Booze-soaked country with the usual set of problems: broken relationships, cheating losers, heavy boozers. What can you do? Get a slide guitar and a few side musicians and sing your broken heart out, with a good stiff drink to go with. So what's different? It's women only, 'cos the guys are useless!
Did you know that country music has a sexism problem? Now widely reported, country music radio has been consistently dominated by the male of the species. Even on streaming services, until very recently, country playlists were outed for being in the vast majority, male. It’s been like this for years.
How the situation got out of hand baffles me, since I couldn’t stand to listen to more than one of those twangy-voiced dudes with big hats sing about beer, fridges and taking the dog for another walk. The only way to deal with this, frankly, is to ask the boys with the big hats to go grab another Bud, find the couch and a good game to watch. And since there are no games on at the moment, perhaps instead they can read a good, feminist novel. Fellas you are sitting this one out. Our first foray into country is the new series Lipstick & Cowboy Boots and it’s an all-woman type deal. The name by the way, was thought up by my daughter Esther, a Kacey Musgraves fan. And so it had to be Kacey on the cover.
It was Kacey’s 2018 album Golden Hour (and prior to that her superb first Christmas album - she has now made two seasonal LPs) that tuned my ears to country, more or less for the first time. On the Golden Hour, the songs just shine through as bright as buttons in part thanks to the crisp production by co-writer Daniel Tashian, who also leads the band The Silver Seas. Tashian conjures up a very unique sound. Anyhow, those songs drew me in to a simple, pop-country sound that is uplifting, comforting and melancholy all at once. Sort of three chords, the truth and a little sunshine thrown in.
Country music’s resurgence is being largely driven by a crop of female artists that have re-invented the genre with a crossover feel, taking country just that little closer to pop and, in our humble opinion, the better for it. Since hearing the Golden Hour, I’ve been thinking about collecting a bunch of these tracks together into one playlist series and voilà, here it is finally. With excellent cuts from Maren Morris, Miranda Lambert, Kalie Shorr, Cam, The Highwomen, TSS favourites Joseph and many more. I know it’s not the first all-woman country playlist. I’m sure the streaming services will have a bunch of ‘Women Of Country’ type stuff. This is more like women of pop-country I guess, though the inclusion of Maggie Rogers, Jennie Lewis and Katie J Pearson deviate from the theme in a way as to complicate proceedings just a little.
Be warned, however. The country-pop flavour does not mean these tracks don’t pack a punch. There is a lot of booze going down in this collection too, and the country genre is notorious for its association with the bottle, bourbon no doubt. For a comprehensive deep dive into the relationship between country songs and booze, check out Gerard Sampaio’s magnum opus on the subject.
Playback notes: Listen irresponsibly, and shuffle if you must, but hear it through to the end.