Riding with Bey: How Beyoncé got Willie Jones to saddle up in the ‘fourth quarter’ for ‘Cowboy Carter’
When Beyoncé calls, you can’t hold up.

So when the “Texas Hold ’Em” singer made a last-minute pitch to country upstart Willie Jones to appear on her new “Cowboy Carter” opus — with the album deadline fast approaching to make her March 29 release date — it was either go big or stay home.

“It was literally in the fourth quarter,” Jones, 29, told The Post of recording his “Just for Fun” duet with Beyoncé in the final stages of “Cowboy Carter.” “It was literally … end of February, February 20-something.”

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“It’s something that I knew was gonna happen since I was a little kid,” said Willie Jones of collaborating wth Beyoncé.bighassle.com/willie-jones
Jones got the call that would change his life from Alex Vickery, who produced his vocals on “Just for Fun” — which, despite its title, is a decidedly moody meditation.

“She’s like, ‘Are you sitting down?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ And she’s like, ‘You know Beyoncé is working on a country album … [and] she loves your voice.’ I was like, ‘Are you serious?’ She was like, ‘Can you come out here tomorrow?’ I was like, ‘Send the car.’ ”

And now the Shreveport, Louisiana native is galloping into history as one of the Black country artists spotlighted by Beyoncé Knowles Carter on “Cowboy Carter” — the undisputed event record of 2024 — which just scored the biggest week of the year in its chart-topping debut on the Billboard 200. Released to rave reviews (including mine), the LP also made Queen B the first Black woman to reign over the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, while simultaneously holding the top three spots on the Hot Country Songs chart led by her No. 1 single “Texas Hold ’Em.”

This ain’t Texas, this is Bey Country.

And along with all of its record-shattering streaming stats, “Cowboy Carter” has seen the careers of Jones and his fellow African-American country artists featured on the album — including “Blackbiird” background vocalists Brittney Spencer, Tanner Adell, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts as well as “Spaghettii” and “Sweet Honey Buckiin’ ” collaborator Shaboozey — explode overnight. Indeed, they and “Cowboy Carter” elder Linda Martell — the first African-American woman to play the Grand Ole Opry in 1969 — were all honored on a Los Angeles billboard by Spotify last week.

But Jones — a former contestant on “The X Factor” who has already released two albums (2021’s “Right Now” and 2023’s “Something To Dance To”) — doesn’t want to “blow up” per se.

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“Cowboy Carter” scored the biggest sales week of the year in its chart-topping debut on the Billboard 200.Courtesy of Columbia Records
“I don’t even want to say ‘blowing up,’ ” he said, “because when you watch action movies, and you see something blow up, they gotta slow it down, they gotta show it from different angles over and over again. And then it’s over … But this isn’t ‘blowing up’ — this is an expansion.”

It’s a moment of a lifetime that Jones has been preparing for — in fact, manifesting — since childhood.

“You know, it’s something that I knew was gonna happen since I was a little kid,” he said. “You can ask my sisters: I’m like, ‘OK, keep y’all Instagrams together because we gotta meet Beyoncé one day.’ ”

As a teenager growing up in Shreveport, Jones forged an early Bey bond when he played Jimmy Early in a local production of “Dreamgirls.” Of course, Beyoncé starred as Deena Jones in the 2006 big-screen adaptation of the Broadway musical. “I remember the girl who played Deena sounded like Beyoncé,” he said.

Jones’ early musical-theater training eventually led him to audition for “The X Factor” in Greensboro, North Carolina as a 17-year-old aspiring country singer. With his deep voice putting the bass in Josh Turner’s “Your Man” for judges Simon Cowell, Britney Spears, Demi Lovato and Randy Jackson, a flat-topped Jones made the cut but was then eliminated in the first week of live shows.

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“This is really cool to see Shaboozey being here, Reyna [Roberts] being here and Tanner [Adell] being here,” said Willie Jones of his fellow Black country artists on “Cowboy Carter.”bighassle.com/willie-jones
This year, Jones — who mixes country with hip-hop (“It’s just two sides of the same coin,” he said) — revisited “Your Man” as a fully grown man on his “Apple Music Nashville Sessions” EP, which also includes a countrified cover of Usher’s “OMG” that was released just before the R&B star headlined the Super Bowl halftime show. And Beyoncé just so happened to drop “Texas Hold ’Em” and “16 Carriages” — the first two singles off of “Cowboy Carter” — in the middle of Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11.

Now Jones gets to have the most legendary Willie — Nelson — introduce “Just for Fun” as a radio show host on KNTRY on “Cowboy Carter.”

But he’s proudest of being a part of the “Cowboy Carter” movement of Black country artists who have known and supported each other for years.

“This is really cool to see Shaboozey being here, Reyna being here and Tanner being here,” said Jones. “I done seen ’em stand 10 toes on their artistry and who they are and what they represent.”