Cowboy Carter

Earlier this week, Beyoncé revealed the name of her upcoming country album, Cowboy Carter. While the title may reflect both the album’s country music leanings and Beyoncé’s married name (courtesy of Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter), fans who did a little digging unearthed another potential meaning behind the phrase.

This information comes by way of a TikTok creator’s deep dive, so take it with a grain of salt as stan social media is rife with conspiracy theories and “explanations” about our favorite artists that often come to nothing. But according to this creator, there could be a deep meaning associated with the phrase “Cowboy Carter.”

One of the earliest country music acts to rise to stardom was The Carter Family from Virginia. Their recordings, made from 1927 to 1956, were among the first to become commercially successful and also influenced country, bluegrass, folk, and more for decades to come.

The group’s patriarch, A.P. Carter, traveled around southwestern Virginia to find new songs after the success of their first recordings in 1930. He befriended a Black guitar player from Tennessee named Lesley “Esley” Riddle, who composed a number of the group’s songs, and his guitar technique was adopted by Maybelle Carter. That technique eventually became known as “the Carter scratch,” which is about how things work in America — if you know, you know.

Now, if this all sounds like a stretch, that’s probably because it is, but that also doesn’t mean it can’t be a little bit true. Ultimately, this fan theory is based in a belief that Beyoncé’s upcoming album will be an attempt on her part to reclaim the history of Black musicians’ influence on country music, the way Renaissance did for electronic dance music originally pioneered by Black, queer DJs in warehouse raves across urban America.

While Beyoncé might not have been thinking specifically about Esley Riddle when she named “Act II” Cowboy Carter, she certainly was thinking of a rich history that has been whitewashed by generations of effort on the part of radio DJs, record executives, and music historians who either ignored, overlooked, or erased Black artists’ contributions to a genre and American culture.

Cowboy Carter is out on March 29 via Parkwood and Columbia.

Update: Beyoncé herself officially announced Cowboy Carter is the title for her upcoming country album, sharing the county fair-themed cover on her Instagram Story. The cover features a saddle with a sash reading the album’s title in front of a black background. She also updated her website with the artwork and the bio on her Instagram profile with the title and pre-save link. You can see it below and pre-save the album here.

Anticipation for Beyoncé‘s upcoming album is at all-time highs and now, it looks like we might know what it’ll be called. While it was introduced to the world as “Act II” of a purported three-act project that includes the dance-themed Renaissance (or “Act I”) and the country-themed new album, fans checking out Beyoncé’s online shop today may have gotten a glimpse at its proper title: Cowboy Carter. Photos of the merch available for pre-order include T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan alongside Beyoncé with country western-style big hair and cowboy attire, as well as vinyl records bearing the words “Act II” and “Country Carter” on their covers. You can check them out here.

The first inkling that Beyoncé’s next album might be country actually came with the release of Renaissance. Ahead of its release, it was rumored that the album would incorporate both dance music and country. When it was actually released and featured a heavy focus on the former — and absolutely none of the latter — it confirmed that the country music was probably being reserved for future parts of the overall project. Then, during this year’s Super Bowl, Beyoncé teased the upcoming “Act II” with a promo that ran on Instagram at the same time as her Verizon commerical premiered on TV. She capped off the ultra-coordinated announcement with the release of two singles, “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages.”

While Beyoncé’s impending pivot to country was met with enthusiasm by the BeyHive, not everyone approved. The switch has seen its fair share of critics including those in country radio, who resented the intrusion from a perceived “outsider” — this despite Beyoncé’s well-known Texas upbringing and as-yet genreless output to date. That didn’t stop “Texas Hold ‘Em” from charting in its intended genre, nor from peaking at No. 1 on country charts.

The controversy has inspired plenty of discourse on the subject of genre; you can check out Uproxx’s feature on genre here and our feature on Black women in country music here.