On March 19, Beyoncé took to Instagram to announce the 10-day countdown to the release of her highly anticipated country album, “Act II: Cowboy Carter.” In the announcement, she also revealed the personal reasons behind her full-length foray into country music.
“This album has been over five years in the making,” she wrote. “It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed … and it was very clear that I wasn’t.”
It didn’t take long for the folks to connect the dots between Beyoncé’s statement and her 2016 appearance at the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards. Alongside the Dixie Chicks, now known as The Chicks, Beyoncé ripped through a hard-stomping rendition of “Daddy Lessons” that was equal parts funky and folksy.
But the story – the one that exploded across the internet and captured the attention of people far outside of Nashville – was less about the performance itself and more about the country music industry’s reaction to it.
Beyoncé's use of Black writers,musicians can open the door for others in country music
There was plenty of evidence to support the notion that Beyoncé’s appearance was less than welcomed at country music’s premier celebration.
ABC’s cameras scanned the audience throughout the national broadcast, and while some artists seemed to be enjoying Beyoncé’s performance, others stared on with blank faces.
The day after the show, Travis Tritt, one of the most successful country artists of the 1990s, took to Twitter and asserted that “we can stand on our own and don’t need pop artists on our awards shows.”
He later backtracked a bit, stating that his complaint wasn’t Beyoncé specific, and that he had long bemoaned sharing country stages with noncountry artists. But his question, “I want to know when the BET or SoulTrain awards are gonna ask a country artist to perform on their awards show?” seemed particularly pointed.
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