By: Alice Gaalswyk
We’ve all heard those words before: “I’ll listen to anything but country.” For the longest time, I was one of those people. Bashing a genre that for me, was defined by lyrics about girls, jean shorts, whiskey, and tractors, while having no real substance or appeal. And to be fair, many country songs are shallow on the surface and feel extremely stereotypical and overdone. But recently, I have found myself going through a bit of a country-bumpification if you will. Country songs have been sounding so good recently, and I won’t be ashamed for my love of a little country tune.
This personal sentiment has been mirrored in the explosion of country music nationally. Across the United States, country music streams have been growing by 20%, while as of August 2023, three country songs occupied the top three spots on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart for the first time since “country” has been defined as a genre (Newsweek).
While these trends are certainly interesting to think about, I’m more concerned with my love for a particular brand of country music: female country. Artists going back to Dolly Parton, bands like The Chicks, pop-country stars like Shania Twain and Carrie Underwood, and newer artists like Kacey Musgraves and even Taylor Swift’s older albums have all been enormously influential within the genre and music industry, while also having huge commercial success and creating some boot-stompin’ songs that I firmly believe anyone can love and appreciate. These artists show that country does not have to be about the same, monotonous subjects that people often associate with the genre. In “Wide Open Spaces,” The Chicks sing about the necessity of stepping out on your own into the world and leaving everything that you know behind. Another one of their hits, “Goodbye Earl,” shamelessly slams an abusive ex-husband and features two women confessing to his murder, all with lyrics and a melody that are catchy and belt-in-the-car worthy. Shania Twain lists off her demands for her hypothetical lover in a truly boot-stomping tune, “Any Man of Mine.” Kacey Musgraves wistfully reflects on the passing of a previous relationship, but also a previous life in “Space Cowboy.” All of these songs are unapologetically country, and yet they all have very different styles and elements that make them unique and distance themselves from the quintessential country song. All of these female artists have received critical and commercial acclaim, and they deserve to be seen as more than what people typically associate with “country” music.
These important female influences in country music have also had wide stretching influence into other musical genres as well, which can be seen through a growing trend of bands incorporating country influences into their music. Indie bands like Big Thief, boygenius, Hippo Campus, and even artists like Lana Del Ray have all used folk and country elements in their most recent releases, pointing towards this growing popularity of country music on a mass scale.
I’m not saying that everyone has to instantaneously become a diehard, boot stompin’, whiskey drinkin’, rootin’ tootin’ lover of country, but I am saying that country music deserves more acknowledgement than the narrative its reputation tells. And, if you gave some of these female artists a try, you might even–gulp–admit that country can be kind of good sometimes.
