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Hello and welcome to The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor.

Beyonce showed up at this year's Grammy Awards dressed in rhinestones and an

oil-barren sized white cowboy hat. That night she made the surprise announcement

that she would be releasing a new album soon and an even bigger surprise that

it would be a country music album. The first two singles, Texas Holdham and 16 carriages, dropped on Super Bowl Sunday.

So far, Beyonce's fan base known as the Bay Hive has embraced her new sound, will the country

music establishment follow suit?

Here to discuss that with me as USA Today Music reporter,

Melissa Ruggier.

Melissa, thanks for being on the excerpt.

You got it anytime.

Beyonce is already racked up extraordinary achievements in music.

She has more grammies than any other recording artist.

Her two new country songs have topped the charts on streaming platforms like Spotify and

Apple Music.

Does she need country radio whose response so far has been tepid?

I would say Beyoncé doesn't need anyone, anything, any format, any radio station, anything. I mean,

Beyonce has already gone and proved herself far beyond that she would ever need anybody's support like that. She's also, look, if she wants to make

act to an homage to her Texas roots and she wants to do that type of music, then that's exactly what she

should do. She's earned that right.

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