Beyoncé's new album 'Cowboy Carter' is finally here. Here's everything you need to know.

• Beyoncé's new album "Cowboy Carter" was released on Friday.

• She was inspired to make it after an experience when she "did not feel welcomed."

• The tracklist features country legends like Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, and Linda Martell.

A new era of Beyoncé music is upon us. The sequel to her latest album "Renaissance," also known as "Act II," is called "Cowboy Carter," and has arrived to push the yee-haw agenda.

Beyoncé confirmed the title on her website several weeks after teasing the album in a Verizon commercial that aired during the Super Bowl, in which she declared, "They ready, drop the new music."

The brief comment set the internet ablaze. Shortly after, Beyoncé confirmed her eighth studio album would arrive on March 29.

Back when "Renaissance" dropped in 2022, it was enigmatically described as "Act I" on her website, though no other details were revealed at the time.

Beyoncé also released a trailer on social media that indicated a pivot to country music. The video shows Beyoncé driving past a sign that reads, "Radio Texas: 100000 Watts of Healing Power" and a billboard with the tagline "Texas! Hold 'Em." (Beyoncé famously hails from Houston.)

The short clip includes snippets of "Maybellene" by Chuck Berry and a brand new single by the superstar herself, "Texas Hold 'Em."

"Texas Hold 'Em" quickly became the first song by a Black woman to reach No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. It has also notched two weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 so far.

"Texas Hold 'Em" was released alongside another single, "16 Carriages."

"At 15, the innocence was gone astray / Had to leave my home at an early age / I saw mama praying, I saw daddy grind / All my tender problems, had to leave behind," Beyoncé sings in the chorus of "16 Carriages."

Both songs recall "Daddy Lessons," the sixth track on Beyoncé's album "Lemonade."

Fans had already speculated that Beyoncé was teasing more country music when she wore a cowboy hat and a leather bolo tie to the 2024 Grammy Awards.

Her "Renaissance" tour visuals also included references to Western iconography and Southern culture, especially horses, which may be intended to represent Beyoncé's connection to her hometown.

Country, folk, bluegrass, and Americana artists have recently experienced a surge in popularity, with artists like Morgan Wallen, Noah Kahan, Zach Bryan, and Kacey Musgraves leading the charge. At the Grammys in February, Luke Combs was nominated for a countrified cover of Tracy Chapman's 1988 song "Fast Car." They performed the song as a duet; it was widely considered a highlight of the ceremony.

Last April, Variety reported that country music was seeing a "historic streaming spike," largely fueled by Wallen's blockbuster album "One Thing at a Time."

Wallen also represents the genre's thorny relationship with racism. Back in 2021, he was harshly rebuked when he was caught on video using the N-word. However, once the initial backlash died down, Wallen was welcomed back by radio stations and industry executives.

Beyoncé herself inspired backlash from country fans, an audience that tends to lean white and conservative, when she performed "Daddy Lessons" at the 2016 Country Music Association Awards with The Chicks.

Beyoncé said she was inspired to make a country album after an uncomfortable experience

To mark the album's 10-day countdown, Beyoncé shared the official cover art on Instagram. She also shared the story behind "Cowboy Carter."

"This album has been over five years in the making. It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed…and it was very clear that I wasn't," Beyoncé wrote.

Many have speculated that Beyoncé was referring to her performance at the 2016 Country Music Association Awards.

Even before her performance took place, it sparked backlash from conservative country fans who questioned Beyoncé's place in the genre. Many music critics defended Beyoncé, pointing out her Texas roots and the often-ignored Black origins of country music.

At the ceremony itself, Beyoncé reportedly received "chilly treatment" backstage, despite drawing high ratings for the network. Commenters online were similarly vexed, while others were outright racist. The Chicks member Natalie Maines has since condemned the treatment Beyoncé received at the show.

"For them to disrespect her that way was disgusting," Maines told The New York Times in 2020.

In her statement on Instagram, Beyoncé said the unnamed experience inspired her to dig into the history of country music.

"The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me," she said. "act ii is a result of challenging myself, and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work."

Beyoncé concluded with a clarification: "This ain't a Country album. This is a 'Beyoncé' album."

The tracklist includes song titles like 'Ameriican Requiem,' 'The Linda Martell Show,' and 'Sweet Honey Buckin'

Beyoncé unveiled the song titles on Wednesday, two days before the album's release. It includes 27 different tracks, including interludes

Several titles are references to outlaw tales and country tropes, like "Levii's Jeans," "Oh Lousiana," and "Desert Eagle."

"Spaghettii," a collaboration with Virginia-born country-rapper Shaboozey, could refer to the subgenre of Western films known as "Spaghetti Westerns," popularized by Italian filmmakers in the '60s.

The song includes a spoken-word intro from Linda Martell: "Genres are a funny little concept, aren't they?" she says. "In theory, they have a simple definition that's easy to understand, but in practice, well, some may feel confined."

Another song title, "The Linda Martell Show," is a direct nod Martell, the first Black woman to achieve commercial success in country music.

Martell only released one album: 1970's "Color Me Country." By her account, her career was marred by racism and she was quickly sidelined by her label in favor of white artists. As a result, her contribution to the genre has scarcely been acknowledged.

"It was very hard," Martell told Rolling Stone in 2020. "When you're playing to an all-white audience — because Lord Jesus, they are prejudiced — you learn to not say too much. You can carry it a little too far if you're correcting somebody. So you learn how not to do that."

Collaborators include Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Miley Cyrus, and Post Malone

Joining Martell are Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton (on "Smoke Hour" and "Dolly P," respectively) as the album's narrators. The three country legends take turns playing the role of a country radio station DJ.

The tracklist also includes "Jolene," a cover of Parton's beloved 1973 single. In Beyoncé's version, the lyrics are tweaked to evoke confidence and foreboding, rather than Parton's self-doubt and pleading.

"I can easily understand / Why you're attracted to my man / But you don't want this smoke, so shoot your shot with someone," Beyoncé sings.

Indeed, Parton previously revealed that Beyoncé had recorded a rendition of "Jolene" and said she expected it to appear on "Cowboy Carter."

"We've kind of sent messages back and forth through the years," Parton told Tennessee outlet Knox News. "She and her mother were like fans, and I was always touched that they were fans, and I always thought she was great."

The second track, "Blackbiird," is a cover of the 1968 ballad by The Beatles.

Paul McCartney has said the song was inspired by the fight for racial justice in the '60s, particularly in the American South.

"I had in mind a Black woman, rather than a bird. Those were the days of the civil-rights movement, which all of us cared passionately about, so this was really a song from me to a Black woman, experiencing these problems in the States: 'Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith; there is hope,'" McCartney told his biographer Barry Miles.

"As is often the case with my things, a veiling took place," he continued. "So rather than saying, 'Black woman living in Little Rock' and be very specific, she became a bird, became symbolic, so you could apply it to your particular problem."

Four more Black female country singers — Brittney Spencer, Reyna Roberts, Tanner Adell, and Tiera Kennedy — lend vocals to "Blackbiird."

Other duets include Miley Cyrus ("II Most Wanted") and Post Malone ("Levii's Jeans"). Shaboozey reappears on "Sweet Honey Buckin" and Beyoncé's 6-year-old daughter, Rumi Carter, is credited as a featured artist on "Protector."

Beyoncé previously confirmed the album had a few surprises in store for fans, including collaborations with "some brilliant artists who I deeply respect."

In fact, Beyoncé had already worked with esteemed country artists for this album cycle: Rhiannon Giddens provided banjo for "Texas Hold 'Em," while Robert Randolph plays steel guitar on "16 Carriages."

Randolph said he was "hand-picked" for the project by Beyoncé herself.

"Beyoncé already had an idea of what she wanted to do," he told Rolling Stone. "She wanted to do something with some playing, with some country fire. She said she liked the way I make my instrument sound like a singer."

"It's great for her to go this route," he added. "In country music for the longest time, it almost seemed like it was supposed to be out of left field when a Black artist says, 'Hey, I'm going to do a country record.' It's crazy that the whole world doesn't understand the history of country music and fiddles, dobros, and banjos. Where do you think that stuff came from?"

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