Willie Jones and Shaboozey on What It's Like to Collaborate with Beyoncé on 'Cowboy Carter'

The buzz surrounding the March 29 release of Beyoncé's country-inspired Act II: Cowboy Carter project, the second in a trilogy of albums after 2022 Renaissance, led to stream increases and a wave of recognition for several of the up-and-coming black country artists featured on the project, including Shaboozey, Willie Jones, Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Reyna Roberts, and Tiera Kennedy. According to Luminate, Roberts' catalog streams are up 59%, followed by Adell (58%), Kennedy (56%), Spencer (41%), Jones (31%) and Shaboozey (16%).

The wide range Cowboy Carter folds in music such as country, Americana, an Italian aria, songs made popular by Chuck Berry, The Beatles and The Beach Boys, as well as moments of Brazilian funk and welcomes a range of artists including pop hitmakers Miley Cyrus and Post Malone. Cameos from Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson and an interlude of Patsy Cline's “I Fall to Pieces.” Meanwhile, the album also pays tribute to trailblazers like black female country pioneer Linda Martell, while shedding light on country music's black roots and the legacy of black country artists who have (and are) blazing their own trails. .

While Adell, Kennedy, Roberts and Spencer provide vocals mostly collectively on “Blackbird” and provide harmonies on other tracks, Shaboozey and Jones each appear on separate tracks. Shaboozey, the Virginia-born artist known for his own genre-blending songs (including “Vegas,” “Beverly Hills” and his viral hit from 2023, “Let It Burn”), appears on two songs in the Cowboy Carter: 'Sweet Honey Buckiin' and 'Spaghettii'.

Shaboozey noted that like some of the other artists on the album, he spent time in a studio in Los Angeles. “It's all collaborative,” he says of contributing some of his songs to the project earlier this year. “Everyone works at the same time and different rooms and I came in a few days and recorded some parts. [Beyoncé] listened to them later and liked them. It's nice not knowing until the last minute if your part made it or not. We waited until 9pm. PT [on album release day] to know if we made the cut.”

Martell, who was the first black female country artist to appear on the Grand Ole Opry, gives a spoken introduction to “Spaghettii.” According to Luminate, it has since seen its catalog streams grow from just under 5,000 streams on the weekend of March 22-24 to 61,000 streams from March 29-31, a 1,100% increase. Shaboozey says that when he started contributing to “Spaghettii,” he didn't know about Martell's department.

“So Beyoncé likes to mix things up, take different parts of different things and different bridges, she's always experimenting with the sound, so much freedom there,” she says, adding, “I'm also a huge Linda Martell. supporter and admire her story. It's cool how it all came together and I'm really honored to be on a song with these two incredible people.”

Shaboozey is also gearing up for the release of his own country album next month, featuring Where I've been is not where I'm going, out May 31 via Empire. The project follows his previous projects, 2022 Cowboys live forever, Outlaws never die and debut in 2018 Lady Wrangler.

He describes his upcoming album as “a bit of that genre that still Cowboy Carter was created, a little bit of everything. Lots of country, but some hip-hop moments in there too. But a lot of my personal story and journey on those records as well.”

Louisiana native Jones provides vocals on “Just for Fun,” which was written by Beyonce, Dave Hamelin, Jeff “Gitty” Gitelman and Ryan Beatty. Jones competed The X Factor's season two, where he auditioned with a version of Josh Turner's “Your Man.” He released his first album Down for it in 2021 and was part of the 2022 documentary For Love and Homeland, which focused on the careers, journeys and struggles of black artists in country music. This week, he released his cover of Usher's “OMG” as part of a new Apple Music Sessions EP.

He notes that his favorite line on “Just For Fun” is “Time heals everything / I don't need anything, Hallelujah.” “I went into the studio and listened to the song and related it more than d–n close to any song I've ever heard in my life. Being on the same dance floor as Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter is definitely a check off my bucket list.”

“It brings people back to themselves and does a lot of introspective work,” says Jones. “It's about growth and family and legacy and when life gives you lemons Lemonade. After that, he gave us Returning home and it's like saying, “Go back to your roots and educate yourself.” Then he gives us Renaissance, such as “Let's Dance, Let's Be Free.” So it comes to this album too, with songs like “American Requiem”, “Blackbird”, “Spaghettii”. It's nice to see everyone's streams go up, just because Beyoncé believed in her heritage and her roots and her ancestors. She trusted the universe enough to walk by faith and not by sight and to be humble and open. It's transforming country music for those who are lost and found so we can find our way back.”

Jones also notes the impact he says Beyoncé has had on so many genres of music. “I say Beyoncé is my favorite rapper. Jump up [Megan Thee Stallion’s] 'Savage' and you saw rap girls have a moment. Then with 'Black Is King' and he dropped the album with Disney and you saw Afrobeats go away. So he did the same with the country. I hope he does this with R&B, I hope he brings it back, because I need a 'Dream Girls Part 2.'”

Shaboozey sums up, “It feels awesome. It's great for someone like her to step into the space that I and a few others have just been building and creating for a long time. It's just amazing. We're so happy to have such a powerhouse of an artist choose to make this journey across the country, so it's amazing to be a part of it.”