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- Beyoncé is the greatest
entertainer of her generation.

This is a person who
has a very intense

relationship with a
very large body of fans.

- You went to the
concert, and you

saw the concert filmed, right?

Three hours, yes, well-spent.

- (SINGING) I wanna house
you and make you take my name

I've met so many of
my goals, and I just

keep making new goals
because I'm never satisfied,

and I always want to grow.

- Well, the highly
anticipated second act

to Beyoncé's Renaissance
project, Cowboy Carter,

dropped last night.

- You guys, oh, my god.

- I'm crying.

- She's the first Black woman
ever to top the Billboard's

Hot Country Songs chart.

- There is a public
perception about country music

that it is a
predominantly white genre.

- I mean, I've seen
people say things like,

I didn't know that there
were Black country singers.

- It's kind of an industry
that takes care of its own.

- It has not been a
genre that has been

accepting of Black people.

- You often find
partisans of country music

saying, well, this is
or that ain't country.

- Beyoncé, honey,
you need to stop.

- How is that supposed
to be country?

- That Beyoncé
bullshit country song?

[scoffs] Bitch, please.

- I think, pretty
clearly, what Beyoncé

is trying to do is shove open
a door for other Black artists.

- When I heard "16 Carriages--"

- (SINGING) 16 carriages
driving away while I watch them

- --I was like, it has begun.

[laughs]

[music playing]

- We love Beyoncé!

- Beyoncé doesn't
do anything small.

When she releases
an album, she rolls

it out and invites the world.

- This is the greatest rollout
moment of an album ever.

Beyoncé does a commercial
on the Super Bowl.

- The network is
crazy powerful.

I bet you can't break that.

- [laughs] I bet I can.

- Wait, what?

- All of America is
already watching.

- The whole crux of
the Verizon commercial

is, look at all
the ways that I've

already broken the internet.

Look at all the things
that I can do that people

will lose their minds over--

because I'm Beyoncé.

- What if I run for president?

What if I'm an alien?

What if I'm an astronaut?

We can handle anything.

And then she says--

- OK, they ready.

Drop the new music.

- Fuck the game!

What?

What is she talking about,
where is this-- what?

Did she just say that?

Did it really mean--
is there new music?

- I was not even
watching the Super Bowl.

I was at a performance
for a friend

and had turned my phone off.

And as soon as I
got in my car, you

would have thought someone
had died because there

were like 50 messages.

Have you heard it?

Did you see it?

- Part of the excitement
with Cowboy Carter

was the suggestion that this
would be a country album.

The fans are like, yes!

Let's go.

We want this.

They love this.

- (SINGING) family live
and died in America

Good ole USA, good ole USA

Shit, whole lotta red
in that white and blue

- I mean, there's so much
red in the white and blue?

It's, you know, the violence
that Black and Brown people

have experienced being in
America, but not so overt

that it's a protest song.

We're just saying,
America, we have a problem.

Cowboy Carter is
a political album,

placing herself in
country, where we're

not supposed to feel welcome.

- It's really finna get real
because you have to acknowledge

her gift and her
talent, and then

she's bringing that to a genre
that is not used to change.

[guitar playing]

My love for country
music began--

man, I was probably about
knee-high to a grasshopper--

put it that way.

I was real little.

It just came out as,
like, I was soaked in it.

You know what I'm saying?

[laughs]

(SINGING) Leading
my way like Sinatra

And on a bad day,
yeah, I got a mantra

Be original, be yourself

Don't worry about anyone else

I grew up in
Mississippi on a farm,

born the son of a preacher.

My granddad was a truck
driver and farmer.

And the backyard was 100 acres.

They had Duroc hogs, blue
turkey, 110 head of chickens,

whiskey stills down
off in the bottom.

[laughs]

(SINGING) Now, every
show is sold out

To me, I didn't see country as
a color, but other people did.

(SINGING) You say
you want a country

Well, country is
what I'm playing

There's no doubt,
I can hold out

- Aaron has been doing
this for a very long time.

He's one of those people where
it's long overdue for him

to see the success
that he deserves.

- I have a buddy.

He said, Aaron, I want
you to meet this guy.

He was an artist.

He plays at the Grand
Ole Opry and everything.

I ain't going to drop no names.

So I asked him where he
was from, and he's

like, California.

And I said, all right,
I'm from Mississippi.

And he's like, so
what do you do?

Rap?

And I was like, whoa, he
went for the sweet move.

And I'm like, nah, bro,
I do traditional country.

And it was-- and that was it.

He didn't say too much,
and he just walked off.

Yeah, so, he's a
white country artist,

and he has all
this opportunity.

And look at his attitude
towards somebody he don't know,

and he just seen a color.

So that gave me more
fire to keep doing me,

keep writing what I write,
keep living my life,

and don't worry about
artists like that.

Because artists like that
got it made in the shade.

I ain't got it
made in the shade.

- The country
music industry has

not done any work to make Black
people feel safe in the music.

We have just been
so overlooked.

- You cannot be scared of
what country looks like.

Country ain't
never been a color.

When I first heard the two
singles drop, I was like, uh,

shit, that's country.

[laughs]

(SINGING) 16 car--

Man, what?

- I have always
felt that Beyoncé

has a sort of
national personality

where everybody can see
themselves reflected.

- (SINGING) Say my
name, say my name

When no one is around you

- Beyoncé obviously
coming out of Destiny's

Child, an R&B girl group.

- (SINGING) Uh-oh,
uh-oh, uh-oh, oh, no, no

- The solo career
starts, psh, explodes.

- (SINGING) Get me bodied

- She's somebody who has never
really been beholden to genre

in a way that was
limiting to her,

whether that be pop, whether
that be R&B. She seems

to move to the next thing.

- (SINGING) To the
left, to the left

I write the songs
that I need to hear,

and that I feel other
women need to hear.

And I'm all about empowerment
and the strength that we have

when we unite as women.

- Beyoncé had come to
be seen as an artist

for everyone, someone
that a lot of white women

could gravitate towards.

- I've kind of broken
barriers, and I don't think

people think about my race.

I think they look at me as an
entertainer and a musician.

- She would do
all of the things

that a pop star has to do.

But when she moves
into Lemonade,

she moves into the space
where she is reflecting

a world that she wants to see.

- This is a woman who shouted
out the Black Panthers

at the Super Bowl.

- It is a notion of,
"we have arrived,

and we're taking up space,
and we're not going to ask you

for permission to do that."

I think "Formation" was
really one of the first times

that people had to
stop and be like,

oh, maybe this isn't for me.

The "Formation" video came
out at a time when there was

so much commentary
happening around the Black

Lives Matter movement.

We have her singing about how
much she loves her Negro nose

and her Jackson 5 nostrils.

- (SINGING) I like my Negro
nose with Jackson 5 nostrils

- These are choices
that Beyoncé

is making that relate to her
own maturation as a

human being.

- Trayvon did not have to die.

We all know the reason why.

- Looking at the way
Black people are treated

and standing up for women who
have been wronged by society.

- There was a time when a
woman's opinion did not matter.

If you were Black, white,
Mexican, Asian, Muslim,

educated, poor or rich,
if you were a woman,

it did not matter.

Look how far we've come
from having no voice.

(SINGING) You
won't break my soul

- Renaissance is about Black
women and queer people,

and it is this
powerful upliftment.

- I see you.

I love you.

I center you.

And then she comes
with a country album.

(SINGING) This
ain't Texas, woo!

Ain't no hold 'em

- My banjo being on a
world recognized song

is just kind of
blowing my mind.

(SINGING) So park your Lexus

- TikToks of Black
people dancing

to the sound of my banjo?

Stop.

That banjo represents hundreds
of years of our history,

whether people know it or not.

[banjo playing]

The banjo is an
instrument invented

by people of the African
diaspora in the Caribbean.

- Enslaved people brought
versions of the banjo

to the United States
over on the ships.

- And then it makes its way
up with them to North America

and becomes a central
part of Black life.

And there are loads of white
people playing music to it.

- It took the
Scottish, the Africans,

Native American people
to come together.

I'm going to borrow this,
and I'm going to borrow this,

and I'm going to borrow this.

And like, it's like gumbo.

- What happens, then,
is a couple of things.

You have the great migration,
a lot of Black people

leaving the South, and then
you also have the recording

industry coming in.

They're wanting to sell
music to certain people.

- What was called
"hillbilly music"

in the 1920s and what
were called "race records"

around the same time
was basically code

for a certain brand of
white music and a certain

brand of Black music.

Eventually, race
records evolved

into what's known
as rhythm and blues

or R&B. What's known as
hillbilly became country.

- It was like the ultimate
capitalist decision

to split these things in half.

- They create the
segregation, and then we

have perpetuated it as the
music industry has grown.

This is not like,
oh, Black people

are getting into country--
no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Like, we've been in
country music, right?

- You can go back to, like,
the first family of country

music, the Carter Family.

- (SINGING) Oh, he taught me to
love him and promised to love

- Carter specifically had this
very distinct playing style.

Well, it came from a Black man.

It came from Lesley Riddle.

And of course,
that historically

has always been attributed
to Ma Carter, when

that's actually Lesley Riddle.

- I mean, one of the earliest
stars of the Grand Ole Opry

in the 1920s was DeFord
Bailey, the so-called

"harmonica wizard."

[playing harmonica]

- There were literally
Black artists

there from the first night
that the Grand Ole Opry began.

Linda Martell.

- (SINGING)
Yoodle-la-di-eee-eee

- She was the highest Black
woman to chart until Beyoncé.

And this was in the late '60s.

- Of course, Charley Pride.

- (SINGING) We'll walk
the fields together

- Charley Pride had 29
number ones on country radio.

- He succeeded in spite of
the fact that he was Black,

not because he was Black,
you know what I mean?

- If you take Hank
Williams, Sr., for example,

he fused the blues
with country music.

- (SINGING) I tried
so hard, my dear

- So it has a very
inherently Black inspiration

in our genre that happened with
the godfather of country music.

So this started a
long, long time ago.

It seemed to be that we've
gotten away from that

somewhere along the way.

- We have to remember
it is an industry.

People who are in
power decided this is

what the Nashville sound is.

- Nashville is the
gateway to country music.

It is not only the center
of country the way,

say, the movie and
television business

is centered in Hollywood.

It really is kind of the
arbiter of what country

music is.

There's no one faction that
controls Nashville wholly,

but it's kind of an industry
that takes care of its own.

- The idea that it only
happens in country music

is a little misleading.

There is definitely gatekeeping
happening in hip-hop.

There's a ton of gatekeeping
that happens in jazz.

- I think a lot of
people still think

that this is like
a meritocracy,

and that's absolutely not true.

- Greed is driving the train.

- Everyone has a boss.

The bosses have bosses.

The top bosses
have shareholders.

There's this constant
chain of fear,

which slows down progress.

- The thing that they
know for sure how to do

is to market white men.

- The Mount Rushmore
of country today

would be Morgan
Wallen, Luke Combs,

Luke Bryan, Jason
Aldean, still be Kenny

Chesney up there, Keith Urban.

It's generally held by
label heads in Nashville

that it's a bad bet to give a
contract to a female singer.

- (SINGING) When
they bury our dreams

We push them up
through concrete

We're growing where--

- I will never forget this.

I'm sitting in the hallway at
a major label in Nashville.

I can hear them
playing the music.

And everything sounds
really positive,

and everyone's laughing,
and they're talking.

Oh, this sounds so pretty.

Oh, it's good.

Blah, blah, blah.

And then, everybody peeks out
the window, and I'm like, hi.

And then suddenly, you know,
suddenly it's like, oh, well,

we got to figure out how
to find songs for someone

like her.

Let's tweak some
things with her accent.

Maybe we need to figure out
how to build an audience

for someone like her.

- Black people have a hard
time in country music.

Queer people have a hard
time in country music.

But even white women have a
hard time in country music.

- If you ask one
country radio executive,

he says the key to success
is leaving the women out.

- Tomato gate is
a flare-up that

happened when a
radio programmer

was quoted saying that--

- To maximize
radio listenership,

women should be like
tomatoes in a larger

salad of male artists--

never played back to back
and never more than about 20%

of the mix.

- All of a sudden I
was this idiot saying,

take women off radio.

- The lettuce is Luke Bryan and
Blake Shelton and Keith Urban

and artists like that.

- We're not thinking
about gender fairness.

We're just trying
to make money.

There are certain things
that make ratings go down.

Every country radio
station in a rated market,

you won't find anybody
playing over 20% females.

Not a single one.

- The sad thing
about that comment

was that it does
largely reflect

reality as country radio
programmers understand it.

- However dismal that
number is for white women,

it's a fraction of a
fraction for Black women.

I believe we make up 0.03%.

Since its inception,
there have only

been eight Black women to be on
the Billboard Country charts.

I am one of them.

- There are 1,000 ways I can
respond to the question of, how

do we make radio more diverse?

But fundamentally,
we don't want to.

- I don't think that there's
any financial incentive

for them right now
to try to figure out

how to market a Black woman,
because up until Beyoncé,

there was no reason.

- In a country where we
think there's racism--

and there is-- there is no
racism by country radio.

If you give me a
great record, I don't

care what your skin color is.

If the Beyoncé record
is the best record,

I'll play it more
than anyone else.

- Country music is supposedly
three chords and the truth.

But one of the open
questions about country music

is, who's delivering
that truth?

- Who gets to say what country
is, what the South is about?

- Beyoncé told you
years and years ago

that she will never
take the country out

of her because that's
who she is culturally.

She grew up going to
the Houston Rodeo.

When she came back to the
rodeo a couple of years later

as a solo artist, she
wrote into the stadium

on the back of a horse.

- When you look at the
cover art of Cowboy Carter,

she's representing
that rodeo queen.

- She's from the South.

My parents are from
Louisiana, Alabama.

Do I not to get to
have a say in what

the South should sound like?

- I'm stoked that Beyoncé is
tapping into her Texas roots.

(SINGING) Time is ticking
like it always does

It flies right by

There's so much music
culture in Texas,

and I think country is
an important dimension

of that music.

(SINGING) You can do to quell

I grew up on the
outskirts of Houston,

and I grew up obsessed
with country music.

As a young Black girl,
listening to country music,

it didn't feel strange to me.

That was all I listened to.

And that really formed
the foundation for what

I think of as a great song.

And I always carried
that with me.

The first time I lived in
Nashville was in the early

2000s, which was a
starkly different

experience as a Black queer
artist than I'm having now.

I'm not sure that
the music culture

had been pressed
enough to diversify

that I could find my place.

(SINGING) Say my name

I started to experiment with
electronic music and R&B.

In the quarantine
of 2020, I found

myself just reaching for
something that felt like home.

(SINGING) I've wandered
off from here to Houston,

Looking for a place
that I can call my own

In Nashville, we are
seeing some evolution,

but there are ceilings that I
can't even feel that I don't--

I'm not even aware of because
I can only get so far.

- People are placed into the
box of, you're a Black woman.

You can only do this.

You should only be doing this.

These are the boundaries that
we've established for you.

Roam free, but roam free
within those boundaries.

People have tried
to put whatever

labels or whatever boundaries
or limitations on Beyoncé.

She's been able to stop and
say, no, this is who I am.

- The first song on the
album, "American Requiem."

See, this is the critical line.

- (SINGING) Used to
say, I spoke too country

And then rejection came,
said I wasn't country enough

- They used to say
I was too country.

Then I wasn't country enough.

Whatever you think
of Cowboy Carter,

this is a revenge album.

I'm going to come back
with the baddest country

album you've ever
seen, and I will

show you up at your own game.

- Before Act Two,
Beyoncé came out

with a statement
on social media

and shared that this album
was born out of an experience

that I had years ago where
I did not feel welcomed.

- You can only assume
she's referring to the 2016

CMA Awards when she
performed "Daddy Lessons"

with the Chicks.

- (SINGING) With his head held
high, he told me not to cry

Oh, my daddy said shoot

Oh, my daddy said shoot

- It definitely made me
think of that moment,

while I was at the CMAs myself,
to see Beyoncé in my hometown

of Nashville with the
Chicks, this is probably

the best moment of my life.

Then, an audience member in
front of me proceeds to say,

get that Black bitch
off the stage right now.

I remember instantly kind of
being taken back to reality

in that moment to
realize that there's

like a threat of
Black people being

in this genre for some reason.

For Beyoncé to not be welcomed
feels like a gut punch.

- The crowd in the arena seemed
to enjoy the performance,

but the social media
universe was another story.

- Some country music fans
were not happy about

Beyoncé's presence.

- After the awards, the CMAs
published her performance

on social media
that some people

were using to
denounce Beyoncé being

there or for outright racism.

- That's right, folks.

Beyoncé performed at
the CMAs last night

and is on a mission to take
country music away from us

hardworking white people.

- Beyoncé did not belong there,
even looked out of place.

Keep country, country.

- I don't know why
they feel country is

so precious that it
cannot be entered

by Beyoncé from Houston.

But here we are.

- It wasn't out of the norm
to have someone like

Beyoncé there.

The CMA awards,
every single year,

they book a pop
star because they

want to get as many eyeballs on
the presentation as possible.

- I was skep--

I am on record of being
skeptical when she

came out with "Daddy Lessons."

What angered me about it
was that it overshadowed,

you know, two other
performers of color

who were kind of naturally
there, Charley Pride, and then

myself as a guest
of Eric Church,

having me sing on
his song that's

all about like
turning hate into love

and getting rid of
these words of anger.

And that upset me that
that was overshadowed.

- I'm not gonna lie.

My feelings were hurt a
little bit because there

is a Black woman standing on
a stage that I wanted to be on

and had never been invited to
be a part of, even though I was

very much a part
of the community

and had worked very hard to
be a part of the community.

- Just because of
the race of an artist

doesn't necessarily mean that's
the reason they're not being

embraced by country fans.

There are dozens of
pop stars or stars

from other genres
coming to country music

and getting a cold shoulder.

- There have been attempts
at crossover in country music

by everyone from
Jewel to Jon Bon Jovi

that have not really taken.

- Beyoncé far and away
is not the only one.

- Lil Nas X is a
Black Southern man

who stumbled across
a beat that sounded

to him like country music.

And instantly, Lil Nas X said,
I can do something with this.

- (SINGING) Cowboy hat from
Gucci, Wrangler on my booty

- He recorded a song that
he called "Old Town Road."

He talked about having
Wrangler on his booty.

Can't nobody tell me nothing.

And he just thought a cowboy
song with this banjo sample

would be an instant success.

And he was right.

- I want to say thank you
to every single person who

has made this moment
possible for me.

- It was only when Billboard
was told by factions within

Nashville, we don't consider
this a country record,

that Billboard decided
to pull "Old Town Road"

off of the Hot
Country Songs chart,

and then all hell broke loose.

- A hit song is sparking
controversy over what country

music should sound like.

- Billboard pulled it, decided
it wasn't country enough.

- "Old Town Road," a song
that Billboard actually

removed from the country
charts because it

wasn't country enough.

- Is it because
this is somebody

who's new to Nashville,
didn't record in Nashville?

Is it because he's Black?

Does his race matter?

These were the kinds of
questions folks were asking.

- Billboard responded
to the backlash

by saying their decision to
take the song off the country

chart had absolutely nothing to
do with the race of the artist.

- That was Billboard,
as an institution,

unilaterally deciding that
is where that song resides.

That was not country
music's decision,

but unfortunately,
country music

got lumped with all of that.

I think it's also important
to note that Lil Nas X

was invited to the CMA Awards.

It's also important
to note that he

won a CMA Award for
his collaboration

with Billy Ray Cyrus.

- Billy Ray Cyrus was
approached and asked,

would you participate in a
remix of "Old Town Road"?

And he said, yeah,
because he wanted

to help Lil Nas
X point a finger

and pose a question
to Nashville.

If I add a white country singer
and a cowboy hat to the song,

does it instantly become
an actual country song?

- "Old Town Road"
was all of me.

It was everything that I'd
been raised on my whole life

by banjo and bluegrass
and solid country hook.

If country music fans dig
it, then it's country.

- Even though Billboard
Magazine never let it back

on its Hot Country Songs
chart, it established

that "Old Town Road"
had kind of been

a country song all along.

- It did not stop there.

It just blew him up to the
biggest possible proportion.

So when we think about an album
like Cowboy Carter that gets

people asking questions
to the institutions,

so I think that is the major
thing that is going to assist

artists of color
and queer artists

and being able to move forward.

- If I were to
point to a period

where country music started
wrestling with its identity,

I would say the killing
of George Floyd in 2020.

- There are demonstrations
going on right

now all across the country.

People on the streets in
the middle of a pandemic

protesting the killing of
George Floyd in Minneapolis.

- That prompted a reckoning
across the country that

led to country
music asking, are we

contributing to
this environment,

and can we be more welcoming?

- George Floyd and
Sandra Bland and Ahmaud

Arbery got us as
a country to start

thinking about these things.

And country music finally
had to sit with itself.

- And a lot of people put
out statements and posted

black squares and
talked about the action

that they were going to take.

- It was very much, How can
we put a Band-Aid on this?

instead of wanting to do the
inner work and inner healing

that is required to create
meaningful change when

something like that happens.

- It took Mickey Guyton
10 years to get her debut

album to be released.

George Floyd had to
die for this woman

to put out a song that got
recognized by the industry.

- (SINGING) And if
you think we live

- She's recorded records
like "Black Like Me--"

- (SINGING) You should try
to be, oh, Black like me

- --where the subtext of her
being a Black female country

artist is now the text.

And, you know, if country music
is three chords and the truth,

that's Mickey Guyton's truth
and she's singing about it.

- Country music is
always evolving,

but when it does
that, there's this,

like, push and pull
between what it used to be,

where it wants to go, and where
other people are pushing it.

- In 2021, TJ Osborne, one
of the two Brothers Osborne,

came out as gay.

This is remarkable in the
country music industry

for a mainstream country act.

- Before I came out,
it was like these--

I felt very, like,
stiff anywhere I went.

Well, you know, I was
micromanaging every move.

(SINGING) Don't
give me that look,

that "let me down easy" smile

I would sit still
and hold a guitar

and sing into a microphone.

I didn't want to
do anything or say

anything that might
bring questions that

would make me uncomfortable.

(SINGING) I'm right back
where I'm really home

- When TJ came out to me,
I felt relieved for him

that he was able to tell
me something like that.

I knew that he wasn't
having to carry that weight.

Secrets are heavy, and that one
must have been a metric ton.

And I cried genuine,
happy tears.

I was proud of him.

I was happy to know that
he, like the rest of us,

has been able to experience the
complexities of life and love,

unfortunately, in secret.

But I felt like that was
the first day of the rest

of our lives as brothers.

- I know that I wanted
to come out publicly,

but how we were going to get
there was years in the making.

In the video, "Stay a Little
Longer," we put a gay couple

and an interracial couple.

And there was a lot of people
that had a huge problem

with all of those things.

And it was like kind
of odd because it

was like we were seen as
allies, which was amazing.

But the whole time, it was
like kind of seemed phony

to me because I'm gay.

And so as it went on, it was
like, OK, we're gonna do this.

It came out in Time Magazine.

I didn't even get
to read the article,

or I had no idea what
was about to happen.

It was also
challenging because I

didn't want it to be perceived
as attention seeking.

I just wanted it
to kind of happen

and move on with my life.

But things really changed
in an instant for me.

- I hope you feel the tsunami
of love that is headed--

that has been heading your
way ever since you spoke out.

- And I did feel a sense of
purpose I'd never felt before.

Being able to truly, completely
be myself and be happy,

I had fallen back in love
with what we did again,

more than I'd ever had before.

I felt, like, a
closeness with our fans

that I never felt before.

I didn't know what to expect.

I mean, I did not expect this.

This is incredible.

Thank you.

- Yeah!

- If I could go
back now from here

and tell myself where I
would be, like, oh, my God,

I would never believe that
I would have ended up here.

Younger me came out of that.

The very last line of the song,
"You got me where I am today,

got a few things right
along the way, you'll see.

Just wait, younger me."

- I'm almost getting
teary eyed saying it now.

It's all part of living.

Life is scary, and it's kind
of messy and ugly sometimes.

But if you push through, then
beautiful things will happen.

And I think our lives
are proof of that.

At the end of the
day, the people

that will make the biggest
impact are the artists.

- You know I love it
when you sing along.

This is one of my favorite
songs of all time.

It's called "Fast Car."

- Luke Combs recorded that song
just to be an album cut, just

almost as like a
fun thing, maybe

a tribute to Tracy Chapman.

It was a song that
he sung all the time

when he was growing up.

- (SINGING) You got a fast car

I want a ticket to anywhere

- So the reason that "Fast
Car" became this big hit was

completely organically,
which is the new market that

we're seeing opening
up in country

music and changing the
paradigm that puts radio first.

- So much of country music is
built on singing other people's

songs, being able to appreciate
the people who create it

and where it comes from.

"Fast Car" is a song
created by a Black woman.

- (SINGING) Maybe
we'll make something

Me, myself, I got
nothing to prove

- To see Tracy Chapman
on the Grammy Award stage

with him in 2024 was
an incredible moment

because it was him
stepping back and allowing

her to have that moment.

- The success of
Combs's rendition

makes Chapman the first Black
female songwriter to top

the Country Airplay chart.

- We can't overlook that this
was the first solo Black woman

to get these accolades.

And so when I hear just sort
of the knee-jerk reaction

of like, well, anyone who
doesn't like Beyoncé making

country songs must be racist,
I think about all these

moments here.

- To see her being recognized
for the powerhouse songwriter

that she is was incredible.

I wish that it had
been for her version.

Luke Combs took a lot
of flack, some deserved,

some not deserved.

But I really loved
the performance

that he did on the Grammys.

It had been the first time
that she'd performed in years,

and it was the most poignant
moment of that whole evening,

and rightfully so.

And so I liked him centering
her in that moment.

And I wish more
people would do that.

This current moment that
we're having right now,

you have this influx of
Black artists coming in.

And it seems like
there's this Renaissance.

You've got Madeleine
Edwards, Shaboozey,

Camille Parker, Kane Brown.

You've got Darius being a
modern-day Charley Pride.

- We've built upon
so much of a legacy.

You had Rissi
Palmer in the 2000s.

And then we have Holly G
kind of coming in and taking

the torch again and creating
Black Opry for all of us

artists to come together
and to thrive collectively

and individually.

- When I'm at the
Black Opry, I'm

thinking I'm the only
person around that's Black

doing traditional country.

- (SINGING) Spring take
me right on into summer

- I met so many Black artists,
and it was like a homecoming.

And then when we
started passing

the guitar around
playing, I was like, wow!

- (SINGING) It was six days and
seven nights in Myrtle Beach

- (SINGING) And Tennessee blues

- We wanna share our
stories, just like Luke Bryan

and just like Morgan Wallen.

- Woo!
Woo, woo!

[applause]

- And the thing that we
have working in our favor

that our predecessors did not
is the internet and streaming.

You still need country radio,
but the music is getting

out directly to the fans.

And for that, I think we all
can be extremely grateful,

because I know for me, I
wouldn't have a career anymore

if it weren't for that.

- I know Beyoncé has an
incredible, glittering resume,

but the deep relationship with
the fans is the true accolade.

We revere her like
a queen, and we

will follow her to
wherever she wants to go

and whatever she wants to make.

OK, "Jolene" is next, one of
the monsters of this album.

I love that she takes
"Jolene" and makes it her own.

- Dolly Parton,
she's been saying

forever that she would love
to hear Beyoncé sing "Jolene."

- (SINGING) Jolene,
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene

- And, like, I think it
honors the original song--

- (SINGING) Please don't
take him just because you can

- --while putting
Beyoncéness into it.

- (SINGING) I'm still a Creole
banjee bitch from Louisianne

Don't try me

- Oh, my god.

Like--

- We love you.
- We love you.

- We love you, Beyoncé.

Thank you so much
for everything

you did for music industry.

- I think whenever Beyoncé
enters into a conversation,

through no fault of her own,
I think it automatically takes

all the air out of the room.

Like you automatically are
going to look at the unicorn.

Like, you know what I mean?

And so, I've seen people say
some really hurtful things,

like that she is
the reason Black

people are in country music.

And it's like
we've been working

at this for a very long time.

And I don't think
it's her intention.

But yeah, I do think
that some of it

does take the attention away.

- I do have a fear
that this moment

could take attention
away from women

of color in country music.

Now, that said, there has
been some data that that's

actually not the case.

- Beyoncé's new
album, Cowboy Carter,

has boosted streams for Black
Country artists on Spotify.

- I've often said in
a lot of interviews

that it would take Beyoncé
putting the banjo on her song

to, like, blow this up, right?

Turns out that that
was kind of right

because that has really blown
everything kind of wide open

and given a spotlight from
more mainstream sources.

But my question is, what
happens going forward, right?

We can't just go,
oh, it's done.

Yay!

Because like, you know,
when the dust is settled

and the next record comes
out, then what happens?

- To all the record labels,
every radio station,

every award show, my hope is
that we're more open to the joy

and liberation that
comes from enjoying art

with no preconceived notions.

[cheering]

- This is a gigantic
moment for Black people

who live in the country space.

Beyoncé is just
here, and she's out.

But Tanner Adell lives here.

Willie Jones, Rhiannon
Giddens live here.

So she's absolutely changing
the lives of some of the people

who already lived
in this world.

[guitar playing]

- When I look at my career
now, I'm more than blessed

because I'm in my skin.

It's going to get better.

A whole lot better.

It's gonna take love and
appreciation of all kinds

and all colors of country.

(SINGING) Yeah, and I've
been used to changing

You can feel it in
the song I'm singing

Between the laughter and tears

All my life, I've
been shifting gears

All my life--

- I've just got invited to make
my debut at the Grand Ole Opry

this summer.

(SINGING) When I
close my eyes at night

Then I awaken to light

The money I made

The Grand Ole Opry is a rite of
passage for a country artist.

(SINGING) I want to live

I want to live

It is also an
opportunity to get

in front of one of the largest
country audiences in the world.

(SINGING) I'm gonna
drive in my car

I'm gonna go to the store

I'm gonna go for a run

Then I'm gonna come
right back home