Country Weekly
Women Taking Country By Storm
April 6, 1999
"It's a good feeling to be a woman in country music today," says superstar Patty Loveless.
And good business. Last year, country's women scored half on the Top 10 overallalbums and singles. That's a stark contrast to 1995 and 1996, when only two women made the Top 10 singles list.
What's more, last year the women landed the No. 1 spot 23 out of 52 weeks. In 1994 and 1995, respectively, women spent only eight weeks at the top.
Ask today's female stars and they'll tell you their success was inevitable.
"When I moved to town in 1985, the biggest female artist was Reba McEntire," says Trisha Yearwood. "She was the one who really turned it around and proved that women could sell concert tickets and records.
"When that started to happen, record labels started to sign more women. It was inevitable - and it's just grown."
"It's our time," says Lari White. "I think that's because performers like Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn paved the way for today's women country singers.
"They were some of the first women who were able to be feminine and still compete in the business world and be savvy about their careers."
The power of women in country isn't restricted to radio play and album sales. Women are also at the head of the cass with concertgoers. Shania Twain ruled with last year's third best-selling tour. Reba had the fourth and LeAnn Rimes, the sixth.
"Women are giving the people what they want in country music more than the men are," says Mindy McCready. "That's because women are taking more risks with how they perform, the subject matter of ths songs they sing, the videos they're doing.
"Women have adopted a 'be yourself' attitude," Mindy adds. "Which is great for me because I have such a hard time conforming to the everyday routine."
Experts say the reason for this success story, is simply, the music.
"Women had something to prove in our industry, where men just took things for granted," explains MCA Nashville president Tony Brown. "There are some great new female artists. I think they do more interesting music, whereas most of the male acts tend to copy each other.
"The successful females, for the most part, carve their own niche with the kind of material they do. Their song lyrics are more often built around social issues.
"Jo Dee Messina's 'Stand Beside Me' is really a comment about a woman wanting to be equal with a man.
"And Shania's lyrics from The Woman in Me album are really clever. They're aimed at every woman in America - and also aimed at men to hear what she's saying.
"I think women have something to say, and they're doing it through their music."
Lorrie Morgan agrees. "The songwriters have persevered in this town and have really written some great songs for women in the last couple of years," she says.
"When I look back on the years that Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline were around, there was a lot of controversy over their songs," Patty adds. "I think women are able to experience more things than men are. They're not afraid to sing about what's going on in the world today."
And they're not afraid to write about what's going on. From her second album, The Woman In Me, to her current, Come On Over, Shania Twain's writing about women for women.
"It's kind of an invasion of women these days," Shania says. "Women are just being taken more seriously. If you look around you in the world today, all professions have women rising to the top. Music is no exception."
Another reason for the "wave of women" is their creativeness and adaptability.
"I don't think women are afraid of change," Patty says. "The only change a man can make is maybe to put a different hat on," she adds, laughing.
"Women are not afraid to change their hairstyle or clothing style. Women tend to not be afraid of trying to go with the times."
And they're not afraid to wear a hat if they choose. Terri Clark - who debuted with the "strong woman" anthem "Better Things To Do" - is one of the few women to don a cowboy hat.
"I wore a hat off and on when I was a teenager, when I was singing around my hometown," she says. "I wore one when I worked at a Western store in Nashville. I saw a niche for it, and I thought, "I'm gonna wear my hat when I get my record deal.' I did and nobody said anything about it."
"Women like Shania and Trisha and Mindy aren't afraid to be pretty and sexy," says Lorrie. "It's OK to look sexy and be a woman in ever aspect and still sell records.
"I think that the people have said, 'Hey, that's a working woman. She looks pretty. I can do the same thing. I can raise kids and still be pretty.' I think we've become something that other women look up to."
These women are not only ruling the country charts - they've become a powerful force in pop music, too. Last year, Martina McBride scored a Top 5 pop hit with "Valentine." And LeAnn Rimes led the way in 1997 with her smash pop chart hit "How Do I Live."
"It's our challenge as artists to be accepted by wider and wider audiences," said Shania, whose "You're Still The One" is her biggest-selling crossover hit yet.
"Getting a Top 40 hit has brought my career to a whole new place," she told one reporter. "I hate to put labels on where my music belongs. I just like to think that as many people can hear it as possible. So it's nice to be able to get beyond thse boundaries that are set for us."
Faith Hill also took her music to new fans. "This Kiss" was a chart-topper on country charts and a Top 5 hit on the pop charts - and it's a feat she wouldn't mind repeating.
"I just want to appeal to everybody," Faith says. "I just think great music should be universal.
"I hope that I can make music that everybody can have a piece of. Country music obviously is my home. It always has been and always will be. But it's nice when people in other areas of music, non-country fans, dig what you do, too.
"I've really noticed it at my concerts. There's a lot of people who did not listen to country radio but do now. That's the thing - they heard me on a pop radio station, but now they've turned into country.
"And that's really cool. It's bringing them over into our world a little bit."
"I think the choice of subject matter in their songs is pushing county women to crossover and make an impact in pop music," Brown says. "Even if a song is a little twangy for the pop consumer, if the artist's interpretation or delivery of that song is really cool, it works.
"LeAnn Rimes' 'Blue' is a great example of that. 'Blue' was too country for a lot of country radio stations, and they said so. It became a traditional song that was one of the most successful crossovers in the past few years.
"That one song made people ask, 'Who is that singing?'
And Faith Hill's 'This Kiss' is a good example of a contemporary country song that peaked interest in the pop music listeners, too," Brown adds. "They heard - and saw - Faith and wanted to hear more.
"So she follows it up with 'Let Me Let Go', which is a great country ballad that's as good as any Celine Dion song."
"The fact that women are leading the crossover of country music to pop radio is great," adds Mindy. "If someone listens to Shania or LeAnn or Trisha on a pop station, they just might then listen to a country station."
Country music is expanding to embrace Europe, Asia, and Australia - and women are at the forefront.
LeAnn, Shania, Trisha and Faith all debuted on the U.K.'s top 40 album or singles charts last year. And LeAnn's Sittin' on Top of the World went gold over there in 12 weeks. Shania's Come on Over went gold in 15 weeks.
LeAnn's "How Do I Live" and Shania's "You're Still The One" both went to the No. 1 spot in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
Reba recently performed sold-out shows in Scotland, Ireland, England and Germany.
"There seems to be a big hunger for country music in Europe," Reba says. "It is unbelieveable to me to be in these countries and people show up to the concert and know my music."
The Dixie Chicks are doing more than grabbing headlines. The all-female trio's debut album Wide Open Spaces is selling like hotcakes - over 5 million so far. "Women are doing so well these days," says the Chicks' Emily Erwin.
"Women are doing the original stuff right now," adds bandmate Natalie Maines, "setting themselves apart in their look and their music."
Lee Ann Womack has set herself apart She scored two Top 5s with "A Little Past Little Rock" and "You've Got To Talk To Me" last year, and another with "The Fool," in 1997. Sara Evans is the latest young female star to hit the top spot with "No Place That Far."
"The success of country music women is such a big story because we have always been such a male-dominated industry," Brown says. "Right now at MCA I have seven female artists and six male artists. I've never seen that ratio. It's usually 11 or 12 males and three females."
"It seems that for every successful man, there's a successful woman," says Jo Dee Messina. "Strong woman are more apparent now and I think the music reflects that.
"I know I'm always looking for songs that reflect where I am and what I feel - and that would be songs a strong woman can sing and relate to."
Country women are no top of the world. But will it last?
"I think as long as we can still stay true to the music and try to find those songs that are true to our own hearts." Patty concludes, "we can continue to have the success that we're having."
This was in the same issue in the Q & A section:
Your cover story on Jo Dee Messina was great (March 16). I'm curious to know how many songs charted from her first album? How well did they do?
Jo Dee had two hits - and two misses - from her 1996 self-titled debut album. Her first release, "Heads Carolina, Tails California," went all the way to No. 2 on Billboard's country chart, and it's follow-up single, "You're Not in Kansas Anymore," topped out at No. 7. Her next two releases didn't fare as well: "Do You Wanna Make Something Of It" and He'd Never Seen Julie Cry" failed to crack the Top 40.
