In case you haven’t heard, Beyoncé has jumped into unexpected territory in her latest outing.

While no one doubted Queen Bey’s sonic-shift capabilities, Beyoncé going country music is something only a few probably expected. 

But go country she did with her latest single “Texas Hold ‘Em.”

And it sounds great, too.

From the jangly acoustic guitar, to the quarter note kick drum that drives the beat, it’s country all right. And the fiddle that weaves in and out alongside the banjo guitar that also outlines the main melody.

But It’s Beyoncé herself that is a revelation here, as she sings straight the country flavored melody of “Texas Hold ‘Em” without a hint of the melisma that everybody is so used to hearing from past tunes. Just straight-up singing, no chaser. Just a clean and clear-voiced Bey singing about, and I’m paraphrasing here, heading to the dive bar in her Lexus, swiggin’ rugged whiskey and Bey almost starting a line dance at the dive bar. But you know, in a very classy, country music vibe kind of way. You gotta hear it to believe it. As Beyoncé herself said: “Don’t be a b**ch, come take it to the floor now, woo hoo!”

Released with the equally compelling “16 Carriages” single, both tracks will be part of her eighth album due out March.     

Meanwhile, 90’s alternative rock legends Pearl Jam has woken from its slumber and just announced that it’s putting out a full new album titled “Dark Matter" this April, even dropping an advance single the day before Valentine's last week.

And just in time too as we were itching for something that rocks and at the same time something old-school. And by that we mean familiar.

And it couldn’t get more familiar with Eddie Vedder’s deep baritone half-singing, half-shouting the chorus of “Dark Matter” that goes: “It’s strange these days / When everybody else pays / for someone else’s mistake / this blame takes shape / still everybody else pays / for someone else’s mistake.” 

If I was a betting man, I’d say that Vedder is commenting on the current state of politics in the US. When he’s singing “denounce the demagogue,” or “deplore the dialogue,” I’d like to think he’s referring to politicians with cult-of-personality status with self-serving interests becomes the issue and priority, and when politics just become a crap show altogether. 

Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but rock figures like Vedder and bands like Pearl Jam – with founding members Jeff Ament on bass and Stone Gossard on guitar, and lead guitarist Mike McCready and drummer Matt Cameron and keyboard-sessionist Boom Gaspar—have always been voicing out important issues in their songs/music since the start.

“Dark Matter” comes out of the gate thundering with four bars of Cameron’s drums. Then Gossard and Ament in unison punctuates it with a pulsing piledriver rhythm riff. 

And just underneath that, my guess is McCready, doing this tremolo effect that sounds like a nod to what Johnny Marr used in The Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now.” 

First listen reactions to “Dark Matter” have already mentioned that this harkens back to the band’s early years and is one of Pearl Jam’s heaviest sounding. 

Vedder went on to say that this track, and the eventual album, “is their best work to date and how he could not be prouder of the band.” 

Now that’s saying something.  

I for one, am just glad that a Pearl Jam track still has a guitar solo like the one McCready ripped on this one.