Beyonce’s country album features Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson ... and this former UVU student

Beyonce packs a lot in her new foray into country music — although, as the 32-time Grammy-winning artist noted ahead of the release of “Cowboy Carter”: It “ain’t a Country album. This is a Beyoncé album.”

In that vein, listeners get a mix of just about everything. Over 27 tracks, there’s a little bit of gospel and some rap; there’s a song that pays homage to Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walking” and The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations,” and a Celtic-inspired song titled “Riiverdance” (the two “ii”s are a recurring theme throughout the track list, representing the second installment in her trilogy project, following 2022′s “Renaissance”).

There’s also a slew of guest artists. Beyonce sings with Miley Cyrus and Post Malone, who has recently been hinting at his own grand entrance into the country music world. There’s spoken word segments from Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton and Linda Martell, the first Black woman to perform at the Grand Ole Opry and to have a country hit on the charts, The Washington Post reported.

Beyonce also highlights Black women who are up-and-coming country artists. Her cover of the Beatles classic “Blackbird” features a few artists trying to make a name for themselves in country music — including former Utah Valley University student Tanner Adell.

Who is Tanner Adell on Beyonce’s ‘Cowboy Carter’?

Before landing in Nashville, Adell was a student in UVU’s commercial music program. In a 2022 piece shared on the school’s website, the singer talks about how the program helped her build confidence and overcome performance anxiety, while also improving her skills as a musician.

“My parents did not hear me fully sing until I was in the Utah Valley University commercial music program,” reads UVU’s feature on Adell. “However, my dad shares the same passion for music and always encouraged me to pursue this path. Despite my efforts begging him not to, my dad would sign me up to sing at church reassuring me saying, ‘You have such a beautiful voice! Everyone wants to hear you sing.’”

Adell, who was raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said her mom signed her up to audition for a number of schools — including UVU’s program — while she was serving a mission in Stockholm, Sweden. Following her acceptance into UVU, Adell worked with vocal coach Nancy Baumgartner, who eventually connected her to the Nashville music scene.

The singer released her first EP, “Last Call,” in 2022, and her debut album, “Buckle Bunny” — which actually features the lyric “lookin’ like Beyoncé with a lasso” — last year. Adell’s pop/R&B/country style is a product of the diverse places of her childhood: She was born in Kentucky, adopted by her parents from Manhattan Beach, California, and spent summers in Star Valley, Wyoming, with her grandparents.

“My life is Wyoming rodeo culture but also Los Angeles glam,” she told The Tennesseean in an interview last year. “I’m just as soon to get tricked into licking a salt block for cows and horses as I am to get a complete set of custom nails.”

Tanner Adell on collaborating with Beyonce

Adell has long been a Beyonce fan.

Last year, the singer told The Tennesseean that she admired how Beyonce has “explored what country music sounds like in the context of R&B.”

When Beyonce announced her “Cowboy Carter” album during the Super Bowl and dropped two singles along with it, Adell made a bold move of her own: In a post on X that now has over 8 million views, Adell wrote: “As one of the only black girls in country music scene, i hope Bey decides to sprinkle me with a dash of her magic for a collab.”

Now, Tanner is one of four Black women featured on Beyonce’s “Blackbiird” (she also appears on the track “American Requiem,” per W Magazine). The Beatles song carries extra meaning for Adell — it happens to be one of her father’s favorites.

“When I called and told him the news, he put his hand on his chest, and I could tell he was getting emotional,” Adell told W Magazine. “It was a double wow: my daughter is on the Beyoncé album, and it’s also one of my favorite songs we’ve listened to on countless drives and road trips.”

Adell said she and her fellow “Blackbiird” singers — Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts — found out only shortly before the release of “Cowboy Carter” that the song had made the cut, according to W Magazine. So she heard the final product for the first time along with the rest of the world.

“It’s absolutely seismic. The butterfly effect from this album will span probably the rest of our lives,” Tanner told “Today” about collaborating with Beyonce.

Adell is releasing a new single, “Whiskey Blues,” on April 12. A couple of weeks after that, she’ll perform at the Stagecoach Festival in a lineup that also features Post Malone, Willie Nelson and Miranda Lambert. But as her career moves forward, receiving new attention thanks to Beyonce’s album, Adell can’t help but look back.

“The last two years in Nashville I have kept my head down, counted all my blessings big and small, and tried to perfect this craft of my artistry,” she wrote in a recent post on Instagram. “When I saw Renaissance last summer, I knew I was NOT working hard enough. I was reminded again watching the Renaissance documentary. I sat in that theatre bawling my eyes out and said out loud, I will work with Beyoncé in 2024. NO IDEA HOW I WAS GONNA DO THAT ?? but I felt it in my bones.

“Go back through every interview I have done, I get asked a million times ‘who is your dream collab’ and I have answered the same every time. Beyoncé,” she continued. “Thankyou Queen Bey for busting these gates wide open with this album. For letting your light spill over onto MY head. I am humbled by the thought.”