‘I can guarantee Beyoncé has never stepped foot in here’: Houston’s country saloons review Texas Hold ’Em

Houston, Texas. On a Wednesday evening, a few pickup trucks are parked out front. Inside there is a wooden bar with dollar bills stapled to the ceiling. Texas beers such as Shiner Bock and Lone Star are on tap and a jukebox near the pool table plays Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Jeannie C Riley’s Harper Valley PTA. Beyoncé’s new song, the cheeky hoedown Texas Hold ’Em – which recently made her the first Black woman to top Billboard’s country music chart and is currently in its second week at UK No 1 – isn’t on the playlist.

Beyoncé has never been shy about voicing her Texas pride, but what some people perceive as her sudden switch to country on her forthcoming album, after the house music history lesson of her 2022 album Renaissance, has prompted debate on her country bona fides. Some country radio stations refused to playlist her new song – though one in Oklahoma had to back down after an online campaign. Some diehard country music lovers are questioning whether her new songs should even be considered country, reactions that overlook the genre’s Black roots – and Beyoncé’s history with the genre, from the song Daddy Lessons, from her 2016 album Lemonade, to the stetsons worn by Destiny’s Child. Last month, her mother, Tina Knowles, stepped in to shed light on the family’s history with rodeo culture, and Dolly Parton congratulated Beyoncé on her success and heralded her excitement about the forthcoming record