Beyoncé is taking us to school in ‘Cowboy Carter.’ Made in America could be the best classroom.

Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter has arrived.

The much-anticipated follow-up to her 2022 album Renaissance — dubbed Act ii — is a 27-track opus that came out as clocks struck midnight on Friday.

The album is a genre-busting interrogation of what “country” and “American” music is, and calls attention to the importance of Black musicians in the history of a genre often erroneously portrayed and perceived as lily-white.

Cowboy Carter connects Beyoncé with two of country most-loved living legends. Dolly Parton gives her seal of approval with a “Becky with the good hair” reference intro to a “I’m warning you, don’t come for my man” remake of “Jolene.”

And Willie Nelson lights up in two between-song “Smoke Hour” interludes in which he pretends to be a radio DJ on station KNTRY suggesting they listen with open ears: “Sometime you don’t know what you like until someone you trust turns you on to some real good s—.”

School is in session on Cowboy Carter. The Instagram track list introduces “Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin Circuit,” referring to the network of venues Black touring acts played throughout the U.S. in the Jim Crow era, the most prominent Philadelphia outpost being North Broad Street’s Uptown Theatre.

Cowboy Carter’s many musical strands — there’s hip-hop on the album, too, and gospel and R&B — come together in a living, breathing definition of American music, woven together into the red, white, and blue flag Beyoncé waves while riding a white horse on the album cover.

No dates have yet been announced for Cowboy Carter performances, and there’s no word of a “Renaissance Act ii” tour.

But allow me to suggest where it would make the most sense for Beyoncé to bring her take on American vernacular music to life: This year’s Made in America festival.

It would be a perfect fit. Back in 2012, when the festival made its debut with founder, curator, and Beyoncé’s husband, Jay-Z, headlining along with Pearl Jam, the festival announced its goal to represent the full range of American music.

In a TV ad for Budweiser — the festival’s original sponsor — that first year, Jay-Z said, “We are all trading off each other’s culture. Country, rock, indie, rap: We’re all going to find a way to come together.”

The country part of the story has never been told at Made in America, and over the years, the fest’s range has narrowed, concentrated on hip-hop and R&B. So here’s a perfect opportunity for the visionary entrepreneur born Shawn Carter to make good on that original concept with one masterstroke: Book his country-singing superstar wife to be the 2024 headliner.

What are the chances of this happening? A spokesperson for Roc Nation did not respond to a query about the likelihood of Beyoncé performing at this year’s Made in America, which is expected to return the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Labor Day weekend, which this year falls on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.

There are subtle teaching moments about the polyglot history of American music throughout Cowboy Carter: One brief interlude samples Delta bluesman Son House, followed by gospel great and electric guitar pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe (who lies in rest at Northwood Cemetery in Philadelphia), and Chuck Berry’s “Maybellene,” which borrowed from Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys’ “Ida Red.”

Along with a duet with Miley Cyrus on “II Most Wanted, the album’s surprises include a cover of the Beatles’ “Blackbird,” which Paul McCartney wrote in tribute to civil rights pioneers the Little Rock Nine.

Along with Nelson, the other KNTRY deejay who appears between songs is Linda Martell, the pioneering Black country singer whose 1970 debut album was called Color Me Country. Martell introduces “Ya Ya,” which is Cowboy Carter’s most flat-out fun track. She calls it “a song that stretches across a range of genres.”

It begins with Beyoncé’s twist on Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’,” followed by a spin on the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations,” before Beyoncé gets her ya-yas out with a joyful workout that recalls her hero Tina Turner.

The lineup for MIA is the last major Philadelphia-area music festival to be announced, but that’s not unusual. In past years, the lineup has been released as late as June.

And this year, it would make a whole lot of sense to have Beyoncé on top of the bill, if she is so inclined. That’s partly because MIA 2023 never happened: No official reason for the cancellation was ever given, but it was called off after scheduled co-headliner Lizzo was sued by a number of her dancers accusing her of harassment and weight shaming.

So MIA needs to come back with a splash, putting itself back on the map as a big-time festival with a booking that measures up to previous excellent gets like Bad Bunny, who topped the bill in 2022, or Rihanna, who headlined in 2016.

Who would be more equal to that task than Beyoncé? Who else can open up the discussion about what American music is — and who it belongs to — in the city where the nation first came into being?

She’s headlined Made in America twice before, in 2013 and 2015. Last summer, she ended her “Renaissance” tour date by flying high above the crowd at Lincoln Financial Field atop a platinum horse. The stage is now perfectly set for Cowboy Carter to ride back into town and take the stage in front of the Rocky steps.