The Black Rodeo Boom: Beyoncé’s "Cowboy Carter" Was Just the Spark

Hold on to your hats! From Beyoncé’s "Cowboy Carter" to rising rodeo stars, Black cowboy culture is having a major moment—and we’re saddling up for a closer look. Along the way, we’ll stop to line dance to Kendrick Lamar at L.A.’s star-studded Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, clown around at the lively Arizona Black Rodeo, and chill out at the Compton Cowboys' ranch.

Our guest, photographer Ivan McClellan, has spent nearly a decade documenting Black Western heritage and heart-pounding rodeo action. In this episode, he shares how a single rodeo changed his life, what spurred him to launch his own Eight Seconds Juneteenth Rodeo in Portland, Oregon, and why there’s no better place to celebrate community, resilience, and unbridled joy than in the arena.

Rodeos and ranches you’ll ride into in this episode:

- Eight Seconds Juneteenth Rodeo, Portland, Oregon 

- Roy Leblanc Okmulgee Invitational Rodeo, Okmulgee, Oklahoma

- Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, cities including Denver, Los Angeles, and Oakland, California

- Arizona Black Rodeo, Scottsdale, Arizona

- Stagecoach Country Music Festival, Indio, California

- Compton Cowboys ranch, Compton, California

- Wickenburg, Arizona, the country’s team roping capital

Via Podcast is a production of AAA Mountain West Group.