Category: Music

As previously discussed, when I first heard Beyoncé’s new singles, I couldn’t help but reflect on her “Daddy Lessons” performance with the Chicks at the CMAs. But I didn’t only remember her performance. I also clearly recalled some of the negative buzz surrounding it.

Among other things, I remember that A Certain Country Star was so disgruntled, that they shared their thoughts on Beyoncé’s presence on Twitter. In response, people were very quick to call what they thought was a spade a spade, and took note of this individual’s perceived racism. (I’m not sharing the person’s name directly in this post because I’m focusing on their attitude over them as an individual. That, and I realize that more than one person had an issue with Beyonce’s performance.)

Years later, after seeing this person’s obvious displeasure, I wondered, “Did they feel the same way when Justin Timberlake took the CMA stage with Chris Stapleton?”

Well, apparently, they did.

Not too long ago, I looked up a story about Country Star’s reaction. Their statements, as featured in this article, mentioned Timberlake and other artists. (And if you have time, reading the whole piece will give you a clearer picture of their thoughts.)

 Among other things, they said,

“…for every pop performance or R&B performance or any other type of genre performance that you have on the CMA Awards, that takes time away from somebody who is a country music artist, doing country music songs, releasing country music singles to radio, selling country music under that moniker to people all across the country and across the world. That’s taking time away from them. There are other artists that could have been just as much of a draw and that really should have been involved in that slot to celebrate the music that they have helped to create.”

The other day I started to unpack this statement. But I’ve decided to spare you from reading my detailed ideas. For now, I’ll just say that I think that in addition to racism, there are other prejudices that the country music industry needs to divest itself of.  

From “Daddy Lessons” to Today

And yet, looking back at Beyonce’s “Daddy Lessons” era, I couldn’t help but remember certain other odd and unfortunate things. For instance, I’d heard that someone in country music media had claimed that “Daddy Lessons” couldn’t be a country song because people from Music Row—aka Nashville’s songwriting community—didn’t have a hand in creating it.

More recently, I was watching the opening of the second episode of Friends in Low Places. While discussing the element of surprise in performance, legendary artist Garth Brooks says, “When we started our careers, I didn’t understand why all of a sudden country music couldn’t do the things that the other genres could.”

Moments later, one of Brooks’ staff notes that people had critiqued his performance style. Apparently, whether in an arena or a more intimate setting, Brooks dared to make everyone feel welcome. The industry response? “That’s not how we do it”.

I could get into other artists, and things I’ve heard and wondered about. But ultimately, I have the feeling that the Country Music Industry is incredibly staid and stuck in its ways. And if white country artists experience opposition over the trivial things, I can only imagine what Black and other diverse artists go through.

Needless to say, Beyoncé’s newfound presence in the genre has made me hopeful. I look forward to her continuing to disrupt it for the greater good.

Photo by Chad Morehead.