Beyoncé is embracing her roots once more in her most recent musical undertaking, “Cowboy Carter.”
While her eighth studio album has clear Country influences, the Houston, TX, native is sending a message to the world that this is not a Country album — it’s a Beyoncé album. When you consider Country’s root, Black Texans should not be removed from the conversation, and her latest musical reminder, to some, is a “revival” of Country’s history.
“It was at the Rodeo where she first saw diversity and camaraderie among people who love Country music and an Americana lifestyle, steeped in community, culinary offerings, grills, and Western gear,” a news release stated about the album launch. “And it was for everyone. Among the crowds were Black, Hispanic and Native American Cowboys, who made their valuable, authentic allowances to the culture. Their stories are synonymous with American history.”
Released to the world on March 29, 2024, “Cowboy Carter,” was imagined more than five years ago and has materialized into a 27-track album inspired by the sounds of Country, original Rhythm and Blues, Blues, Zydeco, and Black Folk.
While creating the album, Beyoncé notes that in the rising age of artificial intelligence (AI) she wanted to center her album on authentic sounds, leaning into instruments such as the accordion, harmonica, washboard, acoustic guitar, pedal steel guitar, mandolin, fiddle, tack piano, and banjo. A student of her craft, she even used her fingernails as percussion, which social media users point out was previously done by Dolly Parton and Patti LaBelle in a resurfaced interview.
beyoncé really did her homework this is incredible https://t.co/HzVHTGgsUr pic.twitter.com/DOWjGumEdG
— 𐚁 onii 𐚁 (@__Onixivy_) March 29, 2024
“The joy of creating music is that there are no rules,” Beyoncé says in the news release. “The more I see the world evolving the more I felt a deeper connection to purity. With artificial intelligence and digital filters and programming, I wanted to go back to real instruments, and I used very old ones.”
She continued, “I didn’t want some layers of instruments like strings, especially guitars, and organs perfectly in tune. I kept some songs raw and leaned into folk. All the sounds were so organic and human, everyday things like the wind, snaps, and even the sound of birds and chickens, the sounds of nature.”
“Cowboy Carter” certainly is a reminder of returning to one’s roots, and this is also applied to the broader implications for music creation in the age of technological advancements.
