These Women Do Country Music How They Want To and it’s Paying Off

These women are doing country music the way they want to and not letting an industry, that is notorious for putting them second, slow them down (L-R: Sarah Shook, Summer Dean, Tommy Ash)

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Women have been a force in country music for decades now, but I’m not sure it’s ever been like it is right now. I know there is a lot of talk amongst artists, and rightfully so, that women aren’t being played on the radio and aren’t given the same opportunities as their male counterparts, but I think that when it comes down to it that it could be a good thing.

Of course it would fantastic if more people could hear Kacey Musgraves’ socially conscious music on their drive to school or work and it would be to the betterment of us all if we could listen to the lovely songs from ‘Sparrow’ the album that Ashley Monroe put out earlier this year or Margo Price’s ’Desperate & Depressed’ to let you know you’re not alone in your struggle, instead of the drivel we’re forced to listen to if we accidentally turn it to that station when Spotify isn’t working. Can you imagine the direction these record companies would push these ladies in if they were getting the airplay that they deserved? Then we have The Pistol Annies who released another well done album towards the end of 2018, ‘Interstate Gospel’ and Miranda Lambert has been a big reason for the women of this genre leading the way through the dark years when the men just want to pretend to be rappers/pop stars, save a select few.

When we dip down to the underbelly of the country world, where artists are hopping in vans with their band members and traveling across the country night in and night out to deliver raw unadulterated country music to bars and venues along the way. Ladies like Summer Dean and Tommy Ash are holding down these Honky Tonks with some of the most authentic country music you will hear today. Summer released her EP ‘Unladylike’ in 2016 and recently appeared on the highly touted ‘Texas Cotton‘ movie soundtrack, and is planning to realease a full length album sometime in 2019. Ms Tommy Ash has been performing in bands and on stages since she was 13 and has gone on to open shows for superstars like Dwight Yoakam, Tracy Lawrence, and John Michael Montgomery. She is a regular at Honky Tonk Tuesday Nights, held at the American Legion Post 82 in Nashville and put on by show runner Brendan Malone. The event has garnered its own documentary that is highly recommended, ‘Honky Tonk Moonlight’. She even recorded a live EP there in 2017, with songs from her 2013 debut, ‘Sinner’s Blood’, and newer material.

Sarah Shook and the Disarmers had a magnificent 2018 that saw the release of their universally acclaimed album ‘Years’. Sarah is 100% country while, at the same time, being 100% punk rock and her music hits you like a cast iron skillet to the face. Sarah’s voice is her own and her songs are like being pissed off because you just drank the last drop of your bottle of Jim Beam and now you just want to be sad and angry. ’Years’ has been on many end of the year Top 10 lists and has topped a few of them.

There are so many female artists that I listen to daily and they all come from different regions of this country, so they each have their own distinct sound. I hope to do another article about these amazing country music singers in the near future.

disarmers.com

summerdeanmusic.com

tommyash.com

ashleymonroe.com

kaceymusgraves.com

pistolannies.com

margoprice.net