Godforsaken grapes, Beyoncé, and the Un-Parkerization of country music
Why Beyoncé's country album makes me hopeful for a twangy, sustainable future
I normally use a non-wine story to introduce a wine-related topic. Today I’ll do the reverse. On the eve of Cowboy Carter’s release, I want to take a look at country music—my other favorite topic of intellectual inquiry—through the lens of wine.
A Parker primer
For those who aren't obsessed with wine writing and/or didn’t have much disposable income in the 90s (gonna guess that’s most of you), there is a wine critic named Robert Parker. Depending on who you ask, he is either the father of modern wine criticism or Satan incarnate.
Parker came to prominence in the 80s via his newsletter that would eventually become The Wine Advocate, a highly influential wine trade publication. He popularized the practice of rating wines on a 100 point scale, and now dozens of trade pubs, popular magazines, bloggers, and retailers follow a similar approach. Done well, these point systems can demystify wine for the average consumer. This is a key tenet of the pro-Parker camp.
On the other side, Parker haters say that the critic flattened the wonderfully diverse, endlessly interesting world of wine into a single, jammy, oaky, high ABV, tannic style of wine. Cabernet Sauvignon, most notably.
And there is no denying that this flattening has occurred. Around 7% of all vineyard plantings in the world are dedicated to Cabernet Sauvignon. If that doesn’t seem like much, consider that there are tens of thousands of grape varieties in the world. Much of the remaining global vineyard area is planted with other well-known international “noble” varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc.
This phenomenon has been pejoratively dubbed “Parkerization.”
Jason Wilson, author of one of my favorite wine books, Godforsaken Grapes, is on the anti-Parker side of the fence. The book’s title is actually a reference to a diatribe Parker published in 2014 that excoriated wine writers for ignoring noble grape varieties in favor of “godforsaken grapes” for the sake of seeming cool. Parker asserted that these obscure grapes have lost the battle for prominence for a reason. He wrote, “In truth, [these grapes are] rarely palatable unless lost in a larger blend.”
I have recently enjoyed several wines on the “godforsaken grapes” list, including Trousseau and Blaufränkisch. Part of my enjoyment of wine comes from trying new things and expanding my palate, and these wines were just plain good. I resent Parker and critics like him who—intentionally or not—have made it more difficult for grape growers and winemakers to make wines that don’t fit a certain mold.
That said, I know many people don’t have the time, energy, or money to waste trying unfamiliar wines they might not like. This is where a point system may come in handy.
Who are we really mad at?
Ultimately, Parker is not the true villain here. All Parker did was give a thumbs up to people of a certain generation to like what they liked. Essentially Baby Boomers and older Gen X were raised on diets of high-sugar and rich foods. Think 80s steakhouse. These taste trends carried over to wine. I’ve seen this argument from Parker apologists and Parker skeptics alike.
The true villain that flattened the wine world? Capitalism, of course.
Once people in power figured out how much money a good score from Parker was worth, they started making wines that would earn good scores. This led to greater use of additives like coloring agents, tannin powder, and oak extract. It also led to greater demand for “noble” grape varieties that were more likely to score well. Indigenous grape varieties were ripped out, international varieties went in.
I have no problem with critics reviewing and rating wines. I have no problem with Cabernet Sauvignon. What I do have a problem with is capitalism’s tendency to direct all resources toward whatever suits the interests of the gatekeepers.
Parker ascended to prominence in the 80s for a very specific reason that is loaded with context. After five years of building a subscriber base for his newsletter side hustle, Parker’s star blew up in 1983 when he turned heads by praising the 1982 vintage of Bordeaux.
Bordeaux has been one of the most prestigious wine regions in the world for a long, long time. Nevertheless, in 1983, Bordeaux was struggling. They had a few bad vintage years and were facing a changing wine landscape as more consumers started to take California wine seriously.
Parker’s glowing review fueled Bordeaux sales that year. And even though Bordeaux producers were in dire straits, they were still Bordeaux. Their opinion still carried weight in the wine world. Parker celebrated them, and they celebrated him right back. Other members of the wine establishment took notice, and guess what they grow in Bordeaux? Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc. The rest is history.
Cowboy Carter vs. the gatekeepers
If you know wine, you likely already know this story. If you didn’t, now you do. And regardless of your prior knowledge of Parkerization, I bet you’re wondering what the hell it has to do with Beyoncé and country music.
Like wine, country music is subject to an exceptional level of gatekeeping.
I say that as a fan. A fan who has been disappointed for the better part of a decade. But a sincere fan, nonetheless.
I was raised on country. It’s what I play when I’m having a bad day. It’s what I play when I’m having a great day. It’s what I sing at karaoke.
As much as I am looking forward to hearing the rest of Cowboy Carter, I am also bracing myself for the inevitable bad takes to come from Fox News and the like.
Country is a unique genre because who gets allowed in is not determined by the instrumentation, time signature, lyrical content, or even the artist’s origin. Instead, people in power decide what music gets called “country” and what musicians receive the promotional and financial support from the industry.
Some people might disagree with me, but today’s country stars use trap beats as often as pedal steel.
It’s no secret that the people in power in country music are mostly men and almost exclusively white. While technological and social changes in the last decade have profoundly changed the music industry as a whole, Nashville executives have managed to hold onto their boys club. One of their tactics to maintain their grip has been flattening the genre.
I’ve watched this happen over time as a fan, and empirical data backs me up. In 1998, there were 24 songs by 17 artists (two songs were duets) that hit #1 on the Hot Country songs chart. In 2022, there were eight songs by seven artists (one song was a duet).
Even more damning: In 1998, nine of those artists were women. In 2022, zero.
Tomato-gate and other turmoil
If Parker is the face of gatekeeping in wine, country radio consultant Keith Hill might be a good person to symbolize gatekeeping in country music. In 2015, Hill wrote this in the trade publication Country Radio Aircheck:
“If you want to make ratings in country radio, take females out. The reason is mainstream country radio generates more quarter hours from female listeners at the rate of 70 to 75 percent, and women like male artists. The expectation is we're principally a male format with a smaller female component. I've got about 40 music databases in front of me, and the percentage of females in the one with the most is 19 percent. Trust me, I play great female records, and we've got some right now; they're just not the lettuce in our salad. The lettuce is Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, Keith Urban and artists like that. The tomatoes of our salad are the females.”
He later defended his comments by saying that he just plays what country fans want to hear. If country fans wanted to hear more women, they would demand it. Sounds like the defense of Parkerization, no?
Like the wealthy Bordelaise in the 1980s, the Nashville establishment was facing an existential threat in the early 2010s.
Two years prior to Tomato-gate, Taylor Swift sued a country radio DJ for sexually assaulting her in a pre-show meet and greet. Kowtowing to radio DJs is a time-honored tradition in country music, so Swift fighting back and winning represented a big shift.
On the music side, Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert—two women with histories of giving record execs the bird—won Grammys for Best Country Album in 2013 and 2014.
Musgraves was nominated again the following year for Pageant Material, an album with the diss track Good Ol’ Boys Club that name checks Big Machine Records. You may be familiar with Big Machine as Taylor Swift’s first label, later bought by Scooter Braun.
The Me Too and Black Lives Matter movements have similarly put pressure on the powers that be. And, yet, this week in 2024, there is one Black man in the top 10 and two white women in the top 20 on the Country Airplay chart.
Hope for a sustainable, twangy future
Like I said, I don’t think the country gatekeepers are going to embrace Cowboy Carter.
If the country establishment has been reluctant to allow women into the fold, it has been downright antagonistic toward Black artists. Especially Black women.
Never mind that R&B and country share the exact same musical origins. Never mind that country embraces Black instruments, like the banjo, and Black instrumentation, like Libba Cotten’s “Cotten Picking” fingerpicking style. Never mind that Beyoncé is from Houston, and she lets her Texas twang run wild over Texas Hold ‘Em.
Country music (the institution) will not accept Beyoncé as country, just as they did not accept Lil’ Nas X or countless other Black country musicians, like Allison Russell, Rhiannon Giddens, Miko Marks, Rissi Palmer, Mickey Guyton, and Amythyst Kiah. This interview with Black author and country songwriter Alice Randall is a great overview of country’s record of erasing and excluding Black artists, especially Black women.
In spite of all this, I find myself feeling hopeful.
I know that this album will not be accepted by the establishment, and I do not care. And I have no doubt that Beyoncé has not thought twice about what the Nashville establishment will think about her record. She doesn’t need to. Anything she puts out will be embraced and enjoyed by billions of people worldwide.
I’m feeling hopeful because I believe Beyoncé’s embrace of a country sound will inspire her fans to dive deeper with other artists making this music, like Rhiannon Giddens, who plays banjo on Texas Hold ‘Em. I’m hopeful that artists who have been working outside of the country establishment for a long time will receive the support they deserve. I’m hopeful it will inspire and influence new artists in the South and around the world to make more great music.
I was inspired to write this post after seeing this IG reel of Miko Marks covering Loretta Lynn’s You’re Lookin’ at Country. Regardless of whether the country establishment accepts and promotes her music, Miko Marks is undeniably country. So is Beyoncé. So am I.
People are getting better at looking at capitalism with a critical eye and better at recognizing when established power is pushing a narrative for its own benefit, like Tomatogate. Vox’s Today Explained podcast did a great series on this.
I’ll close this entirely too long post by sharing a great dismantling of one of those narratives from the wine world. Beyond Organic Wine podcast recently unpacked the word “foxy,” a descriptor that has been used for more than 100 years to marginalize hybrid and native American wine grapes.
As with most things, it was always about power. But things are changing.