It’s not uncommon to hear someone say, “I listen to everything … except country.”
Dominant yet elusive, country is often rejected by the pop mainstream but remains a massively successful industry. Until recently, there was rarely, if ever, a country song on the pop music charts.
But as a converted country music fan, one thing is clear — the genre is most prone to change but by far the least willing to accept it.
After Beyoncé won Best Country Album at the Grammys on Sunday for her genre-bending work Cowboy Carter, country purists were enraged. The moment came as a shock considering the Country Music Awards didn’t include the album in their nominations last year.
The conversation about Cowboy Carter centers on whether or not the album is considered country music. Beyoncé comes ready for the argument within the album itself.
“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?” Beyoncé sings on the first track of the album, “AMERIICAN REQUIEM.”
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She asks a compelling question — how can her music be inauthentic when the standard of “country” has never been identified?
It’s nearly impossible for music to grow and innovate when it’s stymied by rules about sound and instrumentation. Artists like Beyoncé, Shaboozey and Post Malone making their own work in the genre signals another change, regardless of how traditionalists may feel about it.
Cowboy Carter, with its stripped-back guitar melodies and layered vocal harmonies, is a case study in country origins. It features some of country’s biggest names, including Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Linda Martell — the first Black female solo artist to perform at the Grand Ole Opry.
In a way, country music forgets itself. Beyoncé is inviting country back to the party by advocating for the genre’s rich history and iconic culture — now faded with decades of formulaic artists uninterested in powerful messaging. It’s certainly a more authentic effort at country music than we’ve seen from recent chart toppers.
While a formulaic sound works for some artists and labels, it keeps the average music fan from wanting to engage with the genre out of boredom. Inspiration flows freely between other genres like rap, pop and jazz but seems abruptly cut off from any country influence.
The fight against change caused the downfall of some of the most famous names in country. Legend Wynonna Judd took a turn toward pop with the single “No One Else On Earth,” listeners left her behind.
“It’s almost as if her loyal country fanbase bought ‘No One Else on Earth,’ just as they’d bought everything she’d done before, realized they didn’t think it was country music and felt betrayed,” Tyler Mahan Coe said in his country music podcast “Cocaine & Rhinestones.”
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The sound is home to multiple controversies and rebellious, shocking lyricism. In 1975, Loretta Lynn’s single “The Pill” was banned from radio stations across the nation for its unabashed mention of birth control.
Innovative sounds and blending with other influences has brought artists to the top of a genre — think Prince with pop or Gorillaz with hip-hop. But in country music, it’s a death sentence. Beyoncé’s Grammy win should serve as a message to audiences: it doesn’t have to be this way.
At some point, every genre welcomes into its pantheon cultural rebels. The shift is what allows for new generations to build upon history, and it’s high time country music chose to do the same.
