Yeehaw or nah? The verdict on Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ collabs with Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and more
cover of her certified classic “Jolene,” which recently turned 50.“Hey Miss Honey B, it’s Dolly P,” says Parton, 79, with all her familiar, down-home warmth.“You know that hussy with the good hair you sing about?” she continues, referencing the infamous, man-stealing “Becky” from “Lemonade” standout “Sorry.”“Reminding me of someone I knew back when/Except she has flamin’ locks of auburn hair … Just a hair of a different color, but it hurts just the same.”Then Bey takes the mic to deliver a soulful, acoustic-guitar-strumming rendition of Parton’s seminal hit — which, after being released in October 1973, went on to top the country chart as the title track of the singer’s 1974 album.Although it is as country as country gets, there is a bit of a hip-hop thump behind the propulsive beat to let you know that this is still very much a Beyoncé album.And after all the ballroom house beats of the first act of “Renaissance” — which came out in July 2022 — this is Bey unplugged, raw and rootsy, breaking down how betrayal knows no color before a whoop-ass choir backs her up at the end.But Parton isn’t the only country legend who — after Beyoncé hinted that she was not “welcomed” when she performed “Daddy Lessons” with the Chicks at the CMA Awards in 2016 — co-signs on “Cowboy Carter.”O.G. outlaw Willie Nelson appears in two interludes — “Smoke Hour” and “Smoke Hour II” — as the host of a radio show on KNTRY in Beyoncé’s native Texas.