Taylor Swift, Caitlin Clark, and Women in Country Music

In 2025 (and beyond if necessary), Saving Country Music is attempting to delve deep into the issue of why women are so under-represented in the country music genre, and trying to take that discussion beyond the simple “sexism” claims to really think outside the box about some of the systemic reasons so few women find success in the industry, and how to address these issues for good.
One of the things you commonly hear from both the people advocating for women in country music, and from critics of the concern that claim that country fans just don’t want to listen to women, is that the country genre is simply incapable of launching successful careers for women.
But this is patently and historically untrue. Though women have rarely if ever been represented in country music in a 50/50 share with men, even during the commercial peak of the “Class of ’89” that saw Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt, and Clint Black dominating the genre, women like Reba McEntire, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Tanya Tucker, and more were still minting #1 singles on a regular basis, and putting together successful careers.
In much more recent history, country music also proved that it could support a woman all the way to the very top of popular music. That woman is currently one of the most recognized celebrities in all of the world, and country music very much helped to get her there. Her name is of course Taylor Swift.
Granted, the music of Taylor Swift was also more distinctly pop than most of what we’d heard in country music before, and this is not an unimportant aspect to her initial success. Some of Swift’s success was built from crossover fans as opposed to country ones. But listening back to some of Taylor’s early albums and singles such as “Tim McGraw” and “Teardrops On My Guitar” with mandolin, steel guitar, and other country sounds, they comes across as way more country than much of the pop country of today.
Though it might feel like an eternity ago at this point, Taylor Swift was the 2009 and 2011 CMA Entertainer of the Year, along with being far and away the most popular performer in country music at the time. She was the Morgan Wallen of her time.
Taylor Swift left the country genre officially with her 2014 album 1989, after Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta introduced Taylor to pop producer Max Martin, who then enticed Swift to the pop side of popular music. But when Taylor Swift left country, it wasn’t a bitter divorce. She plopped $4 million on the desk of the Country Music Hall of Fame on her way out of Nashville, and told her fans she wanted to be honest about her music and what it was. Many country fans who previously begrudged her music respected this honesty. Other pop performers in country should take Taylor’s inspiration, and do the same thing.
The fact that the country music industry supported Taylor Swift so demonstrably and she was able to find top-tier success proves it’s possible for a woman to find her way in the industry. George Strait, Rascal Flatts, Kenny Chesney and more took Swift on tour as an opener as a young, upstart teenager, and the CMAs and ACMs showered her with awards.
But it’s also the fact that Taylor Swift left country, and the genre was left with little to no return on its investment that has left such a gaping hole for a top-tier woman in country. Taylor Swift was supposed to have one of those decades-long careers in country. Then all of a sudden she was gone.
Ever since 2014, representation for women in country has been at a historical low. It’s not just Swift leaving, but Maren Morris, Kacey Musgraves, and other women within the country industry moving away from the genre that has made it where so few women can be listed among popular country’s ranks. This is also one of the reasons that investing in women who will stick around in country such as Lainey Wilson, Megan Moroney, and Carly Pearce feels like a more sure-footed investment moving forward.
We all know how it worked out for Taylor Swift leaving country. She’s now a billionaire, and one of the biggest celebrities in the entire world. Though Taylor Swift deserves the lion’s share of the credit, country music shares in that success as Swift’s launching pad, just like the genre was a launching pad for Linda Ronstadt, Shania Twain, and other massive stars over the years.
Last Saturday (1-18) when Taylor Swift was seen in a sky box at the Kansas City Chiefs football game with new WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark, it felt like the colliding of two worlds. Similar to how you can point out Taylor Swift’s success in country to disprove the idea women can’t make it in the genre—and perhaps inspire other women that yes, there is a path forward—the same goes for Caitlin Clark and the WNBA.
Before Caitlin Clark, the WNBA was the perpetual butt of jokes, and a laughing stock of the sports world. As ESPN and others attempted to guilt people into watching and caring, there just wasn’t much interest in the sport in the population overall. People even became resentful how the WNBA was being shoved down their throats, not dissimilar to how some country fans feel about the whole “women in country” issue.
But Caitlin Clark proves how one superstar can change all of that. In 2024, games featuring Caitlin Clark tripled in viewership. Wherever Caitlin Clark played, game attendance in arenas was up 88%. In the sports world, they call it “Caitlinmania,”—a call back to the music world and Beatlemania. Where before it looked like the WNBA would be a perpetual charity case as opposed to a commercially-viable league, things started to look up.
A recent report claimed that the WNBA still lost some $40 million in 2024, but that was better than the $50 million they were projected to lose before Caitlinmania. Meanwhile, the surging interest is expected to help the WNBA expand their contracted 40-game season (the NBA plays 82 games), creating more revenue opportunities to finally make the league solvent.
Sure, part of both the Taylor Swift and Caitlin Clark phenomenon boils down to attractive White women who are easy to sell to the public. But it seems there is a lesson, and perhaps wisdom and inspiration to be gleaned from both of their stories when considering the uphill battle women must climb in the country genre.
Neither Taylor Swift nor Caitlin Clark spent much time complaining about the challenges they faced as women in their respective disciplines. They simply put their heads down, worked harder than others, used the adversity they faced as inspiration, and if nothing else, proved it was possible to not just succeed, but excel, and in environments that present unique challenges to women.
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January 25, 2025 @ 9:50 am
With regards to the differences between the appeals and successes of women vs men in the arts and in the public sphere, it’s important to remind ourselves that women AND men listen to men artists more. Part of it is possibly some stereotype or implicit prejudice that artistry is a field more commonly reserved for men, part of it is that the psychological ticks, quirks and eccentricities that motivate people to invest in writing, or performing, or certainly languishing working on some sort of masterpiece born out of suffering seem to manifest more often in men than in women.
and the women who are disposed to those same quirks are often, dare i use the word indoctrinated into repressing those quirks as young women.
For instance, a man in a stone tower, agonizing over being unable to finish a novel, a painting, and punishing himself for not being able to realize his vision by eating spiders and wearing wool clothes on hot days is… more normal than a woman doing the same thing.
The very image of a woman being a tortured genius is cognitively dissonant but we are used to accepting tortured soul behavior by men.
And this same pattern continues on down the line
I will use an example of Manuela from fire emblem. voiced by Veronica Taylor, the voice of ash ketchum, Manuela is an aging opera singer who got out while she was at her best and changed careers while she was on top, knowing there was only one way to go. down.
And she’s a tortured, complex character.
but if you ask the women characters in the game, she’s a genius, wise, put together, just another artist suffering with the curse of having more art in them that the world won’t listen to.
if you ask the men characters, she’s an alcoholic spinster who isn’t over her glory days.
I know it’s just a video game but those sorts of perspective differences down gender lines can be applied to artists of every level of genius.
By which i mean, men are more accepted for being ‘all genius comes with a touch of madness’ than women are, partly because the imagery of this tortured artist is typically associated with men, and if women engage in the same behavior society is far more judgmental and rarely writes it off as the madness that comes with genius.
And that’s the women who make it that far and express that side of themselves. many of the women of equal artistic genius are either discouraged from expressing it or are less inclined to expose themselves to the masses for it.
the first reason is that society foists certain expectations on women, and the second reason is that women and men have very different relationships with the idea of fame and success as a whole.
and i haven’t even gotten to the specifics of how many men vs women in the music business WANT to make country music specifically.
And i will make THAT point by asking how many movies, books, etc are about urban MEN falling in love with country WOMEN, versus how many urban WOMEN fall in love with rural MEN?
there’s an entire genre of uptight, business as usual urban women falling in love with a bearded flannel guy who hasn’t read Schoenberg but reads Guns and Ammo magazine.
the hallmark movie.
If you flipped the story it would be major headlines because of how cognitively dissonant it is.
Women, especially rural women, just aren’t socially afforded some of the same graces that men, especially rural men are, when it comes to cultural portrayals
probably one of the reasons so many women in the country pop space wind up just going pop.
meanwhile, most of the actual women who want to make country music go all in and wind up making bluegrass instead.
therefore mainstream country music is this middle ground. the real country women are going to bluegrass, the ones more amenable to mainstream country that have any meaningful success are going to be country pop or go all pop eventually.
and all of this is an example both of how women of different backgrounds are raised to relate to their artistry OR how society responds to women in the arts
January 25, 2025 @ 10:36 am
That’s a very, very good analysis, Fuzzy.
When I look at how people here in the forum get upset about Sierra Ferrell’s erratic quirks, your assessment is completely correct.
And maybe people in the pop market are a little more tolerant of idiosyncratic women? – Kate Bush, Cindy Lauper, Björk spontaneously come to mind.
January 25, 2025 @ 1:49 pm
Interesting commentary Fuzzy, and I think to some extent you are correct.
However, then there is the example of Taylor Swift. That’s the whole point of this exercise.
There are two primary sides to this argument. The first is that the country music industry is inherently sexist and is purposefully tying to keep women down. Okay, then how did Taylor Swift become the biggest artist in that industry, and launch the most successful music career we’ve seen in recent memory?
The others idea says, “People just don’t want to listen to women.” Yet again, if that is the case, how is Taylor Swift the most popular artist in all of music?
This is why this topic deserves nuanced discussions, and nuanced thinking. Sure, women are seen less as the tortured, and more as the muse. But I think the question we need to ask is has the perception that people just don’t want to listen to women become a self-fulfilling prophesy to where the industry does not give them an equal opportunity, even if the talent or appeal is equal or greater than a man? Having worked and covered this industry for going on 20 years, I tend to think “Yes.” That doesn’t mean there are people actively trying to keep women down. It just means it’s a slight bias that pervades every aspect of the industry, ultimately making it much more prohibitive for a woman to succeed.
January 25, 2025 @ 3:26 pm
Taylor Swift became the biggest star by expert marketing. She courted Nashville with “Tim McGraw” grabbed every teenage girl and their parents with “Teardrops” and successfully kept up the facade that she was just like every basic white suburban girl despite living in a Rhode Island mansion and dating a Kennedy. Once, she did that, she didn’t need country music any more and immediately left. And she has kept that going and expanded it into a giant cult where she is worshipped as queen.
It should be studied. Adrian, a poster here, explained it well. She is music’s Bill Clinton — the owner of the unique ability to emphasize and relate to people despite everything being a deception.
January 25, 2025 @ 6:53 pm
I like what you have to say CountryKnight. Usually it’s the old rock and rollers that can’t make it in the genre and they come tails between their legs head down trying country and trying to make it big cause they aren’t saleable anymore in Rock. This was backward. The country music scene should have seen her for what she was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Well, country music isn’t anything to me so I’ll just jump on over to Pop & Rock and she’s famous now. In my opinion, I can’t stand her or her music. Thank the Lord for all the teenage twits that idolize her.
January 25, 2025 @ 9:05 pm
Can you point me in the direction of that post? I would love to read it.
January 26, 2025 @ 4:16 pm
Let me see if I bookmarked the article.
Adrian wrote several insightful posts on Swift. He had her pegged.
Another dearly missed poster.
January 26, 2025 @ 1:20 am
Taylor Swift abandoned country long ago. I think she will try a big dive back into country when she gets too old and passe for her teenie bopper pop fan crowd
January 25, 2025 @ 10:54 pm
Fuzzy not to be pendantic- OK, yes, this is totally pedantic- but by Schoenberg do you mean Arnold Schoenberg the atonal modernist composer, or are you referring to Schopenhauer the philosopher?
I’m guessing there is very little overlap between the fans of Arnold Schoenberg and SCM, but you never know. I only vaguely remember his music from a music history class in high school and that was decades ago.
But I agree with much of the rest of your post.
January 27, 2025 @ 9:09 am
I actually meant Isaac Schoenberg the mathematician. And no, i haven’t actually studied his work. mathematics is a field i find myself wholly incapable of grasping at anything more than a fundamental level.
Trigger likes to say, we are all fans of ‘music’ the concept, then our allegiances break down among stylistic lines.
I’ve been open about my tendency to listen to music as diverse as the final fantasy sountracks, Ornette Coleman, Uncle Dave Macon and Chopin, and yes I’m sure I’ve heard Arnold Schoenberg’s work but absolutely don’t recall any of it.
My bread and butter listening is usually the work of the early opry and bluegrass/folk stars, Uncle Dave, Acuff and Oswald, Maddox Bros, Dock Boggs Kingston Trio. and extends up through a large chunk of the golden era of country and bluegrass. (basically so long as the artist in question grew up on the folk songs and ballads then i love their work, this extends to decidedly then-modern artists like Glen Campbell and Waylon and basically any golden era country star who would have had the folk song background.)
My decided disconnect with modern artistry in general but especially with country music, even the ones that are ‘very country’ is that they didn’t grow up singing raining here this morning, knoxville girl, foggy mountain top, et al. they grew up hearing chattahoochee.
That background reflects in the artistry of even the most country of country artists.
That’s why the artists in the modern era I’m most enamored with include Charley Crockett, Sierra Ferrell, and Billy Strings. Because they have a certain ‘transcendent’ sound that i can only describe as ‘all encompassing’
What separates those three modern artists, in my ear, is that i don’t ‘hear’ the alan jackson, the george strait, the… ‘contemporary’ influences, in as much abundance.
When I listen to, say, Charley Crockett, i ‘hear’ the leadbelly, the robert johnson, the redheaded stranger and tougher than leather albums, etc.
And when i say ‘i struggle with modern ‘country music’ where i don’t struggle with modern music of other genres, is because country music that doesn’t retain that organic sound, no matter how sonically authentic it is, is just… very inert to me, like a flat dr pepper.
And that’s an experience i think is unique to people who, like me, either grew up on or fell in love with that early opry sound and artistry.
January 27, 2025 @ 12:29 pm
Hi again Fuzzy, so I learned there are two famous Schoenbergs I should know about. Thank you, and also, totally agree, you can tell the folks who have studied and been moved by the roots of the music as opposed to those who have only heard the more modern singers and songs. You can really hear it in some of the 90’s artists themselves, like Patty Loveless or Kathy Mattea or, yes, George Strait. Those folks knew from classic country and bluegrass- well, they knew the music from a time when there really wasn’t such a distinction.
It’s also true for other forms of music. Eric Clapton and Jerry Garcia paid attention to the roots of their music, and took their sound in a new direction, but there are dozens of jam band guitarists who only know the Grateful Dead and Phish but never bothered to learn what their heroes were listening to. Or the soul/ R&B artists who grew up singing in church, versus the new pop starts who grew up listening to- well, who knows, they all suck.
January 25, 2025 @ 10:33 am
I suppose at the end of the day, it is what the listener or the gig goer wants. For whatever reason, and I don’t think it is sexism, it seems to be men that are the most wanted. I think, with some obvious exceptions, that has always been the case in almost all types of music. Men have dominated and it is not a recent development. What is, is that men now seem to be dominating more than they were. It was Emmylou Harris who was really significant in getting me into music. I look at present day females and there are some incredibly talented singers. I am hopeful the likes of Sierra Ferrell, Kaitlin Butts, Molly Tuttle and others get the success their talent really deserves. It is a difficult market and it is even more difficult for females.
January 25, 2025 @ 10:43 am
This is the most recent of many articles you have posted about underrepresentation of women in Country Music.
You have given your synopsis of the issues, and what has happened, but one thing you have yet to illustrate is this simple question…are these women crafting songs that hit home, so to speak, with all walks of country music fans?
Are they writing songs that are easily understood, and accessible to fans young and old, male and female, and casual and die-hard?
My personal favorite genres of music are metal and country.
For decades I felt the same way about women in metal as most feel about women in Country…they aren’t as skilled, they can’t write songs that bridge the gap between all manner of fans.
But recently, within the past year, I was introduced to an all female metal band from Japan, Hagane, through a song called Tenga Goken.
What I heard was a band of young musicians that were every bit as skilled as the their male counterparts, even more so than many of them.
On top of that they seem to write songs with mass appeal. .
Is there some issues such as a language barrier?
Sure, but there are some songs with a either partial or total lyrics written in English.
And they are starting to gain some serious attention in the western world, not only with die-hard metal fans, but also with casuals and even media that focuses on Metal.
I believe it’s the same way with women in country music today.
Where, in the past, you had female artists like a young Dolly Parton, and Loretta Lynn, writing songs that not only hit home with female country fans, but also their male counterparts and even some fans from outside of country music, today you have artists that focus on reaching their base… mainly young women 18-40. Since you named Taylor Swift, I will say she is a perfect example of this.
Take away that base, and what do you have?
An unremarkable artist who manipulates her target audience emotionally, but fails to connect with a vast majority of fans outside that base.
It seems to me that if female country artists want to join their male counterparts in the pantheon of immortals in Country Music, they should focus on crafting songs that speak to all listeners, not just their target audience.
January 25, 2025 @ 11:38 am
Hiya RK, you raise what i think is the most essential part of the equation BUT: let me counter with some questions
Do you think that a woman, even writing the best song ever, would have the same success SINGING that song, as a man would?
do you think people, men or women, would RECOGNIZE a song as great, if it was sung by a woman versus as a man?
do you think the INDUSTRY/PRODUCERS would give that same great song a worthy shot, knowing it was from a woman performer, or would they use production tricks and producer ‘input’ to make it sound like the work of other women that aren’t as successful but are ‘normal’ for what songs by women artists sound like?
do you think that even if yes to the above, that if a woman writer/artist wrote the greatest song ever, do you think that people would listen to it, the way they all embrace (often worse) songs by male counterparts, even knowing it was a great song. or would they wait for a man to cover it or would it just stutter along fifth or sixth on the charts because no matter how good it is some people just won’t listen to women?
And lastly, do you think that the way we raise men and women differently as children might predispose men to think different types of songs are the best versus what women might think? That is to say, did that woman writer and that man writer have identical childhoods and life experiences that they would have the same opinions about what a great song is?
Most likely, even ceterus parabus (all else equal) the difference in upbringing that women get versus men not only influences their opinions on the types of songs they want to write, but also the types of songs they want to listen to by others
This is why women listen to men at a higher proportion than men who listen to women artists.
Or put it simply, if we inverted the number of man and woman roles in… say, les miserables, would it pass the bechdel test?
shouldn’t a story of redemption, forgiveness, the rule of law, et al be… gender neutral?
you’d be surprised that it isn’t. audiences of all backgrounds are more receptive to those same themes by men than by women, a trend that continues across almost all forms of media representation.
So, even though you’re asking IF women are or aren’t writing great songs, you SHOULD be asking, “would people notice if they did, and if not, why not?” or, put simply “would this song have been called a great song if people thought a man had written it?”
January 25, 2025 @ 11:50 am
Well I do know that Dolly Parton, a woman, wrote the song I will always love you.
I do know that Whitney Houston, a woman, performed the song and her rendition became world famous and one of the most successful songs of all time.
That’s just off the top of my head
So my I stand resolute in my belief that women can write and perform music that resonates universally.
January 25, 2025 @ 12:22 pm
I’d like to point out the apparent flaw in your thinking, that is to say, i find it unconvincing that you say “women can write universal songs” and your evidence is a fifty year old smash hit.
What universal songs can you point out by women in the ensuing fifty years? maybe you can provide one or two from the last ten?
One legendary song from fifty years ago doesn’t invalidate statistics about how many women and men rise to the top of the charts any more than one pea in a bowl of chili means it’s a bowl of split pea soup.
Of course women can and do write music that resonates universally, I never said anything to the contrary.
But I would like to point out that a woman with the greatest song ever would have a hard time convincing people, no matter how great the song is, but a moderately conventionally attractive guy in jeans can say “i wrote this song and i think it’s great’ and the same people who weren’t convinced the woman’s objective masterpiece was, in fact, a masterpiece, will praise this guy’s songwriting to the highest of heavens
And no, i won’t accept ‘if people didn’t like it, it must not be a masterpiece’
I reject this notion that a world of people who’s best understanding of the criteria of quality in art is ‘whether i like it’ pass down immutable objective assessments.
in fact, hindsight is one of the reasons that so many movies that bombed on release went on to enduring popularity.
Stravinsky’s rite of spring, comes to mind as an example of a piece of music that was misunderstood in its own time.
January 25, 2025 @ 11:03 pm
Fuzzy, I think you miss Trigger’s point that not too long ago, in the 90’s, there were women knocking it out of the park with popular and excellent country music. I still sometimes hear “Independence Day,” “18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses,” and even Trisha Yearwood (blech) on the radio, just like I sometimes hear old Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson hits. Patty Loveless was huge in the day and just put in to the Hall of Fame. Jennifer Nettles Isp?) sang at Obama’s inauguration, IIRC and was a big star. The question is why those careers didn’t last as long as some of their male counterparts and why it’s worse for women now than 25-30 years ago.
January 26, 2025 @ 1:32 am
@Fuzzy–. Yes, people react to men and to women differently. Your agrument or fight seems to be with homo sapiens, the human species (Or perhaps you believe that with enough education and re-education we can change that. Yeah, we’ve tried that for the last 40 years. And the result is that the country elected Trump. Twice.)
January 26, 2025 @ 10:15 am
My theory, which dovetails with yours, is that a major contributor to the difficulty for female country singers in the current day is that performative rurality – which is what most mainstream country has been about since the bro-country era – is largely male-coded.
In other words, it’s mostly suburban white dudes who like to cosplay at being country, not suburban women, and therefore in the modern day, country music is becoming more male-dominated because the small-town wannabes are mostly boys and men.
January 26, 2025 @ 1:48 pm
The onset of Bro-Country is definitely one of the reasons we’re at where we’re at with this issue. Women were basically eliminated for the mainstream country music format in that era. Then the tendencies when it came to curating playlists both on radio and streaming have not evolved to the new reality of more women, and more independent artists finding greater popularity in the population. That is one of the reasons this is a good time to press reset on this issue.
Honestly, if you work to center more independent artists, more songwriter-based artists, and more traditional country artists, the gender issue would virtually solve itself.
January 26, 2025 @ 2:05 pm
It would certainly help and is a worthwhile effort. But I do wonder.
Obviously, I’m a sample size of one middle-aged guy, but I’m both (1) tuned in to this issue and (2) listen to a lot of non-mainstream country (I am, after all, commenting here) and I (based on my Spotify numbers) still listen to male artists far more often than female ones.
I do think, along with Fuzzy, that there’s something deeper cultural going on here that is creating some implicit biases that may require more than just platforming to shake. But, yes, of course, platforming is good.
January 26, 2025 @ 2:49 pm
There are plenty of vocally fantastic female singers.
Ashley McBryde, Pillbox Patti, Caylee Hammack, Hannah Juanita, the list goes on.
Borchetta absolutely skewered Ashley, so his side piece, Pearce, could be rise to the top, though her vocal “talent” is as non existent as Swift’s.
Get real. Go after Borchetta and like minded men.
Write article after article, after article, after article, on how if they’re not blowing, they’re not goin’.
I dare ya.
And don’t come back with, “I’ve addressed this.”
Get it. Ad nauseum.
January 26, 2025 @ 7:34 pm
What the fuck are you talking about Di? Ashley McBryde is singed to Warner Music Nashville. She might have never even met Scott Borchetta.
January 26, 2025 @ 8:32 pm
Are you saying Borchetta & Warner & Music Row do not “get in bed together” to make deals?
January 27, 2025 @ 8:16 am
So you’re telling me that you want me to incessantly post articles about how Scott Borchetta is fucking Carly Pearce, and that’s the reason Ashley McBryde isn’t a bigger star? Something tells me that’s theory is not going to get me very far.
You’re out of your depth here, and then some.
January 25, 2025 @ 1:51 pm
“one thing you have yet to illustrate is this simple question…are these women crafting songs that hit home, so to speak, with all walks of country music fans?
Are they writing songs that are easily understood, and accessible to fans young and old, male and female, and casual and die-hard?”
I think that’s illustrated every day, all the time. I think there’s talented women writing songs that hit home all over the place. There’s so many of them, it’s overwhelming and difficult to cover them all. I’m not sure how I am supposed to illustrate that any further than highlighting them on this website.
January 25, 2025 @ 2:53 pm
The flaw in your statement is that the results say otherwise.
Additionally, it’s difficult to demonstrate any real bias when in the past women held a higher status in Country Music even though division in gender roles were more pronounced in that era. Then we add into the equation how modern music is consumed, and all the analytics available with those modes of consumption. Most streaming and downloading sites can offer demographic reports, and it’s obviously a certain fan base is responsible for the consumption of the artists you are highlighting.
Women 18-35 are responsible for the lion’s share of clicks, streams, and downloads of most of these women artists. I haven’t seen any in depth compilation of demographic statistics for their live shows, with the exception of Taylor Swift, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that is trending in that direction as well.
Finally, there is the state of modern music as a whole, compositionally.
There have been numerous articles and even some scientific studies showing that the art of writing a decent melody is declining. That’s on just about every genre of music as well, not just country. It’s difficult to make a newer artist sonically attractive when for most people over 40, as well as a sizeable group of younger listeners who prefer older music, when the melodies are either primitive , or even totally lacking in those songs.
January 25, 2025 @ 10:28 pm
Robert K,
The flaw in your statement is that you have no idea what this article is even about. The point of highlighting Taylor Swift’s success in country music is to 1) DISPROVE the notion that country music is institutionally sexist and cannot or will not launch a female country music star 2) Explain that country music did cultivate a major mainstream star that happened to be a woman, and when she left, it left a gaping hole. That is one of the reasons there isn’t a big mainstream woman at the moment. 3) To illustrate that women CAN succeed in the country genre.
So none of this is an argument about consumption.
But on the consumption side, you’re once again putting the cart before the horse.
As Kelby Dru of Keystone Artist Connect said in my feature on their organization,
“There is a slight bias across all avenues of the industry, and everything is connected. So if you don’t have the streams, you don’t get the show. If you don’t get the show, you don’t get the exposure. And if you don’t get exposure, you don’t get the streams. It’s all connected in one shape or form. So if you have just a little bit of bias in each of those avenues, it adds up to be a lot. Most people are not out there saying, ‘Oh, this is a female, I’m not going to listen to that.’ Yes, that does happen. But that’s not the majority of it. It’s that they aren’t given a platform, and so people don’t even know it exists. It all just adds up to be this cycle that you can’t break.”
https://savingcountrymusic.com/keystone-artist-connect-illustrates-the-key-to-success-is-connection/
January 27, 2025 @ 1:05 pm
It’s hard to come across a new(er) song I’m able to whistle along to, that’s for sure.
As for singing along? If I catch the words they’re yelling out at the top of their lungs, I’ve got no idea what those words means. It’s not the words I learned in school in the 80’s and 90’s.
Conclusion? I’m old. Not yet 50, but out of it totally. That’s cool, actually. Cruising down the road blasting Ernest Tubb, Wynn Stewart, Rick Nelson and Chuck Berry from the speakers of my car.
The car those hip youngsters can’t afford
January 25, 2025 @ 11:25 am
As an Iowan and Hawkeye fan never thought I see a day where an athlete from Iowa is on the headline on this site, pretty cool. Caitlin Clark is an amazing talent and person by all accounts. During her run at Iowa, the way she brought people together is one of her greatest gifts I think. With all the division, bitterness, and anger nowadays to have people come together and take a break from the world and cheer and create so many memorable moments together. Same could be said for Taylor Swift.
January 25, 2025 @ 11:31 am
Taylor Swift is the most overated singer in our lifetime. I just hope the Chiefs lose tomorrow and her overated boyfriend retires so I can watch the NFL without seeing either of them.
January 25, 2025 @ 12:24 pm
Of all the pejorative adjectives available to you, “overrated” to describe a top 5 TE in football history who has never even been the most famous person on his own team makes it feel like you chose the wrong one.
January 29, 2025 @ 2:26 pm
I’m pretty sure that Taylor broke a date with Flick in order to go out with Travis for the first time.
January 25, 2025 @ 12:42 pm
Or maybe , just maybe, people like what they like and these women need to try harder if the want to develop mass appeal.
The same goes for female comedians
Most of them focus on topics that many don’t find humorous, and then cry sexism.
Someone like Roseanne Barr had no problem breaking down that barrier.
Why?
Because many men found her just as funny as women did.
You may or may not agree with her politics, but it’s hard to deny that’s she’s a funny woman.
So the answer is simple…
If you want to be regarded as an equal then develop a product on equal footing with those at the level that you want to reach
January 25, 2025 @ 3:21 pm
They are all about equality until the check arrives.
January 25, 2025 @ 2:09 pm
I’d put Ashley McBryde’s songwriting and vocal talent up against any guy out there and I think she’d hold her ground. When Ashley and Lainey were looking like the next big things a few years ago I was certain Ashley would come out on top. That’s no slight against Lainey, I like her a lot. But Ashley is just a badass take-no-shit kinda girl. My hope is by ditching Jay Joyce on this next record Ashley creates an album that appeals to the mainstream and independent folks alike. So I’m hoping for her to be the “Caitlyn Clark of country music” and blowing shit up.
January 25, 2025 @ 2:59 pm
I want to add Gillian Welch to this conversation. Great songwriter. “Look at Miss Ohio” is such a simple but powerful song, covered by many other performers. I can listen to her all day long.
January 25, 2025 @ 3:20 pm
The WNBA is still a joke among serious sports fans. It is just the mainstream sports media refuses to laugh and actively tries to cancel anyone who doesn’t worship its queens. Its biggest stars and supporters also love to drag Clark down because of her race and heterosexuality. They actually belittle their biggest asset. Which is insane.
Country music did everything it could to promote Swift. Much to every country fan’s pain.
January 25, 2025 @ 11:08 pm
If hundreds of thousands of new spectators are watching and loving the WNBA, they are, by definition, sports fans. As the father of a young teen daughter, I’m very happy that there are examples of all kinds of women excelling in their fields, including sports.
January 26, 2025 @ 4:17 pm
Direct her to softball.
That is a good sport, not women’s basketball.
January 25, 2025 @ 4:09 pm
I’m unsure if it matters, but how many women’s music careers are interrupted or ended because they have children? Are there any example biographies or numbers? As I said, I’m not sure whether that plays a role at all, but I can imagine that the way to the top is interrupted or impossible than and „hopeful young female artists“ fall into oblivion while men work straight on their music careers without interruption. Or does that not matter? I really don’t know, but I think these “non-musical aspects” are often overlooked.
January 26, 2025 @ 1:53 am
All this hemming and hawing and hedging makes you sound like a parody of someone who’s terrified that he might be politically incorrect. Obviously the fact that women bear children interrupts a lot of women’s careers and affects them into the future. You can say it without prefacing it with “I’m unsure if it matters” and then augmenting it ith “.As I said, I’m not sure,…Or does that not matter,…. I really don’t know.”
January 26, 2025 @ 2:52 pm
I am not a native English speaker. Some things may come across differently in translation. So be it.
And I don’t know American society and how having children and careers affect each other there. Maybe female musicians in the us don’t have children, have children later, or give them to others to care for more quickly. No idea.
And that’s what I meant when I wrote, I’m unsure if that plays a role. This is not an obvious fact to me as it is to you. But you didn’t mention any examples of female musicians whose careers were ended or significantly interrupted by children.
By the way, I don’t give a damn whether I appear politically correct. I’m not from the USA and I don’t know what some people there find politically correct and others don’t. I don’t care either. I just like country music and enjoy discussing it here.
January 25, 2025 @ 4:39 pm
Just so tired of this subject.
January 25, 2025 @ 11:30 pm
Yet you took the time to click on this article and then to post a comment.
January 26, 2025 @ 8:05 am
I’m so tired of this subject too. That’s why I want to solve it. Remember when every day we would complain that independent artists weren’t getting the same opportunities as mainstream artists? That traditional country artists were getting overlook for pop country artists? Then we solved that problem. Now we don’t talk about it anymore.
January 26, 2025 @ 7:17 pm
I think it would do everyone here a lot more good to advocate for and talk about the female artists they actually do like with a cerain amount of respect, instead of just mindlessly bashing someone else’s favorites for the most petty, stupid crap imaginable (politics, especially), In particular, the Taylor Swift bashing, primarily, because of her being around Travis Kelce, is absolutely toxic. I don’t know that I can ever be a fan of hers because I’m not at all at ease with her voice, but damned if some of the comments here over the last twelve months about her haven’t made me feel sympathy for her, even if I don’t ever buy one of her records.
For the record, Tift Merritt has been my favorite female artist in the country or Americana genre in this century, beginning with her 2002 album BRAMBLE ROSE, followed by Alice Wallace, and Caitlin Rose. These three each have their own distinctive vocal and songwriting approaches, while paying homage to the 1970’s California country-rock movement that inspired them, Linda Ronstadt (who, once again, is not necessarily “country”, if one’s definition of it is limited to Music Row) and Emmylou Harris especially.
As for Taylor’s friendship with Caitlin Clark, good for her. And with respect to the WNBA–to its detractors on this dais, if it’s really a “failing” sports league as some seem to have implied here, how is it then that new teams will be joining the league this spring in Miami, Charlotte, Cleveland, Portland, Sacramento, and San Francisco (not to mention a revival of the Houston Comets)? If that’s “failure”, then I don’t know what the hell success in sports is supposed to look like.
January 27, 2025 @ 2:39 pm
If the NBA weren’t forced to keep it afloat, it would have died 20+ years ago.
Lots of businesses aren’t allowed to “fail.”
January 31, 2025 @ 5:03 pm
Tift Merritt is very high up on the all-time most underrated artists list. Whatever became of her I wonder?
January 25, 2025 @ 5:16 pm
For simplicity sake this matter is the same as EV’s. Don’t make it something anyone has to do. The more you beat the drum about women the less people will want to listen. This issue isn’t the same as SCM, it comes across as a culture war. Turns me off, I assume many others are also.
January 25, 2025 @ 7:04 pm
Hey Brad,
This might sound crazy to you, but that’s the exact reason I’m wanting to have these conversations.
” Don’t make it something anyone has to do. The more you beat the drum about women the less people will want to listen.”
That is why the efforts to make sure women are treated equal in the country music industry have failed. That is why I’m trying to have the conversation in a different frame. This is also why whenever I post anything about this, you see stock, cut-and-paste responses, because some people aren’t even really paying attention to what is being said. They see “women in country,’ and everything that happens next sounds like Charlie Brown’s teacher.
If you don’t care about this issue, I respect that. Then this article isn’t for you. But there are deeper and bigger conversations going on in the industry about this issue, and this is my forum to lend to that discussion.
January 26, 2025 @ 2:39 pm
My comment isn’t cut and paste. It’s how I feel about the issue. K 102 country up here in N Idaho played tons of women country artist from yesteryear. Sounds great and not one person cares if there is a man or woman on the radio. No one cared back in the day, so you caring so much now makes the matter way worse for women. Your opinion that you are helping is misguided. Music is a cause to get behind. You have veered off that path with this issue.
January 26, 2025 @ 7:59 pm
Hey Brad,
I’m glad your radio station in Idaho plays plenty of women. That really has nothing to do with this article, and is anecdotal. Half of this article, if not most of this article is dispelling fallacies that are often presented by the people advocating for greater representation of women in music. I did this by highlighting the successes Taylor Swift had in the genre, and then explaining how her leaving the genre directly correlated in a dramatic drop in women being represented in country music.
However, the problem is that many people here aren’t actually reading the article. So I can literally post an article explaining that the problem isn’t as bad as some make it out to be and thus, the solutions might be easier to attain than some believe, and people argue with me that I’m actually saying the exact opposite, because they see the headline and they think they know what’s being argued, or presented.
This is why we need a reset in this conversation, because it doesn’t even matter what you say anymore. People just fall back on their preconceived notions.
January 25, 2025 @ 6:22 pm
Give me Bob Seger Any day of the week. Throw in some Tab Benoit, Harry Connick, Jr., and a bunch of other male singers, & we’re golden.
Also, Ann & Nancy Wilson.
January 25, 2025 @ 9:51 pm
Caitlin has been the absolute savior of the WNBA. However, now that she has bent the knee to the woke mob and self-flagellated, the viewership will likely go way back down. Sad, because she is so talented and her presence really exposed the toxic trash dump that is the WNBA.
January 29, 2025 @ 8:02 am
“Bent the knee to the woke mob” lol What are you even talking about?
January 26, 2025 @ 1:26 am
I like and listen to a lot of female country artists. I think are a larger percentage of mainstream.female artists honoring traditional country sound than males
January 26, 2025 @ 6:47 am
Bring back Red Foley and Kitty Wells!
January 26, 2025 @ 8:20 am
IDK why but I believe Taylor Swift will return to country music someday.
January 26, 2025 @ 4:18 pm
They always do. Because the country music industry has self-esteem issues.
January 27, 2025 @ 12:46 pm
I read a piece in some other “country music” publication about Alice Cooper. He recorded some tracks in Nashville recently because he wanted Vince Gill’s picking (probably recorded just the guitar tracks).
The publication made it look like Cooper went country. I like Cooper, and no, he’s not doing country just because Gill delivers some riffs.
That’s like calling Satchmo country just because he played on a couple of Jimmie Rodgers songs, long before country music existed. That said, ol’ Louis sounds more like country than Taylor Swift and Luke Bryan.
January 26, 2025 @ 1:42 pm
May have been mentioned, but it seems hard in all genres of music for a woman with a mediocre to bad voice to make it, whereas there are lots of pretty crappy male vocalists (including some of my favs). While she wasn’t the first, Liz Phair certainly was able to overcome this imbalance.
January 26, 2025 @ 4:32 pm
Well,Ms. Swift never called anyone the “N” word,and didn’t hurl a chair off a hotel balcony in a fit of drunkenness,so it’s quite a stretch to liken her (and DEFINITELY NOT her bank account;she’s a billionairess!!!!!) to Morgan Wallen.Also,”Bro-Country” popped up as Ms. Swift abandoned Country for pop,and radio stations,record labels and,frankly,many female fans went gaga (not Stephanie Germanotta !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) over these handsome cowboys and their beer,moonlight and hot babes in shorts in the chaps’ trucks tunes. Female Country artists’ airplay plummeted,and even when the “bros” were finally gotten rid of,female artists,once a Country radio staple,had almost diappeared.Hopefully,more women (POC,gays and other non-traditional acts) will find their way back on the charts.
January 26, 2025 @ 4:34 pm
Roberti,Ms. Swift’s “teenybopper” crowd has made her a BILLIONAIRESS.She doesn’t NEED a Country music redux.
January 26, 2025 @ 6:48 pm
Kyle,
Where or what is the common platform that all of us use to consume music?
You have stated that Country radio is no longer relevant as that platform. For many SCM readers that is indeed correct. How do people consume Country music? Streaming apps and services like Spotify and Amazon for example? But even then you build your own playlists or use somebody else’s. Listening experiences are very individualized , even siloed. In my case a lot of my listening comes from my own digital library and an extensive vinyl collection. When you have this much control over listening experience, you play to your personal preferences. Simply put, people tend to choose male artists over female. It wasn’t this way in the 70s, 80s and 90s with Country radio being the platform that most utilized. Women artists were commonplace. And nobody complained. While many of us preferred Willie and Waylon and Hag, at the same time we were hearing Dolly and Emmylou and many others and liking it.
But now everything is different. We no longer share the common listening experience as music fans, save for live concerts and nightclubs and festivals.
But yet there are millions of music listeners out there who do not go to music festivals at all. So again, with everyone partaking of music in so many different ways, I think the male/ female disparity is amplified, not solved. I know you are high on music festivals, but honestly I believe that too is a siloed environment. ( i know tons of people who love music but just can’t stomach the idea of 3 or 4 days of discomfort, heat, crowds and noise.)
But yet, i still see a fair amount of females making a living in music in various ways, and i do believe that serious talent eventually gets noticed. SCM has done plenty in highlighting some of that talent.
I will also say that in my community there’s a lot of support for small live music events and you do see many bars, wineries, brewpubs and the like featuring locals playing every weekend. Oftentimes you can find gals either in bands or fronting them, so from that micro perspective, there are females finding an audience.
My comments don’t solve anything, and by no means do I agree on all points about ” a problem” bur that’s how I see it anyway.
January 26, 2025 @ 8:16 pm
Hey Kevin,
I definitely agree that most consumers are now in a soled environment. I try to use this website every day to break those silos down. I talk about mainstream stuff. I talk about underground stuff. I talk about bluegrass and Americana and country adjacent indie rock. I’m currently sitting in the parking lot of a Red Dirt/ Texas country festival. I go to festivals that represent all of these different subgenres and scenes. One common thread throughout all of these various scenes and movements if you actually talk to artists and industry is that it is significantly more difficult for women to make it in this industry than men. The male artists tend to bring this up just as much as the women, because they see it first hand. I have never talked to any artist, or anyone in the industry who has said it’s not a problem. On the ground, in the field, you see it. It’s patently obvious. It’s inarguable. It’s only in comments sections online where you see people complaining that the issue is even being discussed. That doesn’t mean on the very local level, you can’t find women playing country music. But can they make a sustainable career from it? Do they have the same opportunity as men to become a star?
As far as the consumption channels go, whether it’s radio or streaming, the same problems persist. Whether its a radio playlist, or a streaming playlist, women are not given the same opportunities as men in this industry.
” I know you are high on music festivals, but honestly I believe that too is a siloed environment.”
I honestly don’t know what that means. Sure, I guess each individual music festival can be its own siloed environment. But when you’re going to festivals from the tip of Florida to 30 miles from the Canadian border in Montana, it’s two completely different worlds. This really isn’t a festival discussion though.
I am here though. I am living it. I am in the bowels of country music. I see how the mechanisms work. This is a legitimate issue. That is why it keeps being brought up.
January 26, 2025 @ 8:40 pm
When I worked in Scandinavia a few years ago, I went to two country festivals in Norway, where I saw Bobby Bare, Dale Watson, Vince Gill, Will Jennings, a seriously wasted Clinton Gregory, Becky Hobbs and Bill Booth, along with several other acts from Norway and Europe, just as good as the americans.
Sure, it’s some 12 years ago, but at least it seems like the traditional part of country music is alive and well across the pond (this year they’re lucky enough to catch Brennen Leigh and Jesse Dayton). Even bluegrass got it’s own annual fest in Norway.
Not bad for a country of 5 million people.
As you’ve pointed out a few times, real country seems to thrive in the old countries.
January 27, 2025 @ 7:50 am
Disney comics are similar.
The best Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck stories aren’t in animation. They are in the comics – of which only Europe actively continues to produce new work.
January 27, 2025 @ 12:38 pm
That’s true.
Al Talliaferro, Carl Barks. They’re still leagues above whoever came after them.
I subscribed to Disney when it launched, just to dive into all those 30/40/50’s shorts with Donald, Goofey etc., kept locked away by Disney for ages.
I found less than 20 of them, along with some old live action chestnuts. The cheap, modern 3D shows for babies, on the other hand… plenty.
So I cancelled the crap.
January 27, 2025 @ 2:43 pm
I am more of a Mickey Mouse guy, so Floyd Gottfredson is my favorite. There are still a few good modern writers in Italy, despite Disney starting to exert stricter oversight on publication. (In the past, Disney would license the contract and mostly stay hands-off. That has changed in recent years.)
The short selection on Disney Plus is dreadful. Every classic era short should be available and don’t get me started on the disclaimers. Let us watch the great art without apologies.
January 29, 2025 @ 9:10 am
I’m gonna weigh in because I, too, am an avid consumer of comics
There isn’t just some ‘coincidence’ that the Marvel universe is so different from the comics, nor that the best disney stuff isn’t getting animated.
It’s because the biggest crowds of either medium aren’t likely to cross over
That is to say, most people who READ, say, the star wars books, aren’t as likely to rejoice over the MOVIES BASED on those same books
Because the art forms are totally different, and avid consumers of either medium are often unable to bridge the gap.
A book relies on the author’s use of vocabulary and sense of prose to project an image based on text. It’s the skill of the author and their vision that makes a masterpiece
A film uses visuals and sound, usually by multiple contributors, and when you get lots of contributors there are these differences of vision.
There’s a reason most films are edited by a woman to turn them into a finished coherent product. It’s well known how much editing it took to make Star Wars (1977) a viable film
We’re also reaching a junction where technology allows the best artists, animators and voice actors to freelance. no more are major art companies the go-between that gives creators an audience and gives an audience content.
A modern day Milt Kahl wouldn’t need to kowtow to anyone, he’d freelance.
And with artists freelancing, they’re invariably able to create their vision solo or in small groups. makes the end result consistent. This is why shows like Hazbin and Helluva Boss are making waves. it isn’t just ‘liberal media hip with the tweens’
They’re consistent shows with a set style, set theme and set vision that they execute consistently.
Meanwhile Book of Boba Fett stopped focusing on Boba Fett halfway through to give more Mandalorian content, and the entire Obi-Wan miniseries existed to retcon some original trilogy dialogue that didn’t need retconning because in the ps2 revenge of the sith game Obi-Wan said ‘Anakin Skywalker is dead, you killed him’
Instead of making an entire miniseries that opens more plotholes than it closes, just… direct audiences to the ps2 game, dialogue inconsistency solved.
Small wonder a small group of creators able to faithfully create their vision is succeeding where major companies trying to please everyone are failing
This is why the Archie (and later IDW, screw you Ken Penders) Sonic comics have been so successful even as the sonic games have been a fourteen year consecutive string of duds.
As for Disney, i think the reason they aren’t hosting large parts of their classic library is because they CAN’T.
House of Mouse, for instance, is completely missing. in no small part because of the number of movies and shows it draws from, references, and even plays other classic Disney shorts.
the number of people to figure out who gets what royalties would be insurmountable. So they just don’t host it rather than figure out how to pay royalties upon royalties on content that uses other content.
And the reason the animated stories AREN’T pulling from the comics is because the format is too different for the content to make the jump.
A good comic book movie HAS to be a good movie FIRST and frequently that REQUIRES deviating from the storytelling style of comics.
Comics can give you a dialogue infodump, or just… a single facial expression for a panel to sell a joke.
A reader can look at a reaction panel for as long as it takes for the joke to sink in. A movie viewer will not know what to do if an actor stares into the camera for fifteen seconds making a face, and narration is taboo in films but a prerequisite for comics.
A comic CAN set up its story with dialogue, when movies do it, audiences don’t respond.
It’s HARD to translate comic content to film faithfully and still have a coherent product. It’s usually a job that’s only successfully done by small groups of creators.
Scrooge McDuck was always my favorite.
January 27, 2025 @ 7:28 am
Kyle, apologies for redundancy.
To be more clear what i mean by this:
We all used to go to Country radio as a common shared listening experience to hear Country music. Everybody did. Regardless where you lived in the US, there was Country radio, Am and Fm.
Now due to the changes in Country Music played on radio ( since the mid 00s) coupled with technology, we have changed dramatically in how we find and listen to Country Music. It used to be a shared experience and women got airplay back in the 70s-90s in reasonable numbers. It was never 50/50 though. It’s always skewed more to males, in part due to biological responses. ( and yes i know, despite that many females built legacy careers using radio as a primary mechanism. )
BUT…we have lost that one universal platform we all had, and now most people control their own listening experience entirely, utilizing digital platforms and playlists tailored to their exact tastes. And I’m saying that many of those playlists contain many more male artists than female, and the reasons aren’t necessarily that people hate women artists, it’s that male performers tend to resonate easier with many different demographics.
So the reason I mentioned music festivals, is because it is one example of a shared music platform that can bring many people together of varying backgrounds and tastes. HOWEVER, my point was that even music festivals fail to reach many millions of music listeners, because a lot of folks just aren’t in to multi- day big crowd live music events. A lot of families prefer to spend 3 or 4 days elsewhere, maybe a beach somewhere for example. Many don’t like the crowds and fuss of a festival. My point is if you pumped every Country music festival full of female performers in hopes of building more interest in them, it still won’t reach a large swath of music fans. ( the people who never go to festivals)
And I believe having no longer a common shared listening experience for ALL Country Music fans like radio once was, has created an even less favorable environment for female performers.
That’s my real point, which apparently I didn’t convey in an understandable manner.
Also, separate subject, they have been saying the same thing about rock and roll as a genre for a long time. Where are all the females? Why aren’t there more to be found? The answer is similar, less women started bands, learned guitar, male bands tend to resonate really well with rock fans, and so on. Thinking about this, it would seem historically that females in any number tend to do better in pop music than other genres.
January 27, 2025 @ 8:13 am
“Bro- Country” vs. Message Country.Former:FGL,Luke Bryan, Billy Currington,and many other 2010’s modestly tatented,handsome white cowboys (though B.C. CERTAINLY wasn’t good-looking !!!!!!!!!!!!).Latter,”The Thunder Rolls” (perhaps ironic given the accusations against Mr. Gaines);”Independence Day,” even (though it was cringingly dumb and cliched) “Accidental Racist”,”National Working Woman’s Holiday,”etc. Your choices,fellow posters.
January 27, 2025 @ 8:59 am
the formula is simple. if you’re a male country singer, just be the kind of guy that girls want to be with and other guys want to be. if you’re female country singer, be the girl that guys want to marry and be the girl that other girls want to be. I think the Castellows are going to do for country music what Caitlin Clark is doing for the WNBA very soon.
January 27, 2025 @ 1:40 pm
Put it in, Trig.
You know it’s the truth.
You have a big voice, and you can help.
January 27, 2025 @ 2:18 pm
The death of the album in place of hocking singles kills talent. Promotions are pushing ear worms in 3min soundbites. So all we get is crap that appeals to 14 to 25ers. Gurl, truck, dixiecup,blue jean
. Scoal ring….garbage. it takes a collosal talent like billy strings, marcus king, and sierra farrell to break out. So for women they want a pretty face and a low cut shirt with a shitty voice to sell generic terrible songs. That idea is what made Katie Noel make music. All image, no talent or substance.
January 28, 2025 @ 5:47 am
It’s amazing what the blog has become. Seven years ago people had intelligent conversation in the comments rather than just repeating conservative talking points. Yes, there was some of that before but it seems like it’s been dialed up to 11 with this article and the Carrie Underwood articles. I remember you wrote an article about a Trixie Mattel’s album. I can only imagine what the comments would look like if you did that today.
I really wish the people reading this blog could open their minds a little bit to different perspectives rather than just jumping to the comments for something to be mad about. It truly is like what you said back in 2016, with the rise of social media and the death of google, we’re becoming divided and ill-informed.
https://savingcountrymusic.com/facebooks-algorithm-deserves-more-credit-for-sowing-societys-disharmony/
January 31, 2025 @ 9:48 pm
In terms of women in country we should support now I add Lindi Ortega to that list. She keeps delivering above average to great material with every album. And continues to be an opening or sidelined. But her music definitely has mainstream appeal IMO.And her consistency speaks for itself.
And of course Tami Nielsen but she has dabbled outside country so not wholly within the genre..
February 1, 2025 @ 2:53 pm
I really appreciate your work on this site, Trig. But I notice a contradiction: On the one hand, there are articles that lament the disregard for women in country music. On the other hand, Willow Avalon’s excellent debut, for example, was reviewed on all major sites. It just doesn’t happen here.
“A Place They Call Home,” the outstanding collaboration between the Castellows and Flatland Cavalry, was also reviewed on all relevant sites. That doesn’t happen here. – I know, individual song releases are generally not discussed here. But then young female artists in particular are not visible. The same applies to the SCM playlist. Hardly any women.
It seems to me that there is a lot written about the topic here. But other sites and other playlists actually do a lot more to promote women. I’ve never been able to discover exciting new female artists through SCM, only through other sites.
It seems to me that female artists with a small catalog of work are not yet worthy of being written about on SCM. But then you don’t have to complain about the fact that they aren’t visible. Other sites do much more.
February 1, 2025 @ 3:47 pm
Hey Akade,
So first off, to say there are “hardly any women” on the SCM Playlist is incorrect. There are women or women-fronted songs at the 2, 4, 8, 11, 12, 15, 17, and 26 slots. The only part of the playlist that doesn’t have a lot of women is the back end. But I’m not going to put a bunch of women on my playlist just to be like “Hey look, I’m supporting women!” I’m going to put singles on the playlist that I know are going to resonate with the intended audience and have an impact for those women. Otherwise, nobody is going to listen to the playlist at all, and nobody benefits. There are plenty of all women playlists out there that nobody listens to. Intentionally featuring women is a much better way to have an impact.
As for the Willow Avalon, you seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of what Saving Country Music is all about. If you know about the Willow Avalon album, what do you want from me, to affirm your established opinions? That’s not the job of Saving Country Music. It’s to tell you what you DON’T know about. If every other outlet has covered the album, that is actually a disincentive for me to cover it. I’d rather cover the album or artist everyone is overlooking. That’s why I recently featured the Paige Plaisance album that nobody featured. That’s why I purposely chose to feature Tennessee Jet yesterday, who is a Platinum-selling songwriter that NOBODY wrote a review for.
The last two weeks I’ve been at festivals in Florida. I did a huge write-up about Caitlin Cannon’s program where she teaches inmates songwriting. I made sure I was at Courtney Patton’s album release show, did a big post about it on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/DFOOr5ISsZ5/?img_index=7), and then made it a feature of my Mile 0 Fest coverage. No other outlets covered these things.
Also, I’ve been listening to the Willow Avalon album, and very well might review it here very soon. But Willow Avalon is a major label artist and will be okay. I am not Whiskey Riff with 50 employees, and a underwrite from the Grand Ole Opry for 10 million dollars, nor am I posted straight pro Trump articles at a two-per-day clip to feed clicks. I cover the stuff everyone else isn’t, like the women in country issue that the rest of the media has gone dark on.
If the 72 hours I contribute each week to this website is not good enough for you or anyone else, well I’m sorry. But I’m doing the best I can. And I try every day to do better.