Beyoncé conceived Cowboy Carter as a journey through a reinvention of Americana, spotlighting the overlooked contributions of Black pioneers to American musical and cultural history.

The album's songs feature rising Black country artists such as Shaboozey, Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts and Willie Jones.

The music is driven by a range of acoustic instruments played by musicians including Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Nile Rodgers, Jon Batiste, and Rhiannon Giddens.

Cowboy Carter was met with universal acclaim and appeared on multiple year-end lists; critics felt that the album's genre experimentation, expansive scope and eclectic references aided an ambitious reimagining of Americana and country through the lens of their Black roots.

[15][16] She listened to country music from an early age, particularly from her paternal grandfather, and her family attended the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo every year in western clothing.

[41][42][43] The album also fuses in more contemporary and international musical styles, such as hip hop, pop, house, Jersey club, flamenco, funk carioca, fado and Irish folk.

[56] The album features rising country artists Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts, Shaboozey and Willie Jones.

[57] The album features a range of acoustic instruments played by musicians including Stevie Wonder on harmonica, Paul McCartney and Nile Rodgers on guitar, and Rhiannon Giddens on banjo.

[58] On February 11, 2024, during Super Bowl LVIII, Verizon aired a commercial starring Beyoncé entitled "Can't B Broken", in which she tried to "break the Internet" through increasingly outlandish means, such as releasing a jazz saxophone record, performing on top of Sphere in Las Vegas, building an artificial intelligence (AI) version of herself, launching a collection of Barbie-like dolls dubbed "BarBey", announcing her candidacy for a fictional political position, and flying into space for a performance.

[60] Directed by British artist and filmmaker Nadia Lee Cohen, the video pays homage to Paris, Texas (1984), references border blasters and features Chuck Berry's 1955 track "Maybellene".

[2] On March 20, she revealed a limited edition exclusive cover, wearing a sash that reads "act ii BEYINCÉ", referencing her mother Tina's generational family surname.

[77][78][79] The American clothing company Levi Strauss & Co. saw an opportunity to better market their brand to a female audience after their product inspired the Cowboy Carter track "Levii's Jeans".

[80] On November 17, 2024, it was revealed that Beyoncé would perform a Cowboy Carter medley as a halftime show of the National Football League (NFL) match game between the Houston Texans and the Baltimore Ravens during Christmas Day, with the event being available on Netflix.

[81] After the broadcast performance, Beyoncé tweeted a short video clip with the caption “Look at that horse” and a stated date for January 14, 2025, within the visualizer, which led to speculations about a promotional concert tour for the album.

The Atlantic's Spencer Kornhaber and the Evening Standard's Gemma Samways noted that the album experiments with the touchstones and musical traditions of country and Americana in order to explore its Black cultural roots.

[108][8] Maria Sherman of the Associated Press wrote that the "eclectic" and "epic" album "redefines American style" and requires close examination of its references, themes and messages for full enjoyment.

[109] HipHopDX's Tai Saint-Louis described the album as a reclamation of both the "deep roots from which Beyoncé has crafted her artistry" and "the many branches that have sprouted from Black music in America".

[118] The Independent's Helen Brown and The Sydney Morning Herald's Robert Moran opined that Beyoncé's genre experimentation is in the service of celebrating the overlooked pioneers of country music while spotlighting up-and-coming Black musicians.

[d] The Financial Times's Ludovic Hunter-Tilney compared the album to a blockbuster historical epic, with its "impressive, very American aura of importance" and "the sense that history is not only being told but also made".

[121] Sisario opined that the album in its entirety works as film, writing that Cowboy Carter is the central character in a narrative about tackling American cultural history.

[120] Petridis wrote that while the album may have worked better as a double-disc, "its wild lurches into eclecticism are the point" and demonstrates Beyoncé's "impressive" ability to "bend musical styles to her will".

[41] Cowboy Carter appeared on several publications' rankings of the best albums of 2024, including number-one features on Business Insider,[127] Esquire,[128] The Houston Chronicle,[129] People[130] and USA Today.

[161] On individual critics' lists, while The Philadelphia Inquirer's Dan DeLuca numbered Cowboy Carter at the fourth position,[162] The Atlantic's Spencer Kornhaber at fifth,[163] and Sound Opinions' Jim DeRogatis at eleventh,[164] the album was, respectively, ranked second and seventh by Variety's Willman and Steven J. Horowitz,[165] and tenth and fifteenth by The New York Times' Lindsay Zoladz and Jon Caramanica.

[citation needed] Cowboy Carter did not receive any nominations at the 58th Annual Country Music Association Awards, in a move widely criticized as an egregious but predictable snub.

[201] Upon release, Cowboy Carter had a significant impact on music, fashion, business and culture, with Stevie Wonder and Variety's Chris Willman suggesting it may be the most-discussed album of the 21st century.

[213] Cowboy Carter increased the listenership of country music and made it more accessible to new audiences, with publications describing it as "a cultural shift", "a watershed moment" and "a tipping point" in the genre's history.

[229] In The Tennessean, Andrea Williams wrote that Beyoncé opened the door for others in country music, proving Black songwriters, producers and musicians belong in the genre.

Batiste described the album as the moment "where we dismantle the genre machine", adding: "When many leading artists see a similar vision at the same time, that's when you know a major shift is happening.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama posted on social media about Cowboy Carter, writing that the album has "changed the game" by "helping redefine a music genre and transform our culture".

[261] Vice President Kamala Harris also praised the album on social media, writing: "Thank you for reminding us to never feel confined to other people's perspective of what our lane is.