Beyoncé went into the Grammys on Sunday with 11 nominations, more than any other artist, most prominently in album of the year for “Cowboy Carter” — her fifth shot for the night’s most coveted prize, after four conspicuous career losses and an embarrassingly poor history for Black women at the Grammys.
But down the ballot there were five chances for her to make a splash in the country field. “Cowboy Carter” received nods for best country album — alongside LPs by Kacey Musgraves, Chris Stapleton, Lainey Wilson and Post Malone — as well as country solo performance (“16 Carriages”), country duo/group performance (“II Most Wanted,” with Miley Cyrus), country song (“Texas Hold ’Em”) and Americana performance (“Ya Ya”).
Beyoncé won the Grammy for best country album, expressing shock after Taylor Swift announced the award. In her acceptance speech, Beyoncé said, “I think sometimes ‘genre’ is a code word to keep us in our place as artists, and I just want to encourage people to do what they’re passionate about.”
At the premiere ceremony, ahead of the main show, Beyoncé won for best country duo/group performance but lost out in the best country song category to Musgrave’s “The Architect.” She lost in best country solo performance to Stapleton (“It Takes a Woman”) and in best Americana performance to Sierra Ferrell (“American Dreaming”).
The two wins represent a retort of sorts to the Nashville establishment, which has largely ignored Beyoncé’s move into the clubby world of country, a story that has been building for nearly a decade.
Her song “Daddy Lessons,” from her 2016 album “Lemonade,” had twangy guitars and a vocal that drew comparisons to Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood. The track was submitted to the Grammys for a country nomination but was rejected by the committee overseeing those awards. (Most of those committees have since been eliminated.) That year, Beyoncé also performed the song with the Chicks, formerly called the Dixie Chicks, at the Country Music Association Awards. The harsh response to it was apparently what set Beyoncé on a course to delving deeper into country music, on her own terms.
When announcing “Cowboy Carter” last year, Beyoncé wrote on social media: “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. But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive.” She added: “The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me.”
Country radio stations gave minimal attention to the songs on “Cowboy Carter,” and Beyoncé received no nominations at last year’s CMAs.
There is a long history of Grammy voters, who are drawn from the full music industry, using their ballots to send messages to Nashville. In 2007, the Chicks won all three top awards — including album of the year, for “Taking the Long Way” — after the group was blacklisted from country radio stations over its criticism of President George W. Bush and the Iraq war.
