Darius Rucker has praised Beyoncé for putting “so many eyes” on country music with her LP ‘Cowboy Carter’.
The Hootie and the Blowfish frontman, 58, insists it was a massive deal that the ‘Single Lades’ hitmaker, 42, opened up the genre to even more people and proved that country music isn’t just for white people.
Appearing on ‘Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace’, he said: “I can’t express enough how big what she did was because she brought so many eyes to the genre.
“You know, one of the things I love about what Beyoncé did is when I started making country music and having hits, I’d have African American women and men come up to me and go ‘I love country music, it’s just I could never say it.’
“And she brought, I think, even more eyes to the genre and more people looking at it and more Black people going ‘Alright man, I like country music.’”
The Grammy winner became the first Black woman with a number-one country song in Billboard history with the hit ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ from the LP.
The musician previously argued that Beyoncé’s album is good for country music.
Darius – who pivoted to country music back in 2008 – told Us Weekly: “I’m happy for her. I’m happy for the genre.
“The eyes that she brought to country music went up, and that’s always a good thing when you have more people watching country music.”
Darius also hopes that other black musicians will follow the same path as Beyoncé.
He explained: “I hope what she’s done translate[s] even more than it already has to more people of colour getting a shot at country music.”
Luke Grimes also recently declared Beyoncé’s country music is “great” for the genre.
The 40-year-old star told The Independent: “It’s music. It’s not rocket science. People are trying to make sounds that make you have a better time. Why would you be mad at that?”
He subsequently hailed Beyonce as “one of the most talented people on Earth”, and the musician believes she’s already had a positive impact on the genre.
Luke explained: “She’s one of the most talented people on Earth, so hell yeah, if she likes country too, that’s great.”