The arrival of Beyoncé’s Act II: Cowboy Carter on Friday marks the singer’s most formidable move to country music since the inception of her beloved career in the 1990s. Act II is a follow-up to Beyoncé’s Renaissance, released in 2022 to universal acclaim and later toured across the globe in summer 2023.
Act II includes Beyoncé’s single and already smash hit “Texas Hold ’Em,” which upon its release in February made her the first Black woman to top Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. The track was also her ninth hit to reach the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
Many now see the arrival of Act II in its entirety as Beyoncé’s turn to join a growing list of singers who have made the move to country music. The genre jump is a somewhat well-documented leap, in part popularized by Ray Charles’ 1962 Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music album, which spent 14 weeks as No. 1 on Billboard‘s album chart and many credit with expanding country music’s overall audience.
Since then, singers across the genre gamut have made their own attempts at the country shift, with some staying for the remainder of their careers and others beginning and ending their country music ways with one release.
From full country converts like Darius Rucker or Elle King to singers who stopped at one country record like Jessica Simpson or Cyndi Lauper, here’s a look at 20 singers who made their own switch to the country stage.
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Beyoncé
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Parkwood Though talk of Queen Bey’s move to country skyrocketed at the start of this year with her announcement of Renaissance Act II, the singer’s country influences have been strong ever since the days of 2016’s “Daddy Lessons” on Lemonade, which she performed at the Country Music Association Awards with the Dixie Chicks.
Ahead of the release of Act II: Cowboy Carter in March, Beyoncé told fans her new album was born from an experience in which she “did not feel welcomed” in the country music world after facing criticism years earlier. “This genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me,” she added, saying Act II “is a result of challenging myself, and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work.”
Though the country influences may seem obvious to fans, Beyoncé was also careful to be clear with her audience: “This ain’t a Country album,” she said in the same statement. “This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.”
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Ray Charles
Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images After getting his start in the 1940s, the late Ray Charles (who died in June 2004) went on to release music across multiple genres, including blues, R&B and pop. But he always felt a connection to country music, and in 1962, he dropped his landmark Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music album. While there were fears that Charles may lose fans, the record actually introduced country music to a broader audience. Modern Sounds topped the Billboard album chart for fourteen weeks and also featured the singer’s iconic recording of Don Gibson’s “I Can’t Stop Loving You.”
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Cyndi Lauper
Image Credit: Kerry Marshall/Getty Images Though Cyndi Lauper has been known for her pop-rock sounds, she has previously opened up about listening to country music as a child. Decades later, in 2016, she released her twelfth studio album, Detour, which marked her crossover into country music. She also collaborated with some country greats on the record, such as Willie Nelson.
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Nelly
Image Credit: Terence Rushin/Getty Images Following the release of his 2000 debut album Country Grammar, the rapper received love from other country artists. He later secured his spot in the genre with 2004’s “Over and Over,” featuring Tim McGraw, and then again with the remix of Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise” in 2013. Both songs peaked in the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Nelly released his country-influenced album Heartland in 2021 and recruited several country artists to be featured on the album, including Darius Rucker, Kane Brown, Jimmie Allen and more.
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Elvis Costello
Image Credit: David Becker/Getty Images for The Latin Recording Academy Though Elvis Costello was riding in the new wave genre in the 1970s with his albums like This Year’s Model and My Aim Is True, he decided to take a turn in the early 1980s, pivoting to country music. He went to Nashville to record Almost Blue, an album featuring classic country songs. After being released in 1981, it reached No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart.
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Kid Rock
Image Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Live Nation Kid Rock may have once been considered a rapper and rock artist, but in 2002, he pivoted to country with “Picture,” his duet with Sheryl Crow and Allison Moorer. The single peaked at No. 21 on the country chart. He continued to stick with the genre, scoring a No. 4 hit in 2008 with “All Summer Long.” He even hosted the CMT Music Awards in 2010 and 2011. Kid Rock has teamed up with several other country icons throughout his career, including Kenny Chesney, Willie Nelson and Martina McBride.
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Van Morrison
Image Credit: Joe Maher/Getty Images Van Morrison never shied away from exploring a range of sounds in his music, from jazz, soul, rock and more, but in 2006 he decided to completely pivot to country with his Pay the Devil album. As his first record with Nashville-based Lost Highway Records, the 15-track album not only featured some original songs but also Morrison’s versions of some country classic hits from Hank Williams, Connie Smith and Webb Pierce.
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Cassadee Pope
Image Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images Before Cassadee Pope embarked on her solo music journey, she was the lead vocalist and songwriter of the pop rock band Hey Monday. Then in 2012, she decided to transition to country music and joined Blake Shelton’s team on NBC’s The Voice, which she ultimately won. She released her debut solo country album, Frame by Frame, in 2013, which peaked at No. 1 on Top Country Albums. She later released her third full-length studio album, Thrive, in 2021, a year before announcing she was stepping away from country music and returning to her roots in pop-punk.
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The Byrds
Image Credit: Don Paulsen/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Though The Byrds’ transition from folk-rock into country wasn’t the smoothest, their 1968 album Sweetheart of the Rodeo is still credited as the birth of the country rock genre. The album only peaked at No. 77 on the charts, but the album’s legacy is still remembered today. It was also the first album released by the re-vamped band after original members David Crosby and Michael Clarke left. Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman knew they couldn’t create a country-sounding record alone, so they brought in country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons and drummer Kevin Kelley to help make Sweetheart of the Rodeo.
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Steven Tyler
Image Credit: Lisa Lake/Getty Images Steven Tyler has been at the helm of American rock band Aerosmith since the 1970s, but fast-forward several decades, and the artist decided to branch out of the rock genre for his solo music career. After seemingly making Nashville his home away from Aerosmith, he released his debut county single “Love Is Your Name” in 2015. He then followed it up with a full-length album, We’re All Somebody from Somewhere, in 2016, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.
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Bob Dylan
Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for AFI Bob Dylan always had an appreciation for country music, even early in his career. While he started out focused mostly on a rock, folk and eventually pop sound, by the mid-1960s, the legendary singer-songwriter made his first trip to Nashville to record his seventh album, Blonde on Blonde. The record had more of a rock feel, but it set the stage for his next two albums, John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline, which marked his transition to country. Some of the most notable tracks included “Lay Lady Lay,” and his duet with Johnny Cash on “Girl from the North Country.”
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Elle King
Image Credit: Jason Davis/Getty Images Elle King, daughter of Saturday Night Live comedian Rob Schneider, first rose to fame as a pop artist in 2012 with The Elle King EP. In 2015, she shifted to country with her major hit “Exes and Ohs” and then became a featured duet guest on Dierks Bentley’s “Different for Girls” in 2016. Later, she also shared credit with Miranda Lambert on “Drunk (And I Don’t Want to Go Home)” in 2021. King has earned four Grammy nominations, two for rock categories and the other two for country.
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Lionel Richie
Image Credit: Steve Jennings/Getty Images) Lionel Richie first rose to fame as a lead singer of Motown group the Commodores in the 1970s. He is also a member of the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and a four-time Grammy winner.
But, along his long and winding road to success, Richie took a one stop in the country music world: He released Tuskegee in 2012, an album named after his hometown Alabama city which features 13 duets with country stars including Shania Twain, Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson and more. Tuskegee remains Richie’s most recently released studio album.
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Tina Turner
Image Credit: Paul Natkin/Getty Images Queen of Rock ‘n Roll Tina Turner released only one country album during her decades-long career — 1974’s Tina Turns the Country On!. The record was actually Turner’s first-ever solo studio album, marking the beginning of her individual career after spending the ’60s performing with her then-husband, Ike Turner. Though the album went largely off the grid after its release (the record was never printed on a CD), it recently became available on streaming last year.
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Bon Jovi
Image Credit: Mauricio Santana/Getty Images Best known (and most beloved) as the lead singer of his eponymous rock band, Jon Bon Jovi first dabbled with country influences when he released a re-recording of his band’s “Who Says You Can’t Go Home” with Jennifer Nettles — the song won the 2007 Grammy for best country collaboration with vocals. Around the same time, Bon Jovi released their (also 2007) album Lost Highway, which the lead singer famous called a “Bon Jovi album influenced by Nashville.”
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Aaron Lewis
Image Credit: Joey Foley/Getty Images Aaron Lewis first rose to fame in the 1990s as the frontman of metal band Staind, which is a job he technically still holds while also well into the second decade of his own country music career. Lewis released his debut country EP, Town Line, in 2010 and has released five studio albums since — most recently, The Hill in January 2024.
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Jewel
Image Credit: Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty Images Jewel’s music first hit the charts in the 1990s, with the release of folk rock albums Pieces of You and Spirit. In 2008, she made the jump to country with her seventh studio album, Perfectly Clear. Jon Rich, half of country band Big and Rich, produced the record. The singer released a second country album, Sweet and Wild, in 2010. Parts of her most recent release, 2015’s Picking Up the Pieces, were also recorded in Nashville.
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Darius Rucker
Image Credit: Jason Kempin/Getty Images Though known as an established country artist today, singer-songwriter Darius Rucker first rose to fame as the lead vocalist of rock band Hootie & the Blowfish. The band released five studio albums, many of which Rucker co-wrote, before he branched out on his own and eventually signed to Capitol Nashville as a country singer in 2008. He has been a mainstay of the genre ever since, and in 2013, won the Grammy for best country solo performance for his smash hit, “Wagon Wheel.”
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Jessica Simpson
Image Credit: Denise Truscello Though most beloved as a pop star of the early aughts, dedicated fans will remember Jessica Simpson’s singular country album, 2008’s Do You Know. Though the record received relatively neutral reviews, Simpson’s attempted genre jump was met with backlash from fans, and she didn’t stay in the country world for long. Since then, the singer has released just one other album, 2010’s Happy Christmas.
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Lil Nas X
Image Credit: Venla Shalin/Redferns Lil Nas X, born Montero Lamar Hill, shot to fame in 2019 amid a so-called culture war over his status as a country star. The singer’s rap-country smash hit “Old Town Road” first went viral on TikTok before debuting on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart, only to be then removed from the same chart some weeks later.
“While ‘Old Town Road’ incorporates references to country and cowboy imagery, it does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version,” a Billboard statement to Rolling Stone read at the time.
Still, the song cemented itself in the country’s zeitgeist, and a version that the rapper recorded with country singer Billy Ray Cyrus went on to spend 19 weeks atop Billboard‘s Hot 100 list, the most of any song in the chart’s history.
