What if Beyoncé already made her rock album?

On Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé mixes R&B, country and some hard guitars, among many other elements, and as the artist herself is well aware, there used to be a name for this kind of American melange: rock & roll. He slyly acknowledges this fact with two Chuck Berry moments on the album, including a segment on “Maybellene,” his first hit, in which a black genius helped invent rock & roll through renewed country.

So, there is an argument to this Cowboy Carter — which the artist has clarified is a “Beyoncé album” and not the country effort many expected — is as much a rock album as anything. Tracks like the Prince-meets-Sheryl Crow pop-rock “Bodyguard” and the spectacular Tina Turner-esque anthem “Ya Ya” only support this position, as do the proggy touches on the Jon Batiste-assisted opening track, “American Requiiem', not to mention the album's nods to Berry, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and even Buffalo Springfield.

But Cowboy Carter it's a lot of things at once, and with 27 often disparate tracks, it's not easy to pin down. In his new episode Rolling Stone Music now, we go through many of the pieces, with Larisa Paul joining host Brian Hiatt for the in-depth discussion. Paul also goes through the elements that followed Beyoncé Cowboy Carterthe third in the trilogy that began with Renaissancee, it will be a complete, official rock album. To listen to his full episode Rolling Stone Music nowI am going here for your podcast provider of choice, listen Apple Podcasts the Spotifyor just press play above.

Elsewhere in the episode, one of the album's many guest stars, country singer and former The X Factor Contestant Willie Jones weighs down the song's emotion with one of his biggest inspirations in the ballad “Just for Fun.” “I'm just excited to be on the album, man,” he says. “It's really crazy… to be recognized by the biggest, best, busiest, most honored artist in the industry, not just me, but Shaboozey and Linda Martell and Stoney Edwards.”

Download and subscribe to Rolling rockhis weekly podcast, Rolling Stone Music nowhosted by Brian Hiatt, on Apple Podcasts the Spotify (the anywhere get your podcasts). Watch six years of archived episodes, including in-depth interviews with Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, Questlove, Halsey, Neil Young, Snoop Dogg, Brandi Carlile, Phoebe Bridgers, Rick Ross, Alicia Keys, the National, Ice Cube, Taylor Hawkins, Willow, Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Dua Lipa, Killer Mike, Julian Casablancas, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Marr, Scott Weiland, Liam Gallagher, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Donald Fagen, Charlie Puth, Phil Collins, Justin Townes Earle, Stephen Malkmus, Sebastian Bach, Tom Petty, Eddie Van Halen, Kelly Clarkson, Pete Townshend, Bob Seger, the Zombies and Gary Clark Jr. And look for dozens of episodes with genre-spanning discussions, debates and explanations with Rolling rockhis critics and journalists.