12 Times Women In Country Gave Sexism The Boot In 2019

Four years after consultant Keith Hill's comment that women artists on country radio were best thought of as garnish — tomatoes, as in "hot" — added fuel to what was already becoming a major debate about sexism in country music, gender-equity activism in the genre has reached a tipping point. One major force in 2019 was newly crowned Nashville favorite Brandi Carlile, who brought her years of experience forging an independent path as a singer-songwriter to a collaboration that paid off in major visibility and goodwill. The Highwomen, the "open partnership" she formed with country rebel Maren Morris, beloved songwriter Natalie Hemby and Americana music favorite Amanda Shires, was greeted ecstatically by genre aficionados, and the group's self-titled album hit the top of the country chart.

A sensation, The Highwomen lifted all boats and set the tone for a Year of Women in Music that actually made a real difference in the genre. Carlile also used her power to shine the spotlight on two of her heroes, Tanya Tucker and Dolly Parton, serving the crucial need to center women in country music's history. (Ken Burns's and kept people talking about the chauvinism that is slowly fading and the promise that a more equitable country music business — one that sounds and looks like its woman-powered fan base — offers. --