Mickey Guyton hopes Beyoncé can inspire change for Black artists in the country music genre.
The Grammy-winning star recently released Cowboy Carter, which has been widely labeled as a country album. Guyton has now suggested that the record could have a huge, long-lasting impact on the genre.
“I think that a lot of DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] boards are closing, and … that’s across all the entertainment industry. So, I hope her doing this continues the conversation. And there’s a lot of excitement about it — which there should be — and this amazing album that she’s written. So I hope it stays,” the country star told the New York Post‘s Page Six column.
Guyton has always been open and honest about the issues she’s faced as a Black artist in the country genre.
In recent months, other music stars have voiced their support for Beyoncé’s country music, including Carlene Carter, a White country singer who thinks the genre is “lucky” to have her.
“I loved that she came out with her name as Carter because she’s married to Jay-Z. … I thought, she’s from Texas; she wanted to make a country record — nobody should give her any poo-poo about it, you know? But they did, and I was, like, ‘OK, y’all can just shut the hell up because she is Beyonce and we are lucky to have her even want to be in the vicinity of us,'” Carter explained to “Entertainment Tonight.”
Carter also observed that country music is constantly evolving.
“It may not fit the categories of what people think country is, [but] let me tell you, I’ve been around a long time and country has changed constantly,” the singer said.
“It changes constantly. … It’s gone from where she is at to where I’ve been to where my mother’s been to my grandmother [and] all the way back again to somebody else that’s gonna follow Beyonce. It’s always gonna be there; so, that’s what country is,” she said.
