Paying tribute to both Dolly Parton and The Beatles – NRK Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country

When Beyoncé released the songs “Texas Hold’em” and “16 Carriages” without warning in February, she made history.

The former made her the first black female artist to top the US country charts. At the time of writing, “Texas Hold’em” has almost 212 million plays on Spotify since 11 February.

The week before, the pop artist had appeared at the Grammys wearing a white cowboy hat. It was a clear hint to her eighth studio album, which was launched on Friday night.

Country as a music genre has, despite a huge preponderance of white artists, deep roots in black culture. But Beyoncé has been clear on Instagram beforehand:

– This is not a country album, but a Beyoncé album.

The 27 new songs are part two of Beyoncé’s three-part “Rennasaince” project. The first album came in 2022.

Songwriter and artist Lise Mæland has previously told NRK that the album has been ready since the pandemic, but that the artist has been waiting for the right time to launch it.

Appears with greetings

“Cowboy Carter” contains 27 songs – including a cover of Dolly Parton’s well-known “Jolene” from 1977.

There have long been rumors that “Jolene” would appear in some form on the album. Now it turns out that Dolly Parton herself has a guest appearance in the song “DOLLY P”.

– Hello, Miss Honeybee, it’s Dolly P, she says

Artists such as Willie Nelson, Miley Cyrus and Post Malone have also contributed to the album.

For fans of The Beatles, another song will also sound familiar. The album’s second track is a cover song of Paul McCartney’s “Blackbird” from 1968, where, among other things, the country artist Tanner Adell has a guest appearance.

So far, the artist’s new life’s work has been well received by critics. The BBC’s reviewer describes Cowboy Carter’s songs as both theatrical, mournful, playful and whimsical, and writes that the album “throws a lasso around the country’s sonic designations”.

After the two singles were released in February, interest in country-inspired fashion skyrocketed, according to USA Today.

Wasn’t played at first

“Texas Hold’em” has topped Billboard’s country chart for six consecutive weeks. But despite the smash success, it took time for American country stations to join the wave.

Country music is very popular in the United States, with over 2,100 radio stations dedicated to the genre.

However, on the first day after its release, only eight of 150 radio stations reporting their playlists to Billboard’s Country Airplay chart played the song. Only one played it more than twice, while “16 Carriages” was not heard at all.

An Oklahoma radio station has come under fire for refusing to play Beyoncé’s new music because “they’re a country music station.” They later explained to Today that they did not know about the song.

Beyoncé also received a lot of flak when she released her first country song in 2016. After performing “Daddy Lessons” with The Chicks at the Country Music Association Awards, comments were flooded with negative comments.

The song was also rejected by the country committee for the Grammy Awards, and also did not appear much on country stations in the US that year.

However, Lise Mæland has no doubt that Beyoncé will now be able to make an impact on the country market.

– She has stepped over an invisible boundary that no one has managed before, she told NRK in February.