Let the Yeehaw-sance begin!
As we count down the final hours to “Cowboy Carter” — the Beyoncé country album that is dropping at midnight — you don’t have to hold up before she brings some more of that “Texas Hold ‘Em” twang.
Here are six other black country artists who will get your yeehaw up before Mrs. Carter takes us all the way to country town on “Act II” of her “Renaissance” trilogy — which will include a tribute to Linda Martell, the first African-American woman to play the Grand Ole Opry — at midnight.
KANE BROWN
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Coincidentally, Brown will be playing the New York area — bringing his In the Air Tour to Prudential Center in Newark, NJ on Saturday — on the same weekend that “Cowboy Carter” drops.
Since making his debut in 2015, Brown has co-hosted the CMT Music Awards four times (from 2020 to 2023), become the first black person to win Video of the Year at the ACM Awards (for “Worldwide Beautiful” in 2021) and recently saw “I Can Feel It” become his 11th No. 1 hit on the Billboard Country Airplay chart.
MICKEY GUYTON
Mickey GuytonGetty Images for The American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Red Dress Collection Concert
If you are a black female country artist singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl — which is exactly what Guyton did in 2022 — you know that you have arrived.
But perhaps Guyton made an even biggest statement singing “Black Like Me” at the 2021` Grammys before she went on to become the first African-American woman to co-host the ACM Awards later that year.
THE WAR & TREATY
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The husband-wife duo of Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter released their debut album, “Healing Tide,” in 2018, and they reached the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 with their “Hey Driver” collab with Zach Bryan in 2023. It all led up to the singing spouses being nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammys this year.
RHIANNON GIDDENS
Rhiannon GiddensAndy Kropa/Invision/AP
If you’re wondering who brings the bluegrassy banjo realness to “Texas Hold ‘Em,” it’s none other than the Grammy- and Pulitizer-Prize winning picker who went from the Carolina Chocolate Drops to sprinkling her roots-music magic as a solo artist.
BRITTNEY SPENCER
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Hailed by “CBS This Morning” as “Nashville’s new star,” the Baltimore native released her debut album, “My Stupid Life,” in January. But she had already performed at the CMAs before that — with her fellow black female country artists Mickey Guyton and Madeline Edwards in 2021.
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WILLIE JONES
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If you can country up Usher’s EDM smash “OMG,” you must have some serious twang in your bones. Which is exactly what this Louisiana-born singer did on his “Apple Music Sessions” EP right before the R&B icon rocked the Super Bowl halftime stage last month.
