Riding with Bey: How Beyoncé got Willie Jones to saddle up in the ‘fourth quarter’ for ‘Cowboy Carter’

Lexi Carson Nearly a month after Queen Bey dropped her record-breaking album “Cowboy Carter,” Beyoncé‘s documentary “Call Me Country: Beyoncé & Nashville’s Renaissance” is now available to stream Max. The documentary is produced by CNN FlashDocs and will highlight how high-profile artists like Beyoncé and Lil Nas X challenge the country music genre, and how their impact connects to the history of Black artists in Nashville. Released on March 29, “Cowboy Carter” is Beyoncé’s eighth solo studio album.

influence on culture continues to extend well beyond the music industry since the release of her new album, . Her latest work is a tribute to country, rewritten on her own terms, and celebrates the country western aesthetic that accompanies it.

Adam and Ryan Thomas are being lined up as presenters of a new weekend gameshow on ITV. The pair are already popular with viewers from appearances in Emmerdale and Coronation Street, plus reality shows such as Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing on Ice.

Beyoncé has become the first Black woman to score a Number One country album with ‘Cowboy Carter’ in the US charts.The music icon’s new country-inspired album has topped Billboard’s Top Country Albums, making history in the process as the first Black woman ever to do so, as revealed yesterday (April 7).The new record also debuted at Number One, her eighth album to top the Billboard 200 charts.Billboard revealed that, at 407,000 units, ‘Cowboy Carter’ claimed the biggest week of 2024 so far and the largest since Taylor Swift’s ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ reached 1.653 million units on the November 11, 2023 list back in October.‘Cowboy Carter’ also scored other achievements including Beyoncé’s biggest week by units since ‘Lemonade’ debuted at Number One with 653,000 units in 2016.The achievement follows a similar feat back in February when Beyoncé became the first Black woman to reach Number One on the US country chart with her new single ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’.She also became the second solo female act – with no accompanying featured artists – to debut at Number One, with Swift achieving this in 2021 with her re-recorded versions of ‘Love Story’ and ‘All Too Well’.Additionally, Beyoncé was announced as the first woman to top both the Hot Country Songs and Hot R&B/Hip-Hip Songs charts since these run-downs began in 1958.

Beyoncé‘s new album Cowboy Carter was represented at the 2024 CMT Music Awards held at Moody Center on Sunday (April 7) in Austin, Tex.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Talpa Studios, the company founded by “The Voice” and “Big Brother” creator John de Mol, has closed further territory sales for quiz-show format “The Floor.” Variety can also reveal that the show has been named by research organization K7 Media as the “Format to Watch” in its “Tracking the Giants” format sales report, which was released Saturday at MipFormats. The recognition is based on the show’s territory sales. K7 said: “’The Floor’ is the best-selling format in 2023 and early 2024 among all the unscripted formats that were newly created in 2023.

Beyoncé and Paul McCartney.The “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer covers the 1968 Beatles beauty “Blackbird” — written by Macca, although credited to both McCartney and John Lennon — on her countrified new album “Cowboy Carter” that was released last Friday to rave reviews (including mine) and record-shattering streams.Bey’s honey- and harmony-coated rendition of “The White Album” classic — featuring African-American female country singers Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts making like Destiny’s Southern Child — is a revelation that repurposes the song from a black female perspective.And Sir Paul has given Beyonce’s “Blackbird” — which is styled as “Blackbiird” on “Cowboy Carter” — the most royal of blessings.“I am so happy with @beyonce’s version of my song ‘Blackbird,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “I think she does a magnificent version of it and it reinforces the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place.

Beyoncé used The Beatles’ original ‘Blackbird’ backing track in her cover of the song, recorded for ‘Cowboy Carter’.As well as covering the song for her new country album, it turns out the rendition of the band’s 1968 track are more similar than first thought – with it being revealed that the ‘Cowboy Carter’ version uses instrumental elements taken directly from the Beatles’ original master recording.According to Variety, that was confirmed by a representative for Beyoncé, who cited the singer’s team as well as other sourcesThe credits for the album have been gradually shared since the album’s release last week (March 29), and Paul McCartney is listed as playing guitar on the song, as well as one of the producers. However, there is no indication in the wording of the credits that his work on the track is taken from the 56-year-old original.Bey’s own spin on the song sees it renamed as ‘Blackbiird’ – making a nod to the album’s ‘Act II’ theme.

And is definitely doing the latter right now. At an event for Colcci Jeans at the Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro, the former Victoria's Secret Angel tapped into her inner country music diva, in a double-denim jumpsuit-and-bra combo.The model's blue denim jumpsuit was covered in oversized studs (very Southern glam), and left unbuttoned at the top to reveal the matching denim bra underneath. She accessorized with a cocktail ring, statement earrings, beachy waves, and a wide grin as she stood behind the DJ booth.Seeing as Cowboy Carter literally is the culture right now, one can't help but notice that Bündchen's layered jean ensemble is reminiscent of ahead of her album’s release.

EXCLUSIVE: Top Belgian distribution and production company Belga Films Group is teaming up with French director Cédric Nicolas-Troyan on an English-language, live action adaptation of the iconic, European comic book The Yellow M.

new album “Cowboy Carter” — and one of them is none other than music legend Stevie Wonder.After accepting the Innovator Award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles Monday night, the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer gushed over the 25-time Grammy winner who handed her the gong.“Now, Beyoncé is once again changing music and culture,” Wonder said of her latest record. “And when she’s not changing music, she’s changing the world, fighting the good fight.”As the mom of three accepted the award, she thanked the “I Wish” hitmaker for “making a way for all of us.”“And thank you for playing the harmonica on ‘Jolene,’” she added.“Tonight, you called me an innovator and for that, I’m very grateful,” the 32-time Grammy winner said.

Jon Batiste has praised Beyonce for “dismantling genres” with her new album ‘Cowboy Carter’.‘Cowboy Carter’ was released on Friday (March 29), her eighth studio album and the second in an expected trilogy that began with 2022’s ‘Renaissance’. Batiste wrote and produced the track ‘Ameriican Requiem’ on the album, which also features guest appearances from country veteran Willie Nelson, as well as Willie Jones, Post Malone, Miley Cyrus, Shaboozey and Tanner Adele.In a new post on X/Twitter, Batiste lauded Beyoncé’s talents and thanked her for allowing him to be a part of the album, as well as pointing to the way he hopes her music will pave for a more genre-fluid future.“This is the moment yall, where we dismantle the genre machine,” he said.

Beyoncé‘s entry album into the country music genre, Cowboy Carter, was released on March 29, and it’s already shattering records on streaming platforms.

Beyoncé fans have complained that their vinyl issues of the new album ‘Cowboy Carter’ are missing five songs from their track listing. ‘Cowboy Carter’ was released on Friday (March 29), her eighth studio album and the second in an expected trilogy that began with 2022’s ‘Renaissance’. But, as reported by the BBC, the songs ‘Ya Ya’, ‘Spaghetti’, ‘Flamenco’, ‘The Linda Martell Show’ and ‘Oh Louisiana’ are said to be absent from the vinyl copies of the album.

Nancy Sinatra has expressed her admiration for Beyoncé after she sampled ‘These Boots Are Made For Walking’ on her new country album ‘Cowboy Carter’.The star dropped her new LP yesterday (March 29), which included a cover of The Beatles‘ ‘Blackbird’ and a reworked version of Dolly Parton‘s ‘Jolene’, with lyrics that address Jay-Z cheating on her. It also stars guest appearances from country veteran Willie Nelson, as well as Willie Jones, Post Malone, Miley Cyrus, Shaboozey and Tanner Adele.Sinatra’s song is sampled in the song ‘Ya Ya’, which she said in a post on X/Twitter she was especially pleased that Beyonce used.“To have a little piece of one of my records in a Beyonce song is very meaningful to me because I love her,” she wrote.

Cowboy Carter,” is a protest against the Nashville establishment after previously being treated poorly.“This is her life, this has been her life: You tell Bey she can’t do something, she does it,” a source close to the singer told The Post. “If you don’t invite her to the party; she will create a bigger party and shut yours down.

So decreed Queen B in a rare lengthy Instagram post about “Cowboy Carter,” which is “Act II” in her “Renaissance” trilogy that began with the underground house beats of her 2022 album that had us buzzing and bopping to “Break My Soul,” “Cuff It” and “Alien Superstar.”And while it may seem like a hair-whipping flip to take it from the ballroom to the barnyard on her latest, it is not as radical of a departure as it may seem for Bey herself, who hails from Houston, Texas, and is as Southern as any hummingbird could be.“They used to say I spoke ‘too country’/And the rejection came, said I wasn’t ‘country ’nough’/Said I wouldn’t saddle up/But if that ain’t country, tell me, what is?” she sings with a snarl in her twang on “Ameriican Requiem,” the autobiographical manifesto that opens the album.This is Bey unplugged, raw and rootsy, two-stepping across the color lines that took “Texas Hold ’Em” — the banjo-picking bluegrass stomper that previewed “Cowboy Carter” last month — all the way to No.

famous mom’s album “Act II: Cowboy Carter.”The country music-inspired record dropped on Friday, with Rumi appearing on the single “Protector.”“Mom, can I hear the lullaby, please?” Rumi croons on the track as the Grammy winner, 42, then sings: “And I will lead you down that road if you lose your way/ Born to be a protector, mm-hmm/ Even though I know someday you’re gonna shine on your own/ I will be your projector, mmm, mm-hmm.”“Even though I know some day you’re gonna shine on your own/ I will be your projector, yeah, yeah/ And even though I know some day you’re gonna shine on your own/ I will be your protector, born to be a protector,” Beyoncé goes on.Rumi — who is the twin sister of brother Sir Carter — is not the only singer in the family. Alongside parents Beyoncé and Jay-Z, older sister Blue Ivy, 12, also has some pipes on her.

Thania Garcia Beyoncé’s new album “Cowboy Carter” arrives after what the Texas-born singer says was a five-year journey she embarked on after feeling rejected by the country music world. On her eighth solo LP — a “Beyoncé album” not a country album, she insists — the artist freely pushes the boundaries of country music and utilizes the genre’s signature touchstones to make a sonic return to the house music of Act I, or 2022’s “Renaissance,” on tracks like “Riverdance” and “II Hands II Heaven.” Where “Renaissance” was an homage to queer club culture icons, “Cowboy Carter” features endorsements from Nashville’s best in the form of spoken interludes from icons like Willie Nelson, Linda Martell and Dolly Parton.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Being asked to collaborate on a Beyonce album is the equivalent of knighthood, and the morning after “Cowboy Carter” dropped to near-universal hosannahs, featured artists Miley Cyrus and Post Malone shared their gratitude at the rare honor. Cyrus, who duets with Beyonce on the song “II Most Wanted,” wrote on social media: “I’ve loved Beyonce since long before I had the opportunity to meet & work with her. “My admiration runs so much deeper now that I’ve created along side of her.