Robert Randolph Discusses Recording Beyoncé’s New Country Single ‘16 Carriages’

On Super Bowl Sunday, Beyoncé announced her next album, Act II, is due out on March 29 and previewed the second installment of her Renaissance trilogy by releasing the country-leaning singles “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ‘Em.” Robert Randolph is among the musicians who contributed to “16 Carriages” and the sacred steel specialist spoke to Rolling Stone about the sessions that yielded the track.

The pedal steel guitarist revealed he was in Florida and incredulous when he received a call from his office alerting him that Beyoncé wanted to record with him. “I said, ‘Record what — you sure you have the right person?’” Randolph told Rolling Stone’s David Browne. “I’m the kind who plays and plays and plays on. It was kind of surreal.”

The country-influenced “16 Carriages” was penned by Beyoncé, Atia Boggs, Dave Hamelin and Raphael Saadiq. Production duties were handled by Bey, Boggs and Hamelin. Robert Randolph recalled assembling with Beyoncé, Rhiannon Giddens — who contributed banjo to “Texas Hold ‘Em” — Saadiq and keyboardist Khirye Tyler at a studio in Los Angeles a few months back.

“When we did the first session, I was like, ‘What are we doing?’” Randolph explained. “Raphael said, ‘Here’s what Beyoncé has in her head. And you were hand-picked because you’re the only guy who could do this.’ Beyoncé already had an idea of what she wanted to do. She wanted to do something with some playing, with some country fire. She said she liked the way I make my instrument sound like a singer.”

The sessions were a truly collaborative process. “We were getting down. It was, ‘Let’s try this,’ then doing one or two takes. And she sang with us, man. She sang it right there. You just follow her lead and go,” Randolph said of Beyoncé. Justin Schipper also plays pedal steel on “16 Carriages.”

Robert Randolph told Rolling Stone he has a new Shooter Jennings-produced record in the can. Randolph described the effort as “a rock & roll album.” As for now, additional work with Beyoncé is on tap. “She wants to record some more songs,” Robert Randolph noted. Head to Rolling Stone to read the full interview.

Listen to “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ‘Em” below: