The most important voice on Beyoncé’s new album

Country musician Linda Martell at her home in South Carolina in 2021. Sean Rayford/Getty Images by William Nash, Middlebury One of the most impressive parts of Beyoncé’s new album, “Cowboy Carter,” is her roster of collaborators, which includes rising country artist Shaboozey alongside country superstars Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson. But to me, the most important guest voice is the one least likely to be familiar to Beyoncé’s listeners: Linda Martell, the first commercially successful Black female country music artist. Two tracks on “Cowboy Carter,” “Spaghettii” and “The Linda Martell Show,” include spoken word commentary from Martell. By giving Martell a platform, Beyoncé simultaneously gives credit to her predecessor while staking her own place in the country music tradition. I’ve previously written about how the categories of race and genre have long restrained country musicians. In “Spaghettii,” Martell confronts the conundrums of genre: “Genres are a funny little concept, aren’t they?. … In theory, they have a simple little definition that’s easy to understand. But in practice, well, some may feel confined.” Confinement was the essence of Martell’s brief musical career – and it’s the exact sort of fate that Beyoncé has sought to avoid as she has moved from...