Beyoncé revives a dying genre on instantly timeless country album ‘Cowboy Carter’: review

Country music has been on life support.

With legendary trailblazers like Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette and Charley Pride long gone, we’re left with Walker Hayes and his god-awful Applebee’s jingle.

Maren Morris and Cassadee Pope fled Nashville faster than you could say, “Yeehaw!” to get away from their racist peers.

Even all-time greats Loretta Lynn and Alan Jackson declared the genre is “dead” and “gone.”

The 27-track record includes the No. 1 single “Texas Hold ‘Em.” beyonce/Instagram It’s a celebration of Southern values and the genre’s African American roots. beyonce/Instagram

Enter Beyoncé, whose new album, “Cowboy Carter” (out Friday), is the revival that country music so desperately needed.

The instantly timeless 27-track project is a soulful celebration of Southern values and the genre’s African American roots, one that the Houston-born superstar decided to record after feeling unwelcome when she performed at the 2016 CMA Awards.

“The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me,” she wrote on Instagram ahead of its release.

Beyoncé recorded the album after feeling unwelcome at the 2016 CMAs. Parkwood Entertainment It is “Act II” of a three-part era that began with 2022’s “Renaissance.” beyonce/Instagram

Beyoncé, 42, saddles up right away, taking on her naysayers on the album’s revolutionary “Ameriican Requiem” intro: “Tread my bare feet on solid ground for years / They don’t know how hard I had to fight for this.”

And fight she does — with the staunch support of collaborators Miley Cyrus (on the gorgeous “II Most Wanted”), Post Malone (the slinky “Levii’s Jeans”) and two of country’s most famous names.

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Willie Nelson lends his smoky voice to a pair of radio-themed interludes, while Dolly Parton hilariously trashes the infamous “Becky with the good hair” as a “hussy” before Beyoncé takes on “Jolene.”

Queen Bey’s highly anticipated remake of Parton’s 1973 classic is so much more than a cover; she pours gasoline on its already fiery lyrics, with menacing changes including, “I can easily understand why you’re attracted to my man / But you don’t want this smoke, so shoot your shot for someone else.”

Willie Nelson appears on two interludes. Redferns Dolly Parton lends her voice to the introduction to Beyoncé’s “Jolene” remake. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Miley Cyrus is featured on “II Most Wanted.” Getty Images

Beyoncé also poignantly covers The Beatles’ 1968 ditty “Blackbird,” which Paul McCartney famously wrote about racial tension in the South. Her tearjerking rendition is a career highlight, an impressive feat for a superstar whose back catalog is chock-full of unforgettable moments.

“Act II” of Bey’s three-part era that began with 2022’s “Renaissance” is exquisitely mixed, with upbeat songs like the No. 1 single “Texas Hold ‘Em” and the twerk-tastic “Riiverdance” seamlessly transitioning into breezier numbers such as the dulcet “Bodyguard” and the unexpectedly operatic “Daughter.”

The first chunk of the ambitious record leans more traditional, bare-bones country, while the back half is a lively, cookout-ready love letter to black joy, culminating in the Tina Turner-esque stomper “Ya Ya.”

Queen Bey has said, “This ain’t a country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.” beyonce/Instagram She is married to Jay-Z. Beyonce / Instagram

When Beyoncé announced “Cowboy Carter,” she told her Instagram followers, “This ain’t a country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.” That was the understatement of the year.

Sure, there’s plenty of banjo and twang, but no one in Music City could sing, “I just wanna shake my ass” over a “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” sample and make it sound this damn good.

If the Recording Academy snubs Bey of album of the year again (which she views as a challenge on the penultimate “Sweet Honey Buckin'”), grab your cowboy hat and boots ’cause we ride at dawn.