Darius Rucker Reacts to Beyonce’s Country Music Album ‘Cowboy Carter’

Darius Rucker rose to fame for country music in 2008, and the musician shares his thoughts on Beyonce made his country debut with Cowboy Carter.

“I’m happy for her. I’m happy for the genre,” Rucker, 57, said exclusively. Us every week while promoting his upcoming memoir and tour. “The views she’s had on country music have risen, and it’s always a good thing when more people watch country music.”

The Hootie and the Blowfish frontman added, “I hope what she’s done translates even further than what he’s already done so that more people of color can learn about country music.”

Beyoncé, 42, made history as the first black woman to top the Hot Country Songs chart with the album’s lead single, “Texas Hold ‘Em.” Cowboy Carter, which she released on March 29, quickly rose to the top of the charts, becoming Beyoncé’s eighth No. 1 album. The Grammy-winning superstar paid homage to black women in country music and country history in general throughout the record, with a host of star-studded features as well as historical samples and interpolations.

Notably, “Spaghettii” and “The Linda Martell Show” include cameos from Linda Martellwho is widely considered the first commercially successful black country artist.

“I feel honored to be the first black woman with the number one single on the Hot Country Songs chart. This wouldn’t have happened without the outpouring of support from each and every one of you,” Beyoncé wrote via Instagram in March. “I hope that in a few years, the mention of an artist’s race, as it relates to the distribution of musical genres, will no longer be relevant.”

Rucker is also a pioneer in country music and an advocate for people of color in the genre. After taking a break from his band Hootie and the Blowfish and signing with Capitol Nashville in 2008, he made his country debut with Learn to live. The following year, Rucker became the first Black American to win New Artist of the Year at the Country Music Awards and only the second Black person to win a CMA.

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He broke records again when he won the Grammy for Best Country Solo Performance in 2014 for “Wagon Wheel,” becoming the third black recording act to win a Grammy Award for vocal performance for country music.

Rucker continues to move back and forth between genres. After completing his series of European concerts for his solo music, he will reunite with Hootie and the Blowfish for their Summer camp with truck tour, which begins May 30 in Texas. The band’s summer tour begins right after Rucker’s memoir, Life is too shorton newsstands May 28.

With reporting by Leanne Aciz Stanton