♪ this is "nightline." >> phil: tonight, it's beyonce country. ♪ this ain't texas ♪ >> phil: her "cowboy carter" album released moments ago, featuring "texas hold 'em." poised to gallop up the charts. is the country ready? >> just because you sing with a country accent does not make it

country music. >> i've been knocking, banging, kicking on this door. and beyonce really opened it. >> phil: what we now know, the legends beyonce invited to help her make music history. ♪ jolene jolene ♪ >> phil: including dolly's signature smash "jolene." plus ewan mcgregor. >> i don't mind flying, what you're doing is so side. >> phil: the "star wars" star playing a russian count in "a gentleman in moscow." >> why did you come back only a year after the revolution? >> i missed the climate. >> phil: why he thinks the story is more important than ever. >> we started before putin invaded ukraine. it suddenly took on a new resonance. >> phil: for all the fans who couldn't get enough of him belting it out -- >> do you think you'll sing again since "moulin rouge"? so i didn't think i needed swiffer, until, i saw how easily it picked up my hair

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♪ good evening and thanks for joining us. i'm philip off. tonight, it is official. beyonce has released a country album. "cowboy carter" dropped moments ago but it's been making headlines for weeks. the superstar blazing a trail for other black female artists to follow, shining a light on the rich history of those in the

genre before her. here's abc's janai norman. >> reporter: with "texas hold 'em" -- ♪ this ain't texas ain't no hold 'em ♪ ♪ lay your cards down down down down down ♪ >> reporter: and "16 carriages" -- ♪ 16 carriages ♪ >> beyonce! >> reporter: beyonce's renaissance into a country music star is only just beginning. but like anything she does, people can't stop talking about it. >> beyonce's conquering country. >> the houston native's upcoming country album "renaissance 2" -- >> embracing her texas roots. >> here in the heart of the houston is the rodeo. >> reporter: beyonce has performed here multiple times. we wanted to ask houstonians how they feel about their hometown queen, beyonce. >> my family loves beyonce, she's from houston, we love

that. >> what is it that makes it country? >> i think the topic of her lyrics is very country-centered. >> country music is for everybody. it's for beyonce. >> reporter: is country music ready for beyonce? >> too much pop twang to it. >> just because you sing hip-hop music with a country accent, does not make it country music. >> basketball player or baseball player? enough said. >> reporter: on social media, an uproar ensued about a fan posted an oklahoma country radio station initially refused to play beyonce's new music. in a statement, the minority-owned station, kykc, said that at the time, they "had zero knowledge that beyonce was going to release a country song" and added, "we highly respect beyonce and her talent." on cable news, former "dukes of hazzard" star john schneider saying this. >> they've got to make their mark just like a dog in a dog

walk park. >> reporter: in a statement, a representative for schneider said john was clearly talking about artists attempting to cross over into country music and not specifically about beyonce. >> i look at the reaction to beyonce. i hope i can speak frank here. it's the musical equivalent of "shut up and dribble." >> reporter: all of this forcing a reflection on the sometimes fraught history of race and country music. people like to ask, why is country music so white? >> i point to the larger issue. that america is segregated and country music has branded its identity into american identity. >> i've been knocking, banging, kicking on this door. and beyonce really opened it. >> the problem is the way that the industry is reacting to her is not the way that they have reacted to any black woman in the past. and i don't think it will be the way that they react to other black women in the future.

>> reporter: before the album "cowboy carter" even dropped, beyonce made history becoming the first black woman with a number one song on the country charts with "texas hold 'em." >> that's incredible, because this is a place where lil nas x's "old town road" wasn't allowed to be considered on the country charts. ♪ gonna take my horse to the old town road ♪ ♪ i'm gonna ride till i can't no more ♪ >> this is a place where morgan wallen was caught on tape saying racial slurs. the response was to give him one of the biggest albums in country music of all-time. there's a lot of work that needs to be done. >> reporter: beyonce writing, "my hope is years from now, the mention of an artist's race as it relates to releasing jean razz of music will be irrelevant" adding "the album was born out of an experience that i had years ago where i did not feel welcomed." >> i think "texas hold 'em" and "16 carriages" exist as a pinnacle moment for country

music because they point back to an extraordinary black country past. so it is pointing back to an entire history of black musicality and black presence. ♪ this ain't texas ♪ >> reporter: videos going viral of people dancing to queen bey. beyonce even shouting out the real-life boogie on heretic took. from older couples like this one to younger ones, all garnering millions of views each. >> it takes somebody who is at superstar status to do something that shakes it all up. >> reporter: that shakeup thanks in part to country and folk artist rhiannon giddens. her banjo is the first thing you hear on "texas hold 'em." ♪ >> i know for a long time you said, once beyonce puts a banjo on a track, my job is done.

obviously you don't feel like your job is done? >> never done. >> do you feel like this isn't about beyonce going country, it's beyonce getting back to her roots? >> i'm, like, people can do what they want to do. they want to make a country record, medication a country record. like, nobody's asking alana del ray, "what right do you have to make a country record? you know what i'm saying? everybody has the opportunity to explore their roots. "this is my life too, i want to do this." the stay in your lane, the "that's not real country," that's just racism. people don't want to say it's because she's black, you know? but they use these coded terms, you know? and that's problematic. >> jamaica, late 1600s. one of the earliest notated piece of music known to be collected by africans in the caribbean -- ♪ >> reporter: to hear rhiannon giddens play is a spiritual

experience. ♪ she's got a pulitzer prize, a couple grammys. but the instrument she made famous, the banjo, wasn't always something she felt comfortable around growing up in north carolina. >> i got exposed to the banjo as a child, as everyone -- you know, i would have seen "the beverly hillbillies." i still felt like, as a person of color, that i had to kind of ask for permission to go into this, what i had been told was this sort of unassailable white, appalachian, mountain tradition that was kind of a monolithic tradition. >> reporter: but that tradition changed once she learned the roots of those strings. >> finding out that the banjo was an african-derived instrument invented by people in the caribbean, african diaspora, enslaved people -- blew my mind.

and i was like, it lit this fire in me. i was kind of like, can i come into this music? i really like it, you know? then i learned the history, and i was like, give to it me! this is mine too, this is everybody's. >> reporter: we caught up with giddens before her sold-out show at the beacon theater in new york city. ♪ the renaissance woman following her north star. now to be a part of this moment, beyonce's country hit, what is that like for you? >> to be honest, it's like -- it's the best thing ever. i think about the legacy of the black string band player. the black banjoist is the black fiddler that helped create the pathways and byways of american culture. to be represented in that way is

just amazing. >> reporter: strumming strings full of history to help a new generation discover their roots. that responsibility, precious and poignant for rhiannon. >> like, when they're dancing to the banjo? i'm sorry, it's just like -- sorry. i've been working so hard. this is our music, you know what i mean? and i just had to have patience. this music is a part of us, and it's been missing from our understanding of who we are. and i think it leaves a huge hole, you know what i mean? and so to see black people doing line dances to my banjo, there's an opportunity for people who don't know who i am to have a piece of that. then if they want more, there's a bunch of people doing this work.

>> phil: our thanks to janai. for more on beyonce's return to her roots, stream "impact by nightline: it's beyonce country" now on hulu. when we come back, the big names beyonce invited into the "cowboy carter" hive, including dolly parton on beyonce's version of her song "jolene." ♪ i'm begging of you please don't take my man ♪ obi-wan kenobi himself joins "nightline" coanchor juju chang. what ewan mcgregor says about meeting "star wars" fans in real life. with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis or active psoriatic arthritis, symptoms can sometimes take you out of the moment. now there's skyrizi, so you can show up with clearer skin... ...and show it off. ♪ nothing is everything ♪

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♪ >> juju: from his emmy award-winning performance in netflix's "halston" -- >> i'm too big for that room. >> juju: to a galaxy far, far away with obi-wan kenobi, our next guest is no strain tore unique roles. ewan mcgregor is taking us to his latest in 20th century russia. i've decided in our audience there are obi-wan, "star wars" fans. there are "moulin rouge" fans. there are "fargo" fans who enjoy your career so much. tell us what draws you to all these different types of genres and different characters. >> well, it's just -- it's just luck. i'm lucky enough to be able to choose things that grab me, you know? and i'd be lucky enough to work in all different kinds of

mediums. on the stage, in front of television, movies. all different kinds and sizes of movies, if you like. i like it that way. i like being drawn by good stories and good characters. and i leave it at that. it's quite simply my choice, really. >> juju: this story is "a gentleman in moscow." it seems both cerebral and whimsical at the same time. it's based on a novel by amor towels. you play count alexander rostov. tell me about that character and what drew you to him. >> what drew me was amor's novel. i was approached -- i must have read an early draft, episodes one and two of an eight-part series. i was totally in. i knew that i wanted to be part of the story. then i had the pleasure of reading amor's book, knowing that i was going to play the count. it really is the most phenomenal novel. and it's a wonderful book to read. i never wanted it to end. you know, from halfway through, i started reading it very slowly

because i didn't want it to finish. >> juju: let's take a look at the count in action. >> you left russia for paris in the spring of 1914. >> yes, sir, i remember apple blossoms in the trees, likely it was spring, yes. >> what concerns us here is your return in 1918. why did you come back? only a year after the revolution? you must have understood the reception a man of your nobility would receive? >> i missed the climate. >> juju: there's a great quote, "they can take away everything from you, but they can't take who you are." tell us about the themes that you try to explore? >> yeah, the count's -- the count has lost everything. we learn through the piece that he has a great loss in his past, which is the death of his sister that he's involved in. he's lost his entire way of life. he's an aristocrat, he's a count. then the russian revolution of

1917 -- that was finished. most of the people he knew and loved would have been either executed or sent into exile. so he's living in a very new, different, strange world that he doesn't believe in. we started before putin invaded ukraine. but once that happened, while we were working on this project, it suddenly took on a very new resonance. and the backdrop of the story is the start of what russia is today. you know, it's the sort kernels of what led us to where we are today, so it's interesting. >> juju: you have a bond with a young star, alexa goodall. you play in these incredible sets and backdrops. >> alexa, she befriends -- she meets the count. she's also sort of knocking around this hotel on her own. she shows the count all these secret passageways and secret rooms and forgotten parts of the hotel that sort of expand his

existence in a way. >> juju: your on-screen wife is played bit your real wife, mary elizabeth winstead. >> i always think behavior is a matter of handling. >> yes, i'm sure you do. >> we met working together. we were in "fargo" season three. we immediately had an instinctive way of working with each other. >> juju: i referenced the fact that "trainspotting" is such a momentous moment in your career. >> yeah. >> juju: 1996, the same year your daughter, clara, was born. you're known as a family man. what's it like watching them make a mark in the world? >> amazing. i made a movie with my daughter, clara, "bleeding love" which is just about to be released. to actually get a chance to act with her in a film she helped write and she produced and made happen was just an amazing thing, yeah. really amazing. >> juju: your fans are so die-hard "star wars" fans as well. what's it like encountering obi-wan kenobi fans throughout the world?

>> i love meeting the real fans. it means a great deal to them in their lives. i've met a lot of people that have moved me with their stories about how it's helped them in their life, these films. it's true escapism, "star wars," so it's lovely to meet them. >> juju: for you, what's next for ewan mcgregor? what do you look for in your next projects? >> more of the same, i hope. i'm just about to work with anne hathaway on movie. i'm looking-ward to that very much. >> juju: do you think you'll sing again since "mulan raj"? >> yes, i'd love to. it's been awhile since i sang onstage, which i've done, in a movie. i'm hoping that can happen. >> juju: "a gentleman in moscow," why should someone sit down and watch this? >> it's the most beautiful story. it's old-fashioned in terms of its drama. it's really about the human heart and the human soul. and the drama is large in it, but it is about family and love

and friendship set against this really interesting backdrop of history. so i think it's really -- it really draws you in, i think. >> juju: thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you very much. >> juju: really a pleasure. >> thank you for having me. >> juju: "a gentleman in moscow" begins streaming march 29th on paramount plus. >> phil: our thanks to juju. when we return, it won't quite take 16 carriages to carry them all, but country fans will recognize a few very big names lending their chops to beyonce's brand-new album. ♪ holy night on a long black road ♪ ♪ all the tears i cried 16 carriages ♪ discover a different first treatment. immunotherapies work with your immune system to attack cancer. but opdivo plus yervoy is the first combination of 2 immunotherapies for adults newly diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer that has spread, tests positive for pd-l1, and does not have an abnormal egfr or alk gene.

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♪ >> phil: finally tonight, the bey-hive is buzz is with who's on act two "cowboy carter." ♪ this ain't texas ain't no hold 'em ♪ >> phil: tipping her "texas hold 'em" hat, beyonce including a cover of her classic "jolene." ♪ jolene jolene jolene ♪ >> phil: as well as an appearance by dolly parton herself. also on the album, dolly's goddaughter, miley cyrus. only minutes old," cowboy carter" paying homage to the first commercially successful black artist linda martell. ♪ one of the oldest living country legends, willie nelson. can't wait to listen. that's "nightline." thanks