‘Her Country’: A conversation about women country artists carving their own paths

Read an interview with author Marissa R. Moss

View this email online May 24, 2022 by Lyndsey McKenna Today, we’re bringing you an interview with Marissa R. Moss, the author of a new book about women in country music. Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for TIME In the late 1990s, women artists like The Chicks and LeAnn Rimes ruled country radio and Nashville’s Music Row. But over the past 25 years, women have been pushed more and more to country music’s margins. A 2019 study showed that women made up only 16% of artists on the Billboard Hot Country chart; at the CMA Awards, only men have won Entertainer of the Year for a decade. In the recent book Her Country: How the Women of Country Music Became the Success They Were Never Supposed to Be, journalist Marissa R. Moss traces the rise of three current country stars — Kacey Musgraves, Mickey Guyton and Maren Morris — and shows how they (and other women artists like them) have found success in the industry on their own terms, changing the genre forever. In this interview, NPR’s Lyndsey McKenna asked Moss about why she chose to tell this story and what she learned along the way. NPR Music: Her Country begins in 1999, a time when Shania Twain, Faith Hill and The Chicks were chart-topping, award-winning stars of the genre and beyond. Can you tell us more about your initial inspiration for chronicling the past two decades in country? Marissa R. Moss: Country music is full of books about the outlaws — Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings — and Dolly Parton, and that’s all great and wonderful. I read them all myself. But I wanted this book to help open the door to other stories, other ways to look at and write about country music. Because country radio is so inherently misogynistic and racist, when you glance back at the past 20 years of airplay charts, you will not see the majority of the women in this book. I wanted to offer a very modern history that shows the impact they did have, even if it wasn’t on the airwaves. Plus, country music makes a great foil for what’s going on culturally and politically in this country and I wanted to talk about those things, too!   Newsletter continues after sponsor message How did you decide to focus specifically on the stories of Maren Morris, Mickey Guyton and Kacey Musgraves?  First and foremost, I love their music and I wanted to love what I was writing about. All three are such trailblazers and tell such different yet parallel stories about how to pave out success in an industry that expects you to fail. They are all three from Texas, as are The Chicks and Miranda Lambert and Amanda Shires (and Beyoncé!), who all play important roles in this story, too – I spent summers in Texas myself when my dad lived there, so I have that connection. And I wanted to tell an intersectional story as well, one that tells of how, yes, it’s very hard for white women in country music, but the oppression experienced by a Black woman is on a whole other plane — and sometimes it’s even the white women themselves, in their own pursuit of feminism, who can cause that oppression. But at the very core, these are three artists in their primes who are changing the genre and the path ahead for women, as well as how we see the genre — and making some of the best damn music around. As a journalist, you’ve written a number of groundbreaking features that have exposed some serious – even systemic – issues within the industry. Is there anything that you discovered or realized while researching or writing Her Country that surprised you?  What happened to The Chicks always surprises me, as it was just so insane — the group was the biggest thing in country music, and everyone was just OK with disposing of it?! But that vitriol and desire to quiet them existed well beyond that one comment on stage — I found articles in the archives at the Country Music Hall of Fame that I assumed were from after that famous incident and were actually before! Because they were that threatening. And just linking all the pieces together — the consolidation that happened after the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the shifting of styles post-9/11, the racism and sexism built into radio programming software, The Chicks … all of it. It was this storm that I think everyone saw coming and felt rushing through their hair and no one did anything to stop it. We typically conclude these interviews by asking what was on an author’s playlist while writing. Her Country actually includes an incredible playlist addendum featuring some NPR Music favorites: Margo Price, Brandi Carlile and Cam, just to name a few. But I have to ask: Any recommendations for a few women of country to keep our eyes on in the next few years? Oh gosh, there are so many! Kelsey Waldon, Kaitlin Butts, Emily Scott Robinson, Brittney Spencer, Kiely Connell, Roberta Lea, Chapel Hart, Brennen Leigh, Morgan Wade, Tami Neilson, Margo Cilker, Leah Blevins, Hailey Whitters, Reyna Roberts, Charlie Marie, Caylee Hammack, Autumn Nicholas. Country and Americana music is in such good hands, it’s hard to keep up. But country radio isn’t going to keep up for us, so damn we gotta try. Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to hear live radio from WUFT 89.1 (edit station). Need a new playlist? Follow NPR Music on Spotify and Apple Music What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: nprmusic@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Books, Pop Culture, Health and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to NPR Music emails. 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