Starry Eyes & Honky Tonk Angels: How Women Originally Won Equality in Country Music
The last week of May in 2015 will be one to remember in the history of country music after the comments made by industry radio consultant Keith Hill to Country Aircheck on Tuesday (5-26) stirred quite the controversy. Mr. Hill insisted that if country radio stations wanted to increase their ratings, they needed to yank female performers from the airwaves, and compared them to the tomatoes of the greater country music salad.
Most alarming from Keith Hill’s comments though was his assertion that country music was “principally a male format.” While some got swept up in the data argument on the subject of whether women preferred to listen to other women or male performers more, the more fundamental concern was how the contributions and historical significance of women in the genre was being disregarded and undermined. Historically, women have played an equal role to the men of country music, both in helping to form the sound and identity of the genre, and in bringing the genre commercial success. As Country Universe pointed out amidst the controversy, women performers have been the best sellers in the country genre over the last 20 years.
Since his initial comments, Keith Hill has doubled down on them with CMT and The Tennessean, and says he’s been receiving death threats over the incident. Though it is never appropriate to threaten the life of anyone, especially over a music argument, this speaks to the passion people feel for this subject, including some high profile country female performers. Miranda Lambert, the current queen bee of country, lashed out on Twitter, saying, “This is he biggest bunch of BULLSHIT I have ever heard. I am gonna do everything in my power to support and promote female singer/songwriters in country music. Always.”
And for all of this talk of data supporting the idea that women don’t want to listen to other women on the radio, once again Windmills Country writing for MJSBIGBLOG has taken a data-driven approach to prove how this is not always the case.
But how did we get here? What kind of corruption of the country music industry has occurred where female country artists and fans have to fight for the basic equality of female artists to be heard? Again, this isn’t necessarily advocating for women to get played more on country radio; this is simply dealing with the idea that they should receive equal consideration from radio programmers. Is this where the “evolution” we hear spoken about so often in country music has led us to, where the same fights for the equal rights for women in country that were fought and won in the 50’s have to be fought and won all over again?
There was another period in the history of country music when women weren’t given equal billing in the genre, and had to earn the respect and equal consideration from the entrenched male oligarchy that operated the country music industry. And they did it not by flashing leg or by accepting their subordinate role, but through speaking up for the female perspective, and directly challenging the assertions of male-driven country music songs.
– – – – – – –
The year was 1952, and country music was still a predominately male-dominated format. A few women had made some marks in country in the past, but never in the same measure as their male counterparts. Moonshine Kate made some noise in the 1920’s, and Patsy Montana in the 1930’s. Molly O’ Day was one of the first women to be signed to the Acuff-Rose publishing company, which gave her the connections to be able to record Hank Williams songs in the late 40’s. And of course the women of The Carter Family had a major influence on the sound of country music. But prior to 1952, women were still considered supporting, 2nd-tier artists, and country had yet to see a true female star.
Then came along Rose Maddox of The Maddox Brothers & Rose, Goldie Hill, and the woman who would later rise to be known as the Queen of Country Music, Kitty Wells. Together, they became pioneers for women in country, and proved that female performers could do just as well as their male counterparts, as performers and profit makers.
It wasn’t until 1956 when the Maddox Brother & Rose officially broke up that Rose Maddox would fully remove herself from the shadow of her male siblings. But in January of 1952, the California-based Maddox Brothers & Rose recorded their first album with Columbia after years with the lesser-known 4 Star Recordings. Written by Rose, the song “I’ll Make Sweet Love To You” had remarkably-suggestive lyrics for that time in country music, opened up the door for women in country to sing about the same themes that men had for years.
Right on Rose’s heels, a 32-year-old married mother of three named Kitty Wells became country music’s first female superstar when her song “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” made it to #1 on Billboard’s Country Singles Chart. The song was an answer song to Hank Thompson’s hit “Wild Side of Life.” Written by JD “Jay” Miller, Kitty initially didn’t want to cut the song, but then decided to do it for a $125 session payment.
The song did so well, it eventually beat out Thompson’s “Wild Side of Life” in sales. Like Rose Maddox before her, “It Wasn’t God”¦” helped open up new risque themes for female singers. Women weren’t supposed to “answer back” to men in those days. But coming from a mother of 3 and a devoted wife, the conservative Nashville establishment didn’t put up a fuss. And most importantly, Kitty Wells proved that women performers could make big money for labels and publishers. Wells went on to have 35 more Top 10 singles in her career, and 81 total songs on the charts. Women were no longer looked upon as a commercial liability.
“Most of the time I was the only female singer among the men,” Kitty Wells said in an interview years later. “That’s just how lopsided the music business was in those days.”
Just as Kitty Wells was having big success with her answer song and 1952 was drawing to a close, another answer song called “I Let The Stars Get In My Eyes” was offered to Kitty. But she turned it down, and instead it was cut by rising female country star Goldie Hill. Released in December of 1952, it was the counter to Slim Willett’s hit “Don’t Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes” and once again dealt with issues that before had been considered taboo for females in country. Women weren’t just singing country music, they were symbolizing a strong, female character, willing to stand up up against male infidelity, while at the same time willing to show their own vulnerability when it comes to matters of the heart.
By early 1953, “I Let The Stars Get In My Eyes” became another #1 hit by a female performer, entrenching Goldie beside Kitty Wells as bona-fide female country stars.
In 1952, Rose Maddox, Kitty Wells, and Goldie Hill laid the groundwork for women in country that would later see the rise of strong, powerful female performers like Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, and the female performers of today. In 2014, it was another answer song, Maddie & Tae’s “Girl in a Country Song” that ruffled feathers, and proved an unknown female act could still break through the barrier of the boys club and produce a hit.
The fight for female equality in country music is not just one for today. Rewriting the history of country where the women are cast in subordinate roles, and limiting the future of female performers by framing country music as a male-first genre not only do a disservice to the past and future of country music, they put the focus on gender as opposed to a true search for the best songs and artists. If country music is to survive and grow, little boys, and little girls have to be able to dream of someday becoming stars in the genre.
The fight between the business of country music and the creative desires of artists is an eternal one and will never be resolved. But where no ground can be given, and no compromise found is in the importance of women to country music: then, now, and in the future.
– – – –
Portions of this article originally appeared in “1952: Country Music’s Original ‘Year of the Woman‘”
May 28, 2015 @ 6:56 pm
Thanks for detailing my point.
May 28, 2015 @ 6:57 pm
Trigger, I think you should plan a coup to take over the country music industry.
May 28, 2015 @ 6:58 pm
Great article as usual.
Had to laugh a bit at Miranda’s comments though. A few weeks ago she was defending the bros.
May 28, 2015 @ 7:07 pm
She only defended them so Blake wouldn’t get mad. She needs to keep him as happy as possible. This was the last straw though. I hope this sets her on a path to teach these guys a lesson and truly lead the ladies to equality rather than submitting to men such as her husband.
May 28, 2015 @ 7:30 pm
Why would she be afraid of Blake? She’s killed about 20 men by now if her songs are accurate…
May 28, 2015 @ 7:44 pm
Kale- what a tacky, classless remark. Hard being a female artist for sure. First she helped spotlight Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley in Pistol Annie’s and now taking ladies in n tour. Miranda is one of the very few actually trying to help this situation. She deserves props.
May 28, 2015 @ 8:43 pm
Are you saying my comment is tacky and classless? I beg to differ, I think I am the only one who realizes that the only reason Miranda puts up with this is because of Blake. Yes, she wants to do something about all this, but she is severely hindered by him. Let me get this straight; Trigger can rant, rave, cuss, and insult people til his fingers bleed, but speculating the reasons why people do things is crossing the line? I hardly think that is what the SCM site deems a ban-worthy personal attack.
May 28, 2015 @ 9:13 pm
Kale,
I think context is the most important thing to understand here. This was a think piece and a historical account having to deal with a very important issue at the forefront of country music right now. It just was inappropriate to engage in such wild-eyed speculation with no basis behind it. And yes, I’ve ranted and raved and cussed and said all manner of foul things on here before, but I always consider context, and I always know where the line is. That’s why I label things “rants” so folks know they’re going to be out-of-bounds. Even then, I don’t know that I would ever speculate about a husband beating his wife. That seems to cross the line.
But hey man, we live and learn. I’m not angry at you, I left the body of the comment up, and your readership and insight through comments is appreciated and valued here.
May 28, 2015 @ 7:59 pm
I realize that a good portion of the people who visit this site hate Blake Shelton. I am not one of them, but I tolerate the hate for the other content offered. However to imply that he would beat his wife crosses a line with me. There has never been any indication that he is physically abusive in any way, and frankly I am appalled that Trigger would think this comment is ok.
May 28, 2015 @ 8:11 pm
I like his old music. Austin, Old Red, Some Beach, Home, She Wouldn’t Be Gone, none of those were bad, and there’s more I can’t think of off the top of my head. His music didn’t get bad until a few weeks ago. But Shelton really isn’t that great of a guy either. He was married to somebody else while he and Miranda cheated together, so he divorced his wife to be with Miranda. Then had to go and say the infamous Old Farts comment. Do you really think Miranda tolerated this bro crap? The only reason she would play nice is because of her husband. There’s evidence that he has cheated before, and he has a loud mouth, so we really don’t know what is going on between him and Miranda.
May 28, 2015 @ 8:17 pm
An awful lot of wild speculation in this comment. Commenting on the marriages of people you know is dicey so commenting on total strangers is a little ridiculous.
May 28, 2015 @ 8:34 pm
I meant his music didn’t get bad until a few years ago, not weeks.
May 28, 2015 @ 8:34 pm
I agree the comment was tasteless, and the tasteless part has been edited. I apologize to anyone who was offended by it, but I did not “approve” anything. After a commenter has had their first comment approved, they are able to post at will, and then I do my best to moderate and monitor comments from there. However since I’m not always available 24/7 to check on comments, at times things can get through.
Kale: There’s no reason whatsoever for us to think that Blake is abusive. People first, then music. Even if we hate Blake’s music, that doesn’t make him a bad person. Also, commenters need to appreciate that they don’t just represent themselves, but this site when they leave comments such as this.
All that said, I do my best to leave comment sections open to opinions and viewpoints, whether we like them or not, and never like to edit or censor comments.
May 29, 2015 @ 8:04 am
I’ve been censored for far less.
May 30, 2015 @ 8:31 am
Blake is a sellout, plain and simple. His old stuff was country but he is one of the mainstreamers who has pissed on the tradition of country music and I have no use for him.
May 28, 2015 @ 7:40 pm
Actually Miranda is one the few taking out female openers. She will be headlining all gals on tour this fall. Miranda said that there is a place for everyone. She never said don’t play females. Go Miranda!
May 28, 2015 @ 7:03 pm
Thanks for posting such an informative , well- researched and entertaining overview of female stars in Country’s history , Trigger . I have maintained for quite a number of years that, in general, the females are writing/finding /performing and recording the BEST country material around ( I believe that may also hold true in the pop field) and I don’t have to rattle off a list of names to make that point . Most of the SCM regulars know who they are and thanks , in part, to yourself , we are kept updated on their careers .
May 28, 2015 @ 7:56 pm
This is really an important issue, though it shouldn’t have to. I believe there’s a collection of classic female country artists out on a Brittish label, all singing about answering, telling, and explaining the female point of view on subjects way overdue on the male side. Wish I could remember the title. I think it came out 2012 and was released on vinyl. I can not get enough of Loretta standing on the frontline making her statements about life in songs like “The Pill” and others. At that time in age that was strong. This was a great article, thank you.
May 28, 2015 @ 8:10 pm
I don’t see how anyone can be in favorite of country music being a completely male dominated genre. Do these sheep not have functioning ears and brains?
Chase Rice, Brantley Gilbert, Jason Aldean, Eric Paslay, Luke Bryan, Thomas Rhett, Tyler Farr, Blake Shelton, Florida Georgia Line, and Sam Hunt have completely decimated the genre. Anyone who supports what they do (and don’t do) has no business being involved in the country music business. I don’t/ won’t listen to country radio because of these adult aged males (I refuse to call them men, because they aren’t). I’ve bought the latest albums by Lee Ann Womack, Julie Roberts, Sunny Sweeney, and Kacey Musgraves and a combined ZERO from that aforementioned male list. Country radio will not get any ratings from me. Of course, I’m just 1 nobody in a sea of idiots, but at least I can look in the mirror and honestly say I like the song playing in the background. It’s a victory on the most miniscule of scales, but a victory nonetheless.
Having male genitalia doesn’t mean you’re better than anyone. Sometimes it just makes you a dick, and that’s what country music is full of nowadays. I just want to hear country, whether it is by a male or female. That said, the males sure as hell are not making country music. Shoot, they’re not even making music. This is just what happens when corporate greed and stupidity takes control of everything. People, enjoy your CDs, cassettes, and records. Don’t confuse popularity with quality. What is happening now is not a genre “evolving”.
“There Ain’t Nothin’ Wrong With The Radio” needs to be updated to “Everything Is Wrong With The Radio”. This article was very interesting and well thought out. I hope it can help open the ears and eyes of those who are unaware of the importance of women in country music.
May 28, 2015 @ 8:30 pm
Let’s clear something up: I am not IMPLYING Blake Shelton beats his wife, I just said we don’t know what goes on between them. I think they love each other very much, I really do, but there is no freakin’ way Miranda would tolerate bro country if not for him. Miranda hates what country music has become just as much as anybody, that’s obvious. It’s illogical to think she would support these bros if she doesn’t have to, so it must be because of Blake. I’m not saying she’s fearful. She could be doing it out of love and doesn’t want to fight, but it is also possible that she did it because she doesn’t want to incur his wrath. We don’t know, that’s all I said. I do know one thing; Miranda Lambert hates this crap, and she’s popular enough to not have to worry about saying the wrong thing. The only logical reason for defending bro country is because her husband wants her too. I don’t know whether it’s out of love or fear, but I know this is the only rational explanation for not standing up for women before now.
May 28, 2015 @ 8:40 pm
Kale,
The Miranda Lambert comment was such a small, passing portion of this article, and made no mention of Blake Shelton. I’m much more interested in your opinion on the state of females in country music, or how the history of females in country music matters to today’s issues. I really have no idea about the dynamics of the Blake/Miranda marriage because it is none of my damn business. I’d rather us focus on the music, and the issues surrounding it.
May 28, 2015 @ 8:52 pm
Sorry about all that, I got carried away.
May 28, 2015 @ 8:43 pm
No, you weren’t implying it you actually said it before Trigger removed it.
I’m sure Lambert likes having you explain to people what she really thinks. I mean it’s not like she can think and speak for herself.
May 28, 2015 @ 8:49 pm
One of the things that gets lost in these discussions is that women have always been underrepresented in country music in proportion to society at large. I would guess that even at the peak of the 1990s the number was never more than 40% of females on mainstream country radio. So this is a long term trend and yes it’s far more extreme right now but when something continues for 60 plus years it is apparent that it is a very complex issue with many reasons.
May 28, 2015 @ 9:13 pm
Hill posted a comment on one of the articles (Keel’s, I think) and it’s on his Facebook page. A few radio people responded to him in support. One guy posted a pic of a salad and wrote something like hits only, no tomatoes. Some of them call him a genius. You get the sense that there are a lot of him in stations everywhere – guys who have been in the business for 40 years, who talk about the old days all the time, and are unaware of anything outside their realm and are lacking in modern propriety. Good ole boys.
May 28, 2015 @ 9:24 pm
It’s really kind of a chicken or the egg kind of thing isn’t it?
It’s very possible that the research is what it is because the audience has been conditioned for so long to a certain balance to the point that that is all they have ever heard and that becomes preferred and comfortable. If this is the way it always has been then I’m sure that the research would support the continuance of this comfy format.
In a perfect world the free market would at least attempt to correct for this by someone creating a country station that didn’t follow these conventions and then let the market decide if the research was right or not. But that is not the system that we have sadly.
May 28, 2015 @ 9:44 pm
There’s a country station where I live that regularly plays older country songs by males and females, alongside males and females of today. They rarely have any bro-country on there, and when they do, it’s always the least offensive ones. There’s songs all the way from Hank Sr. (at least) to Miranda Lambert. I even heard Aaron Watson’s “July in Cheyenne” yesterday. It’s 100.5 and it’s powered by Nash, that’s all I know. One of their commercial things before a song comes on says “From George Jones to George Strait. From Conway to Tim McGraw. We play real country.” That’s my favorite station.
May 28, 2015 @ 9:52 pm
Need more like that with powerful signals and big dollar backing.
May 30, 2015 @ 9:38 am
You can have the station. The key is though to count it has to be a reporting station. Which is rare, and need a financial backing to do it. Estimates are 1900-2000 country stations in the USA. Only reporting stations are what you hear on the charts or your top 40. 146 of them report to media base and country air check. 149 report to billboard. 92 to Texas for their charts. Some report to both simultaneously too.
May 28, 2015 @ 9:02 pm
Even when there were strong female performers getting airplay on country radio, they were still cast in subordinate roles. After my college radio days were over in the mid-80s, I wanted to try my hand at being a professional disc jockey. I was lucky enough to land a summer replacement job at a country station in the Northeast (while the regular DJs were doing live remotes at various country fairs, I would be the fill-in DJ in the studio). The cardinal rule of the station was not to play female vocalists back-to-back. When I asked why, I was told that “research” indicated that our listeners didn’t like it (the research came from Los Angeles, our station was in New Jersey). This was standard practice in radio for years and years, and was probably even worse in other radio formats such as rock. Apparently it’s even worse now. By the way, I never worked in radio again after that summer (I had too many “good” bad habits from college radio that I didn’t want to break).
May 29, 2015 @ 12:23 pm
~ Jim McGuinness, I began my Country Radio DJ career in 1979 at WIXL in NJ. I was constantly in trouble for breaking the rules. (tee-hee) My air name at that station was Patti Brady. I left there in 1982. Wondering if you worked at the same station.
May 29, 2015 @ 6:28 pm
Patti, I’ll answer your question by saying this: “Constant Summer Country!” At least that’s what the Newton, NJ, radio station had us say every time we went on mic that summer. I was there the summer of ’87. I started the day after WHN in New York dumped the country format and became all-sports WFAN, and wasn’t there much longer after that. I suppose it was an historic week, considering what sports talk radio has become. Though I don’t dislike sports, I can’t stand that format. I now live in the sticks just outside Bristol, VA/TN. No major league sports here, but three sports talk stations. Crazy.
May 29, 2015 @ 1:44 am
Thank you, Trigger, for this beautifully-written article perfectly wielding historical facts to show exactly how valuable women have always been to the genre that we love. I am truly hoping that the major figures in the country music industry are reading this, in the hopes that they mind gain a broader sense of perspective about something more than just short-term profits.
May 29, 2015 @ 1:44 am
*might* gain
May 29, 2015 @ 2:03 am
Good lord, death threats just for dumbass statement from a retard. I’m all for equality in music but geez it’s not worth taking a life lol. That being said I’ll take emmylou over Miranda any day, even though emmylou isn’t technically country anymore I guess.
May 30, 2015 @ 5:48 am
Death threats are nothing new in country music. Just ask the Dixie Chicks.
May 29, 2015 @ 6:19 am
Well Guy Clark said it best: What’d life be without homegrown tomatoes?
May 29, 2015 @ 6:26 am
The notion that women only want to hear men in tight jeans and backwards baseball caps sing is a peculiar one to me. Perhaps I don’t know the right women or go to the right shows? I realize that this is anecdotal evidence, but the women I know don’t limit their music choices to guys they want to sleep with.
May 29, 2015 @ 6:56 am
Hmmm… why do women only want to hear men on the radio ..? ….can’t be the songs cuz they’re pretty bad lyrically…can’t be the voices cuz they’re nothing special and often quite poor ……can’t be the groove cuz you can’t dance to any of it …..can’t be the fiddles or steel guitars cuz they’re non-existent , for the most-part , Pretty much leaves the backward ball caps, tight fitting jeans ‘n wallet chains ….or maybe that vest that Blake wears …?…hmmm
May 29, 2015 @ 7:15 am
The radio only plays bros because it sells. If playing only females would sell, then the radio would adjust accordingly. Radio plays money. Gender only factors in as a way to make money.
May 29, 2015 @ 8:18 am
I’d like to see this guy try and give his spiel with Loretta in the room.
May 29, 2015 @ 9:37 am
This is all the logical end result of corporate conglomerate radio’s purely demographic approach to programming where the quality of the music itself is reaching the point of irrelevancy. The demographers target young women as they are more valuable to advertisers and then conduct “research” which leads them to conclude these women only want to hear male artists, even while Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift are dominant artists in the genre! With people like Keith Hill calling the shots in corporate radio programming these days I don’t expect the situation to change any time soon at all of the stations owned by the large corporations. Its a cryin’ shame but what can you do…
May 29, 2015 @ 8:21 pm
It’s time for the Dixie Chicks and Gretchen Wilson to come back! Would love to see Dixie Chicks reunite!
May 29, 2015 @ 8:33 pm
Trigger, I thought you might be interested in this refutation of Keith Hill’s arguments:
http://www.mjsbigblog.com/country-radio-the-anti-female-female-myth.htm
It is very interesting how different the audience’s favorite songs are from the songs played the most. Both genders find Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush” to be their favorite song, and female listeners actually rank Kacey Musgraves’s “Biscuits” in their top 10 favorites.
May 29, 2015 @ 8:34 pm
Whoops, I see you already wrote about it.
May 29, 2015 @ 9:03 pm
Don’t forget Jean Shepard who broke through not long after the women featured in this article, and one of the great pioneers for women in honky tonk. I love her take on male hypocrisy and double standards in “Two Whoops and a Holler.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLXc3csOb8A
October 12, 2015 @ 2:31 pm
I was waiting for someone to mention Jean Shepard! That woman took no prisoners, and she did it the hard, hard way, and she was never cut any slack for being “the weaker sex” doing those grinds on the road from show to show. Her songs were indicative of her grit, too-“Two Whoops And A Holler” and “Sad Singin’ And Slow Ridin'” , two of my favorites. I don’t know why, but she doesn’t get nearly the credit she deserves for busting down the doors before Loretta, Dolly, etc, and I don’t mean to take anything away from them at all. Jean Shepard reminds me of a tough pioneer woman in her actions, but she looked like a doll you could’ve held in one hand. What a woman, and what a singer, and with that gorgeous Okie accent to boot 🙂
May 30, 2015 @ 4:23 am
Now I have to look up Goldie Hill in all my musical feminism I haven’t heard of her and I know this isn’t some sort of all encompassing list and frankly just seeing Patsy Montanna’s name made me giddy but I would also add Dale Evans. But more importantly when you do your 1next 0 badass moments I vociferously nominate Dottie West who fought sexism in the industry hard. That women had balls.
May 30, 2015 @ 8:11 am
Kitty wells had the first ever platinum single in country music. How much bigger patsy cline would’ve been had it not been for the crash. Reba, dolly are still doing great and loved.
I may not like Keith hill as a person but I’ll post what I made a Facebook status yesterday.
The basis of his comments are correct if you have followed the history of country music. Women have an average representation of about 15% on radio in the history of the genre. 1/3 if the highest ever. It’s profiled in “finding her voice” by Robert k oermann which is the quintessential book on women in country music. The first edition covers I believe to mid 90’s but there’s an updated one that covers later I’ve never read.
It’s just the way he said it, it was classless. It doesn’t mean women representation shouldn’t change, or won’t change in the future. It’s the thought of not giving them a chance, and giving the block play to their male counterparts on a free pass.
June 10, 2015 @ 8:57 am
Trigger, The linked article is what can be considered the antithesis to your fine piece on this topic. What is going on over at No Depression? And to think this commentary was written by an alleged feminist. I responded to her in the comments section, but assume my reply will eventually be deleted.
http://nodepression.com/article/god%E2%80%99s-sake-can-we-stop-talking-about-%E2%80%9Cwomen%E2%80%9D-country-singers#comment-47576
June 10, 2015 @ 10:17 am
Well first, I wouldn’t blame No Depression for that. They have an open forum where virtually anyone can post a blog, so it doesn’t necessarily reflect the site’s viewpoints. It’s definitely strange to see there though. But this tomato business is a contentious subject, and it appears it’s not going away.