Beyoncé has a new country album. The first single has already broken records and drawn criticism from those who think of country music as a “white” genre. Except it’s not. Author and songwriter Alice Randall tells the story of country music’s very Black roots.

This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Victoria Chamberlin and Anouk Dussaud, engineered by Patrick Boyd, and hosted by Noel King.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained

Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices