Appearances by Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson & Linda Martell are included
Beyoncé has shared the track listing for her country-inspired Act II: Cowboy Carter, available on Friday, March 29th via Parkwood Entertainment/Sony Music. The project is the long-awaited second act of her Renaissance album, unveiled in a Verizon ad during the Super Bowl on February 11th.
The 27-song album features guest appearances by Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Linda Martell, Post Malone, Miley Cyrus, and others. Songs include a cover of Parton’s “Jolene,” “Ameriican Requiem,” “Blackbiird,” “Bodyguard” and others.
Beyoncé nods to the album’s “Act II” title with a double “i” motif throughout the spelling of songs. Updated artwork on her website includes a nude Beyoncé wearing only a red, white, and blue sash covering her body and patriotic beads on her bangs.
The R&B superstar dropped “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” last month, the former becoming her 11th No. 1 overall and her highest-debuting single. Both songs appeared in the Top 10 of the Billboard Country charts after being serviced to country radio.
According to Billboard, “Texas Hold ‘Em” marks the R&B and rap superstar’s seventh appearance across the publication’s multi-metric songs chart as a solo artist. Beyoncé has now topped the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, Hot Gospel Songs, Hot Latin Songs, Hot R&B Songs, and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts, marking the only artist to accomplish the feat.
The Houston-born singer/songwriter joins the ranks of Morgan Wallen, Justin Bieber, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Ray Charles in topping both Billboard’s Hot Country Songs and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts, becoming the first woman to do so. Beyoncé joins Taylor Swift as the only female artist to debut at the top of the Hot Country Songs chart with a solo song, according to the X account @chartdata. She’s also the first black female artist to debut at the top of the chart.
The song was initially serviced only to R&B and pop stations upon its release. However, Columbia Nashville began officially promoting the song to country radio on Valentine’s Day after controversy began to surface, causing the song to earn an audience impression of 1.1 million and premiering on the Billboard Country Airplay chart at 54.
