The Final Issue to Save Country Music (A New Year’s Resolution)

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When Saving Country Music was first founded in 2008, the idea that we would ever get to where we are today in country music seemed like a virtual impossibility, a pipe dream, and certainly an uphill battle to say the least. Folks laughed at the idea of “saving” a genre that was so far gone with pop performers like Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts, it would be impossible to ever resuscitate.

This sentiment was especially prolific during the height of Bro-Country in 2014-2015 when the goal of saving country music seemed especially out of reach. Country was spiraling in the wrong direction, and it was difficult to impossible to even dream of an era when traditional country would make a resurgence in the mainstream, and independent/non-corporate radio performers would be supported in increasingly equal numbers to their mainstream counterparts.

But we believed. We believed that if the public was simply presented all of their options in country music unabridged and unbiased by who was “popular” or signed to major labels, listeners would make better choices, and deserving performers would find the support they needed to sustain their careers, if not succeed beyond our expectations. We believed that if we supported independent artists, up-and-coming artists, more traditional and roots-based artists, and country legends with grassroots initiatives, it would ultimately have mainstream implications.

Now we’ve been experiencing an undeniable resurgence and righting of the ship in country music for multiple years. Country now sounds more country than it has since the 1990s. Up-and-comers now have greater opportunities than ever before. There are definitely still holes and discrepancies in this success, and deserved artists are still being left behind. Country music will never be “saved” in total. But where we are in 2025 feels like a 180-degree pivot from where we were just a few years ago.

Pop country will always be a part of the country music diet. All we were asking for was a seat at the table for country music’s legends, for independent performers who showed mainstream resonance, and an equal playing field for all performers based on their merit as opposed to what label they were signed to. Sure, corporate country radio is still pretty terrible. But country radio has never been less relevant in the history of country music as it is in 2025.

But amid all the current success and the promising future ahead, there is one significant fly in the ointment, and it’s a big one. Despite opportunities opening up for artists and performers from a wide array of styles, influences, backgrounds and demographics, somehow the women in country music continue to be left behind. And yes I know, I can already sense you rolling your eyes simply from saying this. “Oh, this subject again?” Yes, this subject again. But hear me out.

It’s not just that women aren’t getting played on the radio. It’s not that festival rosters continue to be released with sometimes no women at all, or only one or two on the lineup, or none or only one woman in the larger fonts. It’s that these trends that you’ve probably heard plenty about over the years continue to get worse, not better, and dramatically so, even as many other markers for the health of country music continue to trend positive.

Even worse, where years before there was at least substantive discussions and awareness about this issue within the media and the industry, now even this is not occurring except for in isolated circles. In fact, one of the issues plaguing this particular cause is that discussion, organization, and agitation surrounding it is being diverted and superseded by issues surrounding Black and Brown artists, and LGBT artists. Yet while advocates for these cohorts can proclaim very real inroads and increased representation in country music over the last couple of years, women are getting further left behind.

Make no mistake about it. What is not being advocated for here is for mainstream country radio to immediately start playing women at a 50% ratio, or for women to make up 50% of festival rosters, or for the up-and-coming women on those rosters to get paid the same exact money as the top male headliners when they are only a quarter of the draw. This is not about quotas. This is not about advocating for an act of Congress to legislatively mandate better representation for all women in country music.

Granted, if there were moments on country radio where the ratio of men to women was 50/50, this would prove this problem is on the way to being solved, and being put to bed so we could move on to other dilemmas. But you have to walk before you can run. You have to be pragmatic about implementing actual solutions as opposed to simply grousing about the problem, and demanding idealistic impossibilities. You have to understand what’s actually happening from a fundamental standpoint to solve it.

In fact, demanding such things as 50/50 representation right now, disregarding the economic reasons for why women are being represented in such poor numbers, politicizing this issue as opposed to understanding its something that affects country fans and performers of all political stripes, and understanding that ultimately it’s a population/inventory issue where there are just so fewer women in country music, these are all imperative steps to actually addressing and solving this problem as opposed to just complaining about it.

This is not a “woke” issue. Part of the problem is letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, and allowing ideology to get into the way of practical solutions and substantive progress.

But it is most definitely an issue nonetheless. In 2024, there were exactly ZERO solo women who hit #1 on country radio. There were only two women who hit #1 on country radio at all, and that wasn’t until December when Ella Langley hit #1 with Riley Green via the song “You Look Like You Love Me,” and Jessie Murph hit #1 with Koe Wetzel on the song “High Road.” But both of these #1’s came tied to male collaborators, and during the Christmas season when most songs stop being promoted to country radio.


When was the last time a woman had a solo #1 on country radio? You have to go all the way back to Lainey Wilson and “Watermelon Moonshine” in October of 2023. For 60+ weeks, there hasn’t been a solo woman represented at #1 on country radio, and counting. How much does radio matter in 2025? Not much. But it matters some, and this dubious streak represents the dramatic regression women faced in country music over the last year.

At this point, having even one solitary woman represented on country radio at #1 with a song that doesn’t also feature a man would be an inroad into this problem. That’s how far we have slid. Ten years after the infamous TomatoGate incident where one radio consultant told programmers, “If you want to make ratings in country radio, take females out” and it caused a massive backlash and the launching of numerous support organizations and initiatives, this problem has only become worse, not better.

This issue isn’t just isolated to mainstream country radio either. It also affects streaming playlists, as a 2024 tire shop playlist analysis illustrated. And it effects the live space as well with what we saw at the 2024 all-women Key Western Fest.

But as Key Western Fest illustrated, part of the issue is how the media has gone from an advocate for women in country, to now where they are a party to the problem, in part from their myopic focus on things like Beyoncé’s foray into country music and what that means, while also committing incredible amounts of coverage to performers such as Post Malone and Jelly Roll from outside of the country fold, and centering attention on Trans rights that has made the “women in country music” issue an afterthought.

One of the reasons this issue is going to be so difficult to solve is because you don’t just have to fight against preconceived and entrenched notions within the country music industry, you’re going to have to fight against the few remaining activists who seem hell bent on destroying the credibility of anyone else who would dare question their authority on this issue.

Men in the media used to discuss this issue regularly. But they all stopped after getting regularly attacked via character assassinations and outright lies by women who saw this issue as their own, and turned it into a turf war that they used to increase their media brands and social clout, sowing arguments on social media as opposed to wanting to actually work with others to enact solutions. These women would also attack other women in the media, and even attack women performers in country if they crossed them politically, or collaborated with male performers, like we saw with Miranda Lambert.

But these politically-motivated media activists have had a decade in charge now where they drive the discussions and narratives. And in 10 years, this problem has only become worse, while the amount of people actually advocating for this issue has become almost non-existent from the fear of social retribution from these political actors. Even Leslie Fram at CMT who was one of the few people trying to enact real world solutions with her Next Women in Country initiative is no longer with the company. As Waylon Jennings once said, “We need a change.”

It’s important to point out that the head of the CMA (Country Music Association) is a woman, Sarah Trahern. The CEO of Sony Records Nashville is also a woman, Cindy Mabe. The idea this issue centers around a bunch of old White men sitting in a smoky boardroom somewhere on Music Row deciding to keep women down for political purposes is one of the reasons it continues to remain unresolved.

Political apparatchiks want to make this a political problem, because they project ulterior political objectives on others because their motivations are political and ulterior in nature, and so they assume this same behavior from others.

But this is not a political issue. It’s an economic issue. It’s a meritocratic issue. The fat cats and bean counters on Music Row would start supporting women in greater numbers yesterday if they thought it would make them more or equal money. But it won’t. That’s why you have to recognize, understand, then address, then solve the economic dilemmas underpinning the women in country problem.

The good news is that at both the top of the independent and mainstream country industry, there are an incredibly talented and resonant crop of women who could be the catalyst to reversing the current trends. Lainey Wilson, Ella Langley, Megan Moroney, Ashley McBryde, Carley Pearce and more could be this generation’s wave of incredible women to crack this code. Sierra Ferrell, Kaitlin Butts, Sarah Jarosz, and others from the independent/Americana side give us similar hope. And this is just the start.

But if nothing else, we need to start discussing this matter once again, and in open, diverse, heterodox, and nuanced discussions. We know this is a problem. Shoving data down our throats, making the issue political, and other polarizing approaches is only going to impinge on the ability of this issue to find consensus among country music fans and industry members to actually think about it and work to solve it.

And part of those solutions need to involve out-of-the-box thinking. Country radio only represents country radio, not country music. On the Americana radio format, gender parity reigns, and Sierra Ferrell was the biggest artist on the format in 2024, while mainstream women like Kacey Musgraves used it to their success. Instead of fighting over the fate of mainstream country radio which is similar to re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, we need to work on future-forward solutions, including building new, independent infrastructure that doesn’t institutionally put women second.

This isn’t going to be easy. This is truly the hardest problem to solve in country music. But we know it’s possible. We know even in the ’70s when the Outlaws were reshaping country music and creating an economic surge, women were still succeeding, and were a part of that success. In the ’90s even among the massive popularity of Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, etc., women still played a major role.

With so much renewed popularity, interest, and economic activity surrounding country music at the moment, this is an excellent opportunity to take that energy, and make sure it’s going to deserving women as well. And it all must start at the very grassroots level and developing up-and-comers who will become the next star women of country music. This entry-level emphasis is the most difficult part of the problem, but the most important part of the long-term solution.

In 2014 when everything seemed the most bleak in country music, an artist by the name of Sturgill Simpson released an album called Metamodern Sounds in Country Music. Then through a series of events, country music started to extricate itself from the throes of Bro-Country. The world started to awaken to the fact that they had alternatives in country compared to what they were presented on country radio, and independent performers started rivaling, then at times surpassing their mainstream counterparts to the point where even major labels started singing them to autonomous distribution deals.

This same possibility is out there for women. But we need a new, fresh approach and push. We need both bold ideas, but very real on-the-ground support. We need a moonshot, but we also need simple awareness.

In 2025, this is the pledge from Saving Country Music. Nobody can guarantee results. But we can all commit to actually caring and addressing this problem. It’s not going to only take a year to solve. It’s going to take multiple years. It’s going to take vigilance. It’s going to take people reaching out across ideological, societal, economic, and the independent/mainstream divide. But it’s all very possible.

And for those that think this is a non-issue, don’t care, or wish everyone would just shut up about it already, tough shit. This is the final frontier, the final issue to solve to “save country music.” We tackle it because it’s the hardest one to take on. It doesn’t matter how popular this topic is among country music fans, Saving Country Music readers, or social media followers. It doesn’t matter how much people on the political right see it as a political mater or a “woke” initiative.

Women may never reach 50% representation on country radio or country festivals. In fact, that outcome is very likely simply from the demographic breakdown of the country format. Not to say we shouldn’t strive for that. But we can reach a moment where if a woman has the God-given talent to be a country star, she’s bestowed the same opportunities of a man to attain it, and we all feel confident in saying that’s the case.

Then, and only then, will country music be saved, and we can all shut up about this issue once and for all.


© 2025 Saving Country Music

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