In 1994, country music legend Alan Jackson released the hit “Gone Country,” an observation of artists and writers who were leaving music and entertainment hotspots such Las Vegas and Los Angeles and making their foray into the country music scene.
Thirty years later – and on the heels of 2023, which saw country music artists including Morgan Wallen, Jason Aldean and Luke Combs dominating the upper-echelons of the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 for nearly half of the year – the music industry seems primed for a new wave of pop-to-country crossovers, with a new cluster of pop-world artists signaling their intentions to release country or country-adjacent projects in the next year or so.
Of course, numerous rock and pop artists, among them Don Henley, Cyndi Lauper, Jessica Simpson, Steven Tyler, Bret Michaels and Nelly, have previously released country (and/or country-inspired) music to varying degrees of success.
In 1962, Ray Charles released his signature album Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music, unique in that it took country standards and arranged them in R&B and jazz styles. The album reached the top 25 on the Billboard 200, and became a key influence on generations of artists. Charles would also reach the Hot Country Songs top 20 in 1983 with “Born to Love Me” and earned a No. 1 hit with the Willie Nelson duet “Seven Spanish Angels” in 1985. Charles was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2021.
In 1969, Bob Dylan wrote and recorded the love letter to country music with Nashville Skyline, which was recorded at Columbia Studios in Nashville, and featured musicians including Charlie Daniels, Pete Drake, and Charlie McCoy, Country icon Johnny Cash also duetted with Dylan on a new version of his folk standard “Girl From the North Country.”
In 1984, Lionel Richie’s hit “Stuck on You” topped the Adult Contemporary chart, but also reached No. 24 on the Hot Country Songs chart; three years later, his song “Deep River Woman,” featuring country group Alabama, reached the top 10 on the Hot Country Songs chart. In 2012, Richie (who was also the sole writer on the Kenny Rogers hit “Lady”) released the album Tuskegee, reworking several of his own hits as collaborations with a slew of country artists. The album topped the Billboard Hot Country Albums chart. Linda Ronstadt’s multi-faceted, genre-spanning career has included her charting pop hits such as “Long, Long Time” before adding country hits such as “Silver Threads and Golden Needles” to her resume.
Apart from occasional dabbling in country music, other artists such as Darius Rucker and Country Music Hall of Fame members Kenny Rogers and Conway Twitty had towering successes in the pop world and later committed to the country genre.
In 1958, Twitty earned a pop smash with “It’s Only Make Believe,” which spent two weeks atop the Hot 100; he followed that with the top 10 hits “Danny Boy” and “Lonely Blue Boy” before later earning his first top 20 country hit in 1966; he would go on to earn 40 No. 1 Hot Country Songs hits. As part of Hootie & the Blowfish, Rucker earned massive pop hits including “Hold My Hand” and “Only Wanna Be With You.” He released his debut country album in 2008 and has gone on to earn nine Country Airplay hits. Prior to his decades-long country career, Rogers was part of the folk group New Christy Minstrels, and earned a pop hit as part of the group First Edition with “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In).” More recently, prior to dominating the Country Airplay chart with songs including “Son of a Sinner” and “Need a Favor,” Jelly Roll had already released more than a dozen rap and hip-hop projects.
Here, we look at a new crop of pop stars who have signaled their intentions to “go country” — or have outright released new country-flavored music.
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Post Malone
Last year, pop and rap star Post Malone made his first Country Airplay chart entry alongside the late Joe Diffie on a “duet” version of Diffie’s “Pickup Man,” (billed as Joe Diffie featuring Post Malone), which debuted at No. 54 shortly after he teamed with Morgan Wallen and HARDY to perform the song on the 2023 CMA Awards. Malone is featured on HARDY’s upcoming Hixtape Vol. 3: Difftape (out March 29), but in an interview backstage at the 2023 CMA Awards with Access Hollywood, Post Malone also teased his own country music project. Asked if he has a country album in the works, he said, “I think so…yes.”
Even two years ago, Post Malone seemed to be signaling his love for country music, singing a cover of Brad Paisley’s “I’m Gonna Miss Her.” Meanwhile, photos of Posty in the studio and/or writing rooms with everyone from Brad Paisley to Luke Combs have popped up over the past several months. Meanwhile, Morgan Wallen previously told Billboard of a late-night studio session with Post Malone, “[He] likes to write really, really late at night — and I can’t do that three nights in a row. I can do that one night. I can start about 5 p.m., but starting at 10 p.m. — that’s rough.”
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Brian Wilson
According to a report from Rolling Stone, Brian Wilson and longtime Beach Boys manager Fred Vail are set to release a long-shelved, 1970 album of country classics next year. The instrumental tracks for the album, which will feature Vail on vocals, had been shelved for more than five decades. The outlet reports that the album is titled Cows in the Pasture and that it includes features from several yet-to-be-named special guests. Wilson and Vail originally worked on the project with musicians including guitarist James Burton (Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard), steel guitarist Red Rhodes (James Taylor, Ronstadt, The Byrds) and piano player Glen D. Hardin (Buck Owens, Dean Martin, Dwight Yoakam).
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Ed Sheeran
Though there is no word on any official album, pop star Ed Sheeran has spent considerable time in Nashville over the years. During rehearsals for the 2023 Academy of Country Music Awards (where he ultimately performed a collaboration with Luke Combs on “Life Goes On”), Sheeran told Billboard he would “love to transition into country,” adding, “I love the culture of it, I just love the songwriting. It’s just like brilliant songs.”
He also noted that he has lived in Nashville for periods of time in 2013 and in 2018. He said of the city’s songwriters, “It’s like a community. There’s not really a place in Europe where you could point and say, ‘That’s the home of songwriting. It’s not just for country music. Nashville is just a hub of incredible songwriters, incredible performers. And I really felt inspired just being there being around everyone.”
Speaking of songwriting, Sheeran is a co-writer on Kenny Chesney’s 2019 single “Tip of My Tongue.” He is also a writer on the Faith Hill/Tim McGraw duet “The Rest of Our Life” and the Keith Urban song “Parallel Line.” Also in 2019, he released the song “Blow,” which he co-wrote and performed alongside Chris Stapleton and Bruno Mars.
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Lana Del Rey
During this year’s Billboard and NMPA Songwriter Awards celebration on Jan. 31, alt-pop artist Lana Del Rey announced her upcoming album, Lasso (expected to release in September) will have a country-infused sound.
”If you can’t already tell by our award winners and our performers, the music business is going country. We’re going country. It’s happening,” the singer-songwriter said from the stage. “That’s why Jack [Antonoff] has followed me to Muscle Shoals, Nashville, Mississippi, over the last four years.”
Three weeks ago, Del Rey posted a teaser of a song titled “Henry, Come On” on Instagram, and tagged writer-producer Luke Laird, known for his work with country fixtures like Kacey Musgraves and Little Big Town. In December, she also released a cover of the John Denver classic “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”
The project will follow her 2023 album Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, which reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200.
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Beyoncé
Towering above the recent slate of country-intended projects is the surprise release of two new country songs from Beyoncé.
Beyoncé, owner of eight No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits and the most Grammy wins of all time, shook up the music industry once again on Sunday night (Feb. 11) by using a Super Bowl commercial to announce the release of new music, and thus, entering her country era. Though we don’t know the full spectrum of sounds that could be included on the entire project, she did release two country-flavored new songs, the up-tempo romp “Texas Hold ‘Em” and more Americana-flavored ballad “16 Carriages.” The two new songs are part of her upcoming March 29 album Act II, which follows her dance music-inspired Renaissance and is part of a three-act project.
On streaming platforms, the new songs have topped Apple Music’s top country songs chart and “Texas Hold ‘Em” holds the top spot on Spotify’s country playlist.
Just how fully country radio stations embrace the new music remains to be seen, although “Texas Hold ‘Em” has been serviced to country radio, officially impacting Feb. 20. Both of the new songs highlight Black roots musicians, with “Texas Hold ‘Em” featuring banjo from Rhiannon Giddens, while “16 Carriages” features pedal steel from Robert Randolph.
This isn’t Beyoncé’s first foray into country sounds, collaborations and more. At the 2007 American Music Awards, Sugarland (Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush) collaborated with Beyoncé on a performance of Bey’s “Irreplaceable,” which had spent 10 weeks atop the Hot 100. The Houston, Texas native has also performed at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo several times, both as a solo artist and part of Destiny’s Child.
In 2016, she performed at the Country Music Association Awards, performing her song “Daddy Lessons” alongside The Chicks—a performance that was met with considerable controversy at the time. Meanwhile, country music queen (and recent Super Bowl national anthem performer) Reba McEntire turned her version of Beyoncé’s “If I Was a Boy” into a country hit back in 2010.
At the 2024 Grammy Awards, Beyoncé further signaled her country intentions, showing up to the ceremony in a Western-themed attire, including a cowboy hat and bolo tie. But even as far back as her announcement of Renaissance, promotional photos showed Beyonce donning a cowboy hat and seated atop a glass horse, while back in 2021, Beyonce’s Ivy Park x Adidas collaboration released a “Rodeo Collection,” featuring pink cow prints and denim-athleisure pieces.
Of the new crop of pop artists looking to cross into country, Beyonce is primed to once again make music history, as while several Black male artists such as Rucker, Charley Pride, Stoney Edwards, Blanco Brown and Jimmie Allen have earned country chart success, including No. 1 hits, over the decades, Black female artists largely haven’t reached the same chart heights.
Which isn’t to say Black female artists have been absent from the country landscape. The Pointer Sisters earned a top 40 Hot Country Songs hit (and won a best country vocal performance by a duo or group Grammy) with “Fairytale” in 1974, while Anita Pointer teamed with Earl Thomas Conley for the No. 2 country hit “Too Many Times” in 1986. Linda Martell reached No. 22 on the Hot Country Songs chart with “Color Him Father” in 1969 and in 1977, Ruby Falls earned a top 40 hit on the Hot Country Songs chart with “You’ve Got to Mend This Heartache.” Mickey Guyton’s 2015 song “Better Than You Left Me” reached No. 34 on the Country Airplay chart. Other Black female artists who have charted on the Hot Country Songs chart include Rissi Palmer and Dona Mason.
It is also notable that with “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages,” Beyonce joins several current Black female artists who have adeptly crafted their own unique, genre-melting blends of country, pop, R&B and more — including Yola, Tanner Adell, Reyna Roberts, Madeline Edwards, Tiera and mother-daughter duo O.N.E the Duo. With the consumption of “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” already riding high on streaming services, it is likely–and recommended–that fans seeking sounds comparable to Beyonce’s current music seek out these artists to add to their personal music rotations.