Beyoncé is going country. There’s also a lot happening in Philly music this week

Sunday is album release announcement night for the world’s biggest pop stars, apparently.

Taylor Swift used the Grammys earlier to launch The Tortured Poets Department, which is due April 19. Beyoncé did her one better by using the Super Bowl as her launchpad for a new album coming March 29.

Both megastars are combining out-of-the-blue announcements with the old-school strategy of a long lead-up to build anticipation. And with Beyoncé, there’s already plenty of intrigue. She hinted in a Verizon ad that something was coming, and even before Swift had time to give Travis Kelce a congratulatory smooch, two new songs, “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ‘Em,” were out in the world.

Both indicate that what is presumed to be called Renaissance, Act II will be a country album, following the lead of “Daddy Lessons,” from 2016′s Lemonade by connecting country and Americana’s often-erased not-so-white history.

Well, hot damn. This is going to be interesting. Both songs feature contributions from Black roots music creators: “Texas Hold ‘Em” spotlights multi-instrumentalist (and Pulitzer Prize winner) Rhiannon Giddens on banjo and viola, and “16 Carriages” features sacred steel guitar player Robert Randolph.

The new album seems poised to put Beyoncé at the center of the conversation about country music and race that the Black Opry Revue and artists like Allison Russell and Rissi Palmer have brought to the fore in recent years.

That subject will be explored further on My Black Country: The Songs of Alice Randall, an album due April 12, in which Giddens, Russell, Palmer, and others sing songs by Randall, a pioneering Black country songwriter. The first single, “Went for a Ride,” is by blues singer Adia Victoria.

Speaking of country, Kacey Musgraves’ “Deep Well” bodes extremely well for her new album of the same name, due March 15. And speaking of Southern women making music that obliterates boundaries, Alabama Shakes singer Brittany Howard’s What Now is my album of the week, an expansive funk, soul, and rock adventure that evokes Prince and Marvin Gaye. Howard kicks off a tour this week, but there’s no Philly show yet. Fix that, please!

Philly shows that are happening this week start with jazz pianist and band leader Luke Carlos O’Reilly, a star of the Eagles’ A Philly Special Christmas Special.

On Tuesday, Feb. 13 — and every Tuesday through Black History Month — he’ll be presenting his Local 77 Black Excellence Series, upstairs at Time on Sansom Street. And on Valentine’s Day, O’Reilly will celebrate his new album, Leave the Gate Open, as a guest pianist with Orrin Evans at the Lounge at the World Cafe Live.

Also at World Cafe Live, Chicago buzz band Brigitte Calls Me Baby, which brings the Stokes to mind, plays the University City venue on Thursday, then again at Free at Noon on Friday.

Philly- and South Jersey-raised romancer Pink Sweat$ brings his acoustic tour to the Fillmore on Thursday. And his predecessors in silky smooth Valentine’s sounds — Boyz II Men — plays its annual headlining date at the Met Philly on Saturday.

Louisiana music-loving promoters Allons Danser party on with a Mardi Gras celebration at the Commodore Barry Club in Mount Airy on Thursday, with Houston Chicano Creole band Ruben Moreno and the Zydeco Re-Evolution.

Korine is the Philly electronic duo of Morgy Roamone and Trey Frye. Their music is a nod to 1980s British bands like New Order and the duo sings of springtime in Philly on “Mt. Airy.” Korine headlines PhilaMOCA on Thursday.

On Thursday, folk-punk guitarist Sunny War headlines. The next night, newly Philadelphian British guitarist Nigel Bennett plays with the rebooted version of his former band, the Vibrators, now known as Vibrators V2. Jim McGuinn, Battalion Zośka, and Pep Rally open.

Chicago rapper and poet Jamila Woods’ 2023 album, Water Made Us, was one of the standout releases of the year. She’s at the TLA on Saturday. And Dead Milkmen headline at Underground Arts on Saturday with hardcore punk band F.O.D. and YDI.

Notable new Philly music: “Lose Our Minds” is a rousing single from Eric Slick’s forthcoming New Age Rage. Slick plays drums with much loved Philly band Dr. Dog, who are back from hiatus and playing July 13 at the Mann Center with Kevin Morby and The Teeth. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m.