Women in Country: Canada Leads the Way!

Country music, like all music, goes through swings and cycles of popularity among certain artists or trends. Recently the prevailing trend has been Bro Country… but that’s changing – and Canada is leading the way.

Yes, male artists like Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Dallas Smith and Florida Georgia Line are still selling out arenas and hitting #1 on the charts in Canada and the United States – but the women are coming. In fact, they’re already here and they’re starting to make noise in a big way. And we’re all for it!

On Tuesday the 2015 Juno nominations were announced, and in the Country Album of the Year category we saw 3 female artists named in the list of 5. Congratulations to Jess Moskaluke, Kira Isabella, and MacKenzie Porter on their fantastic records – we don’t know who we’re even going to cheer for on March 15th.

Aside from the award nominations, we’ve had other signs that things are turning around. Perhaps we have CanCon rules to thank, but Jess, Kira, and MacKenzie have been joined on the radio by artists like Lindsay Broughton, The Lovelocks, and One More Girl. Add that list to American hit makers that include Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Maddie & Tae, and Danielle Bradbery and all of a sudden you’re looking at some excellent balance on country radio in Canada. It has been refreshing to hear and fun to listen to.

But even better than radio play is live music!

This year the Boots & Hearts Music Festival has really made a step towards equality in their lineup after having only a small handful of female acts booked in 2014. It’s hard to blame them for last year’s lineup – they have to book acts that are popular and will sell tickets. But 2015’s lineup is awesome with 12 female solo acts or duos + 3 more acts that will have women prominently on the microphone (Little Big Town, The Stellas, Small Town Pistols). That’s HUGE. We’re looking at 15 of 30 acts having a female voice! Congrats to, Canadian owned, Boots & Hearts for making that happen – and to all of the acts for busting their humps to get to where they are.

Here’s the list…

Kira Isabella
Maddie & Tae
Trinity Bradshaw
Leah Daniels
Lennon & Maisy
MacKenzie Porter
Kaitlyn Kozell
The Lovelocks
Genevieve Fisher
Melissa Payne
Kate Suhr
Abby Stewart

We Love It!

Now, are we still going to hear male country singers going on about pretty girls and pick-up trucks and beer? Of course we are, that’s never going away!

But we’re also going to hear from some very talented women in country music. They’re going to release more albums and singles and videos. They’re going to put on more concerts, book more festivals, sell more t-shirts and generally keep being awesome. And we’ll be here to support them every single step of the way.

You should too.

Work Hard. Play Hard. Be Awesome.