You can hear Alabama-born singer Tiera Kennedy’s voice on Beyoncé's newest album, “Cowboy Carter,” which released today.
The Gardendale native is on two tracks from the album, including “Blackbiird” and “Tyrant,” according to her Facebook post. She’s featured in the first and sings harmony on the latter.
Kennedy wrote, “I’ve been in Nashville for almost 8 years chasing this country music dream. There have been a lot of highs and lows along the way and this - being on Beyonce’s album takes the cake. I grew up listening to her music, practicing her runs over and over. Whenever people would ask me ‘Who’s your dream collab?’ the answer was always Beyonce but it was such a far away dream because BEYONCÉ?!’”
She continues, “I couldn’t be more thankful. Thank you Beyoncé for shining your light. This album is so important. It will not only change the future of country music but music as a whole and I cannot wait to watch it unfold. Thank you thank you thank you thank you.”
“Blackbiird” is a cover of The Beatles’ song “Blackbird,” featured on the legendary band’s “The Beatles” (also known as “The White Album”), recorded in 1968.
According to a radio station Kicks 99, Kennedy attended the University of North Alabama on a scholarship for one year before moving to Nashville to focus on growing her singing career as a country artist.
On Kennedy’s website, she touts that her country music is influenced by R&B. She plans to release am album soon with a new single coming in April called, “I Ain’t a Cowgirl”.
The singer also hosts a daily country music radio show exclusively on Apple called “The Tiera Show,” in which she discusses the country music industry and interviews other country artists.
In 2020, she was named as one of Country Music Television’s class of Next Women of Country and Listen Up.
Kennedy’s involvement isn’t the only Alabama connection to “Cowboy Carter.” In the first track, “Ameriican Requiem,” the Grammy-winner references her father Mathew Knowles’ hometown of Gadsden. The lyric: “The grand-baby of a moonshine man, Gadsden, Alabama.”
Knowles was born and raised in Gadsden until he moved to Nashville to attend Fisk University. He moved to Houston in 1976 to work for the Xerox corporation until he gave that up to manage Beyoncé and the pop music group Destiny’s Child.
Beyoncé released her eighth album, “act ii: Cowboy Carter,” a duology in a trilogy of acts, which the pop star has teased since the initial release of her seventh album, “act i: Renaissance.” The album dropped Friday at midnight and features a total of 27 tracks with heavy nods to country music.