Your ‘Cowboy Carter’ Reading List Is Here! Giddy the Fuck Up!

Yee haw mode activated. It’s my favorite national holiday: BEYONCÉ DAY!! A day that doesn’t come with regular intervals on the calendar, and can only be planned when the queen chooses to visit us from down upon the Creole Banjee Bitch (her words) Mountain of which she came. Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter released today and I am !?!?!? Speechless!?!?

At 12:04 AM I wrote on X, “crying at these harmonies would be overkill, right? Right!?!” which seems completely normal — and things have certainly not gotten less unhinged for me since then. I’m on my potentially 8th listen through in what? 12 hours? Do I sleep? Am I running purely on a Starbucks coconut milk latte with two scoops of lavender powder and two vegan donuts? Do you have to ask? Have you noticed that Beyoncé’s ride or die anthem duet with Miley Cyrus “II Most Wanted” has no specific pronouns and do you know what that means?

When we originally planned this post earlier in the week, we set our sights on a short comedy post with my little jokey jokes. Basically so that we’d have a reason to host a digital listening party. BUT NO FUCKING SERIOUSLY HAVE YOU LISTENED TO THE MASTERY OF THIS ALBUM!?!?!?

Renaissance was a queer dance party, and jokes came easy. Cowboy Carter is an album for the gays who do ritual cleanses, burn herb, and like to take naps while reading quietly on their couches in the warm sunlight. I don’t have a way to explain it, but this feels like Beyoncé’s most intellectual album. It demonstrates her producing ability as a student of not just her craft, but also the history of the genres that she expertly blends and plays with.

I’ll be honest out front that I’m not a country music girlie (no surprise there). I don’t have deep roots to The South, my family history is more Brooklyn concrete, rust belt factory workers, and Puerto Rican flamboyan trees. I was nervous for Cowboy Carter. I even made a playlist in preparation for the album, residing myself to the reality “i guess i’m a country music girlie now.”

So in lieu of jokes, I’m yielding the floor and made a little reading list to accompany your nonstop listen today. I’ll update it as I keep finding more cool shit, so if you read something you love please drop it in the comments and let me know. Giddy the fuck up!

Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter: The Reading List 🐎

• To begin, we cannot talk about Black queer writers and Beyoncé and country music without Taylor Crumpton. It cannot be done, Taylor’s insight when writing about Black queer pop music is unmatched and their writing on Bey has been posted by Ms. Tina Knowles herself, which is basically the same as being endorsed by the queen. Start with Beyoncé Has Always Been Country and follow that up with Beyoncé Is Boldly Defying Country’s Stereotypes, both for Time.
• Taylor also has an album review locked and loaded: On ‘Cowboy Carter,’ Beyoncé Reshapes Country in Her Image for Daily Beast.
• Next, you should read Beyoncé on well… Beyoncé. This press release from her about the album is filled with as many quotables as any interview feature (especially since Beyoncé is famously shy and reticent about interviews).
• Will Country Welcome Beyoncé? That’s the Wrong Question. “‘Cowboy Carter’ is an extension of the pop superstar’s exploration of how Black creativity fuels all corners of popular music. She’s embracing the music, not the industry.” — by Jon Caramanica for the NYT.
• With ‘Cowboy Carter,’ Black Country Music Fans Are Front and Center, at Last by Candice Norwood for The 19th News.
• Of Beyoncé’s features on the album, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, and Miley Cyrus are known country music royalty. But Linda Martell, a groundbreaking performer who became the first Black woman to play the Grand Ole Opry, has had less time in the (mainstream) limelight. This feature from 2020 in Rolling Stone is a magnificent revisit. Linda Martell: Country’s Lost Pioneer by David Browne.
• Danyel Smith is the person who first taught me to love music and love writing about music. Her newsletter round up of Cowboy Carter must reads/listens (plus some great archival photos of Bey) is supreme.

And one of my favorite tracks off of Cowboy Carter is a cover of Blackbird, featuring Beyoncé and a quartet of Black women country singers — Brittney Spencer, Tanner Adell, Tiera Kennedy, and Reyna Roberts. This video from Tanner Adell about the experience is pure joy, so let’s end our time here:

You can expect a long sappy post tomorrow, but for tonight I just wanna say thank you to Beyoncé pic.twitter.com/joUiHAyrEU

— Tanner Adell (@tanneradell) March 29, 2024

HAPPY BEYONCÉ DAY TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE!