitia as well as analysis from culture and country music experts Touré, Larisha Paul, Chris Molanphy, Kyle Coroneos, Keith Hill and co-directors of the Black Opry Holly G. and Tanner D.
Some of these familiar faces appear in the trailer.
In a news release for the film, Warner Bros. Discovery wrote: “Beyoncé’s highly anticipated album ‘Cowboy Carter,’ released March 29, arrived during a revolution within country music as the latest arena of the culture wars in America. Some in the industry are welcoming more diverse artists, while others stick to a much narrower view of a genre that predominately centers around straight, white men.”
The company added that the project “examines the impact of how high-profile artists like Lil Nas X and Beyoncé are challenging the country music status quo and how Black artists in Nashville have been laying the foundation for this transformation for some time.”
The film is executive produced by Eric Johnson with Emily Taguchi serving as supervising producer and Ashley Santoro as senior producer.
Of course, Beyoncé first announced her “Act II” project during a surprise Super Bowl ad on Feb. 11 just before releasing her first two singles “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ‘Em.” The two songs instantly broke the internet, similar to the full album once it was released.
Prior to the release of “Cowboy Carter,” Beyoncé got candid about her plight in the industry and her experience creating the album. In a post she wrote, “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.”
Already, the superstar has avalanched conversations about country music while breaking records and making history in the process.
The full documentary will be released April 26.
Follow Caché Mcclay, the USA TODAY Network’s Beyoncé Knowles-carter reporter, on Instagram , Tiktok and X as @cachemcclay.