Women have played a remarkable role in the American tradition of country music since its origin over a hundred years ago. Ballads originally came over from England, Ireland, and Scotland. By the late nineteenth century, the songs emerged with Americanized themes and styles. In the early days, it was primarily played for and by white rural working class folks in the Southern states. At this time, women were the only ones to collect and save songs that eventually passed down to their daughters. The females became the bearers of the tradition that recorded our experiences, thoughts, desires, and emotions. As the identity of country music has continued to evolve, the genre has reflected American culture, especially the changing times for women.

Country music has always been about the words or message the song instills. Several in the 1900s "warned young ladies against the sexual wiles of men" (Bufwack and Oermann 9). Themes of the single life, heartache, and marriage were quite common to hear. Instruments that became known with the genre were the dulcimer, fiddle, harmonica, banjo, guitar, and piano. Very few women were allowed to sing or play instruments outside the home. By the 1920s, ladies could be publicly accepted in a family band or male-female duet. They were chaperoned by a male at all times, and usually sang only of love, home, or family. Only about five percent of recordings were female performers (Bufwack and Oermann 59).

In the 1930s, the radio allowed a few female performers to become more well known and popular. Live country music could be heard in a variety of radio station shows; such as, the Grand Ole Opry. The image that female singers portrayed was the mother or sister, sweet heart and/or the cowgirl/comic. Sister acts and all-girl bands started to be accepted in the view of the public but did not flourish until the 1940s.

In the late 1940s, female country singers made dramatic changes. During and after World War II, more American women were employed and raising children without a husband. The era of the honky-tonk, meaning dancing, drinking, and socializing in rowdy bars, had been an influence in states; such as, Texas, California, Louisiana, and Alabama. The hard-core style granted many women more independence. At this time, women were becoming professional singers, songwriters, instrumentalists, and bandleaders. Female sexuality began to be more open. The subjects that women started to sing about included hardships, cheatin’, alcohol, and divorce.

The first genre’s superstar, Kitty Wells "Queen of Country Music," became recognized as a singer who "spoke directly to women victimized by the honky-tonk life-style" (Bufwack and Oermann 176). One of her famous songs, the 1952 hit "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" (#51 on CMT list), is a direct response to Hank Thompson’s "Wild-Side-of-Life" that declared women as evil. It wasn't God who made honky tonk angels/As you said in the words of your song/Too many times married men think they're still single/That has caused many a good girl to go wrong. Wells’s song reply states that women were just made to be that way because of men. By doing this song, she showed that country women singers could fight back through lyrics. The majority of female performers developed a hard life-style that included surviving on little pay, traveling, and working from one "juke joint" to another. Some women went to local radio station after station to self promote in order to be heard by the public.

In the 1950s, rockabilly was the Southern rock n’roll that mixed hillbilly songs with a rock beat in the background. The new teen sound in country music flourished among young female singers who started to challenge the norm by acting sassy and being aggressive within their music style. To stay alive, country had to cross over into the pop trend. This particular style was hot with the youth market and that meant money in Nashville’s recording studios. Patsy Cline became the Nashville Sound star in the late 1950s. Her song of lost love, "I Fall to Pieces" (#7 on CMT list), is performed with an elegant and smooth expressive voice. The tone is melancholy and filled with feeling. The background sound is a melody tune rather than a rough, loud honky-tonk rhythm. "After Patsy Cline hit, there were more women making records because record men weren’t afraid of them" (Jensen 48). She had opened the doors for country women singers to venture out into the pop market. Cline was the real start for women in country becoming more pop.

Just like the radio, the television played a big part in gaining a wider variety of fans for country music. In the 1960s through the 1990s, televised country shows and movies allowed the American people to hear songs and/or see the people performing them. Recently, Country Music Television aired a show celebrating the 100 Greatest Country Songs . Thirty-one of the songs were popularized by female singers, including one male-female duet. The majority of them are from older styles that include: Dolly Parton (#16 & #54), Loretta Lynn (#13 & #47), Patsy Cline (#3,#7,& #41), and Kitty Wells (#51).The number one spot first aired in 1968 and became a controversial song that dealt with the submissive female stereotype, "Stand by Your Man" by Tammy Wynette (#1 & #35). "Country once was known for addressing the hard truths of life…as the genre grew in popularity, it stepped away from material that might offend" (Aly 44). On the CMT’s list, the regular home, romance, and heartache subjects clearly have a strong hold. Among them were, "Coal Miner's Daughter"(#13), "I Will Always Love You" (#16),"Passionate Kisses"(#87),"Seven Year Ache"(#91), "Blue" (#85), and "Breathe" (#38). Other themes that females were singing about dealt with issues that were or are rarely sung by women. The 1950 classic by Patti Page, "Tennessee Waltz" (#63), was the only cheatin’ song that represented women on the list. The spelling of "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" (#35) by Tammy Wynette in 1968 was a way to deal with the issue that wasn’t talked about in public or in the American home. Lynn Anderson’s 1970 "Rose Garden" (#83) describes a woman who promotes causal love affairs. Reba McEntire’s 1991 "Fancy" (#27) is a story of a mother who sends her daughter off into prostitution. Martina McBride’s 1993 hit, "Independence Day" (#50), is about a woman who takes no more domestic violence. Today, this song has been classified as a patriotic theme because of the idea of over powering the enemy. In 1997 "Wide Open Spaces" (#22) by the Dixie Chicks is a song about the young spreading their wings out into the world. Also in that year, Deana Carter’s "Strawberry Wine"(#75) tells a story of a young female’s first sexual experience. In these examples from the list of one hundred greatest country songs, it appears that women singers have expressed issues that were significant in their own period. Each singer took a risk to be heard by the public and each of those songs has stood the test of time.

Recently in Country Music Magazine, the article Staying Alive declared, "These days…most older artists find little or no room for them on record label rosters or radio stations. Youth is in, and age means being put out to pasture" (Kingsbury 60). With few exceptions, women country singers have a faster start but shorter career span. On the other hand, men, the majority in the country genre, have a slower climb to fame and have longer lasting careers. To stay alive in the music industry, a mature artist, especially women, have to find new ways to sell their songs. Since "stations are unlikely to broadcast songs that are not certain hits," (Jaret 175) television has been the key medium. "Radio and major labels may leave great artists, but the fans never do" (Kingsbury 63). By advertising through a variety of TV networks, fans are being let known that their favorite artists are still making albums and going on tours.

For a long time in the record industry, it has been a popular belief that "women didn’t sell" (Jensen 48). It was distressing to read the statement that "up to the 1980s there was an unwritten law at country radio stations that you never played two female records in a row" (Bufwack and Oermann 180). This announcement enticed me to do my own survey "How many female/male singers in a row?". Considering it has been over twenty years, I was expecting to find significant changes in programming a country music station. To my dismay, by listening to San Jose KRTY 95.3 FM "Today’s Hot Country," I discovered that in a two-hour time span, the station might play 1 to 4 female singers while playing 20 to 27 males. In my twenty-one hour study, it was extremely rare to hear two females in a row. On the other hand, male singers were played more often and the listener could usually hear from four to more than eight in a row. Out of twelve to fourteen songs in an hour, I heard one to maybe three female singers and they were not being played back to back.

On June 10, I sent fourteen hours of my survey to KRTY 95.3 station’s program director. On the day the station received the package, on a random hour, I heard seven female singers. Four of them were in sequence and later two more were in a row. I received an e-mail response from the program director, Julie Stevens. She notes that "some 25 years ago we worried about all sorts of things (two females in a row among them) that we simply don’t pay any mind to these days" (Stevens). She claims that the reason for the lack of songs performed by female singers on her station is that there are not enough of them out in the country music industry. She states, "as far as playing them back to back, I simply never, ever even consider gender in programming the station" (Stevens). Since then, every once in a while I hear two female singers in a row. I believe that if songs sung by both mature and young females were to be heard over the airwaves more, then there would be an increase in their popularity. In turn, this notoriety would invite more females to be country music singers. The notion of "a woman could be a star, just like a man" (Bufwack and Oermann 242) has come for to few women in country music.

Throughout the genre of country, "the industry has striven to present a music that is all things to all people" (Malone 369). This music is strictly American and has captured a wide range of fans by the songs being able to connect with listeners. Each story and lyric, through a variety of themes and sounds, seems to reflect and mirror everyday life and emotions. Female country singers have "expressed a type of womanly independence" (Malone 307) in their songs that is clearly seen on the CMT’s list of one hundred greatest country songs. Historically speaking, through a relatively short hundred-year span, we can truly celebrate the accomplishments of the women of country.

~Jenna Willis

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