On Thursday (Sept. 19), Tina Knowles responded to Dolly Parton’s remarks about Beyoncé not receiving any Country Music Award (CMA) nominations. The “9 to 5” singer previously described COWBOY CARTER as more of a “specialty album” and that it was a difficult decision, given that other artists “spend their whole life” in the country genre.
Taking to Instagram, Mama Tina penned, “Ms. Dolly, we love you, but Bey did spend her whole life workin' hard, since she was 9! She [has] country roots, too. She's mastered her craft and broken records in every genre.”
“Bey [doesn't] need to stay in one lane to get respect; her talent and work ethic speak for themselves! She's been puttin' in the work, and nobody else gets asked to ‘spend their life’ in one place to be recognized!” the statement continued.
To be fair, Parton’s original comments didn’t exactly dismiss Beyoncé’s roots. “She’s a country girl in Texas and Louisiana, so she grew up with that base,” the Dolly singer told Variety. “It wasn’t like she just appeared out of nowhere.”
“[The CMAs] probably thought, ‘Well, we can’t really leave out some of the ones that spend their whole life doing that,'” she continued. “I don’t think it was a matter of shutting out, like, doing that on purpose. I think it was just more of what the country charts and the country artists were doing, that do that all the time, not just a specialty album.”
Notably, Beyoncé put her own spin on Parton’s “Jolene” for COWBOY CARTER. The Tennessee native also voiced one of the project’s interludes, “DOLLY P.” Other acts featured on the LP included Tanner Addell, Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, and Shaboozey, who spoke up amid the pop icon’s perceived snub.
“Thank you, [Beyoncé], for opening a door for us, starting a conversation, and giving us one of the most innovative country albums of all time!” he wrote via X, formerly known as Twitter.