Dolly Parton welcomes Beyonce to country music
Dolly Parton has welcomed Beyonce to country music with open arms.
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Beyoncé Knowles-Carter became the first Black woman to top Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart after her single “Texas Hold ‘Em” debuted at No. 1.
Here’s everything you need to know about Queen Bey’s arrival into country music, the history of Black country music and where you can hear her on country radio locally.
‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ is not Beyoncé’s first country song
While Beyoncé is most well known for her Pop and R&B songs, this is not her first rodeo when it comes to country music.
On her album Lemonade, Beyoncé recorded a country song titled ‘Daddy Lessons’ and did a remix of the song featuring The Chicks and performed it with them at the Country Music Awards in 2016.
The performance received high praise, but it also received a fair share of backlash from diehard country fans who don’t feel she represents the genre, whether that be because she is not exclusively a country artist or because she is Black.
Public reception of Beyoncé’s country music
While fans of Beyoncé have been nothing but supportive of the artist and her new record-breaking country music, not everyone in the country music community has welcomed her with open arms like Dolly Parton.
Dolly Parton, the queen of changing genres, took to Instagram to share her enthusiasm about Beyoncé’s upcoming country album and congratulated her for her number one single.
“I’m a big fan of Beyoncé and very excited that she’s done a country album,” Parton wrote on Instagram.
A place where Beyoncé’s country music has been less appreciated is country radio. Her music has not been getting much airtime on those stations.
The Oklahoma country radio station KYKC made headlines by initially not playing Beyoncé’s new country song ‘Texas Hold ‘Em,’ amid conversations about the Black roots of country music.
‘Texas Hold ‘Em’: Oklahoma country station explains why it turned down a fan’s Beyoncé song request
Oklahoma station changes its tune
Country station KYKC apologized and promised to add ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ to their rotation. But other country stations may not follow suit. Historically, Black country artists and women get little to no airtime on country radio stations.
Artists of color received a 2.3% share of country radio airplay in the last 19 years. Nearly 96% of that share went to men of color, with women receiving less than 3%, The Tennessean reported in 2021.
Indianapolis country station will play ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ on ‘light’ rotation
While it may not be played on every country station across the U.S., Beyoncé’s country song will be played in Indy. The Indianapolis country music station 97.1 Hank FM told IndyStar they have added “Texas Hold ‘Em” to their playlist.
“We work to be reflective of what’s happening in the world of country music, and well… this is happening,” program director of Hank FM Sean Copeland said. “We are playing the song in what we’d call a ‘light’ rotation until we can learn how our audience feels about it. We’ll adjust from there.”
95.5 WFMS did not respond to IndyStar’s inquiry about playing Beyonce’s song on their station.
Inclusivity in country, other music genres
Country music has long been criticized for not being the most inclusive genre. While there are many talented Black country musicians who have found success, many have admitted it has been more challenging for them than their white counterparts.
Black musicians in more genres than just country have felt sidelined into rap and R&B. Tyler, The Creator, known for his unique music style that mixes elements of hip-hop, R&B, jazz and rap, won a Grammy in the category of Best Rap Album of 2019 for his record “IGOR,” but after receiving the award expressed that he felt his album would have been better categorized as pop, USA TODAY reported.
“On one side, I’m grateful what I can make can be acknowledged in a world like this,” he said. “But also it sucks that when guys…
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