Beyoncé’s new album, ‘Cowboy Carter,’ features Baltimore country singer Brittney Spencer

When Beyoncé dropped her new and highly anticipated release “Cowboy Carter” just after midnight Friday, fans and critics immediately latched onto a number of collaborations with household names.

Willie Nelson. Miley Cyrus. Post Malone. (Not to mention a reimagined version of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.”)

But equally as intriguing are the bounty of tracks on the album shared with Black country artists, including Baltimore native Brittney Spencer.

“I’ve typed and deleted at least 10 captions. I don’t have anything clever or curated to say. I’m on a Beyoncé record,” Spencer wrote in a post on Instagram early Friday morning.

Spencer joins Beyoncé, Tanner Adell, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts in a soulful and harmonious cover of the Beatles hit “Blackbiird,” written by Paul McCartney in 1968 during the crux of the American civil rights movement.

“The album is a masterpiece,” Spencer said while sending her love to the mega superstar.

In the weeks before the release of “Cowboy Carter,” her eighth studio album, Beyoncé has faced some criticism for overshadowing the Black artists already working within the country music genre. Her hit “Texas Hold ‘Em” landed in the top spot on country charts, making her the first Black woman to reach no. 1 on Billboard’s country music chart.

But the song “Blackbiird” — spelled just like that — finds the megastar sharing the lyrical stage with some of the most talented Black singers in country music circles. The album also includes a song titled “The Linda Martell Show,” after the performer who became the first Black woman to play the Grand Ole Opry.

Spencer, who has performed at the Grand Ole Opry, the Kentucky Derby, the Country Music Awards and also toured with Willie Nelson, recently released her first studio album, “My Stupid Life.”

The Carver Center for Arts and Technology graduate credits her hometown with introducing her to country music. She grew up performing in her church choir and was introduced to country music by a friend who liked the Dixie Chicks (now known as The Chicks). After that, Spencer said she began listening to local country radio station and was soon a huge fan.

“I’m listening to WPOC and I’m singing Dixie Chicks all the time, and then I’m singing in church. It inspired me,” she told The Sun in 2022, before returning home for a performance at Preakness Live.

She started singing in bars and cafes and going to open mics around Baltimore, providing a diverse training and experience that shaped her approach to music.

“I’ve traveled the world singing music and there’s no place like Baltimore,” said Spencer, who now lives in Nashville. “I know that Baltimore has made me.”

In similar fashion, Houston has made Beyoncé.

The city has a rich musical interplay of “blues and country and hip-hop,” says Francesca T. Royster, a DePaul University professor and author of “Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions.”

“The iconography of Texas as a place of freedom and boldness, those ideas have definitely been part of Beyoncé’s ongoing star image,” Royster says.

Houston is also home to the rodeo, the country’s oldest Black trail ride, and Black cowboy culture — in 1800s Texas, one in four cowhands were Black.

Nevertheless, Beyoncé declared on social media, “This ain’t a Country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.”

The Associated Press contributed to this article.