The arrival of Beyoncé’s Act II: Cowboy Carter on Friday marks the singer’s most formidable transfer to nation music for the reason that inception of her beloved profession within the Nineteen Nineties. Act II is a follow-up to Beyoncé’s Renaissance, launched in 2022 to common acclaim and later toured throughout the globe in summer season 2023.
Act II consists of Beyoncé’s single and already smash hit “Texas Maintain ’Em,” which upon its launch in February made her the primary Black lady to high Billboard’s Scorching Nation Songs chart. The monitor was additionally her ninth hit to achieve the highest spot on the Billboard Scorching 100.
Many now see the arrival of Act II in its entirety as Beyoncé’s flip to hitch a rising record of singers who’ve made the transfer to nation music. The style soar is a considerably well-documented leap, partially popularized by Ray Charles’ 1962 Trendy Sounds in Nation and Western Music album, which spent 14 weeks as No. 1 on Billboard‘s album chart and lots of credit score with increasing nation music’s general viewers.
Since then, singers throughout the style gamut have made their very own makes an attempt on the nation shift, with some staying for the rest of their careers and others starting and ending their nation music methods with one launch.
From full nation converts like Darius Rucker or Elle King to singers who stopped at one nation document like Jessica Simpson or Cyndi Lauper, right here’s a have a look at 20 singers who made their very own change to the nation stage.
-
Beyoncé
Picture Credit score: Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Parkwood Although discuss of Queen Bey’s transfer to nation skyrocketed in the beginning of this yr along with her announcement of Renaissance Act II, the singer’s nation influences have been robust ever for the reason that days of 2016’s “Daddy Classes” on Lemonade, which she carried out on the Nation Music Affiliation Awards with the Dixie Chicks.
Forward of the discharge of Act II: Cowboy Carter in March, Beyoncé informed followers her new album was born from an expertise by which she “didn’t really feel welcomed” within the nation music world after going through criticism years earlier. “This style compelled me to propel previous the constraints that have been placed on me,” she added, saying Act II “is a results of difficult myself, and taking my time to bend and mix genres collectively to create this physique of labor.”
Although the nation influences could seem apparent to followers, Beyoncé was additionally cautious to be clear along with her viewers: “This ain’t a Nation album,” she stated in the identical assertion. “It is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.”
-
Ray Charles
Picture Credit score: Kevin Winter/Getty Pictures After getting his begin within the Forties, the late Ray Charles (who died in June 2004) went on to launch music throughout a number of genres, together with blues, R&B and pop. However he all the time felt a connection to nation music, and in 1962, he dropped his landmark Trendy Sounds in Nation and Western Music album. Whereas there have been fears that Charles might lose followers, the document really launched nation music to a broader viewers. Trendy Sounds topped the Billboard album chart for fourteen weeks and in addition featured the singer’s iconic recording of Don Gibson’s “I Can’t Cease Loving You.”
-
Cyndi Lauper
Picture Credit score: Kerry Marshall/Getty Pictures Although Cyndi Lauper has been identified for her pop-rock sounds, she has beforehand opened up about listening to nation music as a baby. Many years later, in 2016, she launched her twelfth studio album, Detour, which marked her crossover into nation music. She additionally collaborated with some nation greats on the document, corresponding to Willie Nelson.
-
Nelly
Picture Credit score: Terence Rushin/Getty Pictures Following the discharge of his 2000 debut album Nation Grammar, the rapper obtained love from different nation artists. He later secured his spot within the style with 2004’s “Over and Over,” that includes Tim McGraw, after which once more with the remix of Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise” in 2013. Each songs peaked within the high 5 on the Billboard Scorching 100 chart. Nelly launched his country-influenced album Heartland in 2021 and recruited a number of nation artists to be featured on the album, together with Darius Rucker, Kane Brown, Jimmie Allen and extra.
-
Elvis Costello
Picture Credit score: David Becker/Getty Pictures for The Latin Recording Academy Although Elvis Costello was driving within the new wave style within the Seventies together with his albums like This 12 months’s Mannequin and My Intention Is True, he determined to take a flip within the early Nineteen Eighties, pivoting to nation music. He went to Nashville to document Virtually Blue, an album that includes basic nation songs. After being launched in 1981, it reached No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart.
-
Child Rock
Picture Credit score: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Pictures for Dwell Nation Child Rock might have as soon as been thought-about a rapper and rock artist, however in 2002, he pivoted to nation with “Image,” his duet with Sheryl Crow and Allison Moorer. The only peaked at No. 21 on the nation chart. He continued to stay with the style, scoring a No. 4 hit in 2008 with “All Summer season Lengthy.” He even hosted the CMT Music Awards in 2010 and 2011. Child Rock has teamed up with a number of different nation icons all through his profession, together with Kenny Chesney, Willie Nelson and Martina McBride.
-
Van Morrison
Picture Credit score: Joe Maher/Getty Pictures Van Morrison by no means shied away from exploring a spread of sounds in his music, from jazz, soul, rock and extra, however in 2006 he determined to utterly pivot to nation together with his Pay the Satan album. As his first document with Nashville-based Misplaced Freeway Information, the 15-track album not solely featured some unique songs but in addition Morrison’s variations of some nation basic hits from Hank Williams, Connie Smith and Webb Pierce.
-
Cassadee Pope
Picture Credit score: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Pictures Earlier than Cassadee Pope launched into her solo music journey, she was the lead vocalist and songwriter of the pop rock band Hey Monday. Then in 2012, she determined to transition to nation music and joined Blake Shelton’s staff on NBC’s The Voice, which she finally received. She launched her debut solo nation album, Body by Body, in 2013, which peaked at No. 1 on High Nation Albums. She later launched her third full-length studio album, Thrive, in 2021, a yr earlier than saying she was stepping away from nation music and returning to her roots in pop-punk.
-
The Byrds
Picture Credit score: Don Paulsen/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Pictures Although The Byrds’ transition from folk-rock into nation wasn’t the smoothest, their 1968 album Sweetheart of the Rodeo remains to be credited because the delivery of the nation rock style. The album solely peaked at No. 77 on the charts, however the album’s legacy remains to be remembered at this time. It was additionally the primary album launched by the re-vamped band after unique members David Crosby and Michael Clarke left. Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman knew they couldn’t create a country-sounding document alone, in order that they introduced in country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons and drummer Kevin Kelley to assist make Sweetheart of the Rodeo.
-
Steven Tyler
Picture Credit score: Lisa Lake/Getty Pictures Steven Tyler has been on the helm of American rock band Aerosmith for the reason that Seventies, however fast-forward a number of a long time, and the artist determined to department out of the rock style for his solo music profession. After seemingly making Nashville his house away from Aerosmith, he launched his debut county single “Love Is Your Title” in 2015. He then adopted it up with a full-length album, We’re All Someone from Someplace, in 2016, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s High Nation Albums chart.
-
Bob Dylan
Picture Credit score: Kevin Winter/Getty Pictures for AFI Bob Dylan all the time had an appreciation for nation music, even early in his profession. Whereas he began out centered totally on a rock, folks and ultimately pop sound, by the mid-Nineteen Sixties, the legendary singer-songwriter made his first journey to Nashville to document his seventh album, Blonde on Blonde. The document had extra of a rock really feel, however it set the stage for his subsequent two albums, John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline, which marked his transition to nation. Among the most notable tracks included “Lay Woman Lay,” and his duet with Johnny Money on “Lady from the North Nation.”
-
Elle King
Picture Credit score: Jason Davis/Getty Pictures Elle King, daughter of Saturday Night time Dwell comic Rob Schneider, first rose to fame as a pop artist in 2012 with The Elle King EP. In 2015, she shifted to nation along with her main hit “Exes and Ohs” after which grew to become a featured duet visitor on Dierks Bentley’s “Completely different for Ladies” in 2016. Later, she additionally shared credit score with Miranda Lambert on “Drunk (And I Don’t Need to Go Residence)” in 2021. King has earned 4 Grammy nominations, two for rock classes and the opposite two for nation.
-
Lionel Richie
Picture Credit score: Steve Jennings/Getty Pictures) Lionel Richie first rose to fame as a lead singer of Motown group the Commodores within the Seventies. He’s additionally a member of the Black Music & Leisure Stroll of Fame and the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame, and a four-time Grammy winner.
However, alongside his lengthy and winding highway to success, Richie took a one cease within the nation music world: He launched Tuskegee in 2012, an album named after his hometown Alabama metropolis which options 13 duets with nation stars together with Shania Twain, Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson and extra. Tuskegee stays Richie’s most just lately launched studio album.
-
Tina Turner
Picture Credit score: Paul Natkin/Getty Pictures Queen of Rock ‘n Roll Tina Turner launched just one nation album throughout her decades-long profession — 1974’s Tina Turns the Nation On!. The document was really Turner’s first-ever solo studio album, marking the start of her particular person profession after spending the ’60s performing along with her then-husband, Ike Turner. Although the album went largely off the grid after its launch (the document was by no means printed on a CD), it just lately grew to become out there on streaming final yr.
-
Bon Jovi
Picture Credit score: Mauricio Santana/Getty Pictures Greatest identified (and most beloved) because the lead singer of his eponymous rock band, Jon Bon Jovi first dabbled with nation influences when he launched a re-recording of his band’s “Who Says You Can’t Go Residence” with Jennifer Nettles — the track received the 2007 Grammy for greatest nation collaboration with vocals. Across the identical time, Bon Jovi launched their (additionally 2007) album Misplaced Freeway, which the lead singer well-known referred to as a “Bon Jovi album influenced by Nashville.”
-
Aaron Lewis
Picture Credit score: Joey Foley/Getty Pictures Aaron Lewis first rose to fame within the Nineteen Nineties because the frontman of steel band Staind, which is a job he technically nonetheless holds whereas additionally effectively into the second decade of his personal nation music profession. Lewis launched his debut nation EP, City Line, in 2010 and has launched 5 studio albums since — most just lately, The Hill in January 2024.
-
Jewel
Picture Credit score: Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal through Getty Pictures Jewel’s music first hit the charts within the Nineteen Nineties, with the discharge of people rock albums Items of You and Spirit. In 2008, she made the soar to nation along with her seventh studio album, Completely Clear. Jon Wealthy, half of nation band Large and Wealthy, produced the document. The singer launched a second nation album, Candy and Wild, in 2010. Components of her most up-to-date launch, 2015’s Selecting Up the Items, have been additionally recorded in Nashville.
-
Darius Rucker
Picture Credit score: Jason Kempin/Getty Pictures Although often called a longtime nation artist at this time, singer-songwriter Darius Rucker first rose to fame because the lead vocalist of rock band Hootie & the Blowfish. The band launched 5 studio albums, lots of which Rucker co-wrote, earlier than he branched out on his personal and ultimately signed to Capitol Nashville as a rustic singer in 2008. He has been a mainstay of the style ever since, and in 2013, received the Grammy for greatest nation solo efficiency for his smash hit, “Wagon Wheel.”
-
Jessica Simpson
Picture Credit score: Denise Truscello Although most beloved as a pop star of the early aughts, devoted followers will keep in mind Jessica Simpson’s singular nation album, 2008’s Do You Know. Although the document obtained comparatively impartial critiques, Simpson’s tried style soar was met with backlash from followers, and he or she didn’t keep within the nation world for lengthy. Since then, the singer has launched only one different album, 2010’s Pleased Christmas.
-
Lil Nas X
Picture Credit score: Venla Shalin/Redferns Lil Nas X, born Montero Lamar Hill, shot to fame in 2019 amid a so-called tradition conflict over his standing as a rustic star. The singer’s rap-country smash hit “Previous City Highway” first went viral on TikTok earlier than debuting on Billboard‘s Scorching Nation Songs chart, solely to be then faraway from the identical chart some weeks later.
“Whereas ‘Previous City Highway’ incorporates references to nation and cowboy imagery, it doesn’t embrace sufficient components of at this time’s nation music to chart in its present model,” a Billboard assertion to Rolling Stone learn on the time.
Nonetheless, the track cemented itself within the nation’s zeitgeist, and a model that the rapper recorded with nation singer Billy Ray Cyrus went on to spend 19 weeks atop Billboard‘s Scorching 100 record, probably the most of any track within the chart’s historical past.