POLL of Many Colors - ILM Artists Poll #117 - Women of Country Music

Just so many to choose from. Here's a heartbreaker from Reba:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pdSzY5QbxU

xps I was going to post "Suds in the Bucket"; definitely among my favorite country radio hits of the early 2000s. "She left her suds in the bucket and her clothes hanging out on the line -- YEEHOOO!"

i have a spotify playlist of 100+ tracks from women in country music, some superstars and some w/about 40 monthly listeners -- no more than one song per artist (slight overlap w/miranda and ashley and angaleena having a pistol annies track too) -- happy to send via DM for those inclined to hear

it includes Suds in the Bucket!

That time Tuscon's Nancy Mccallion and Catherine Zavala saw The Pogues and Los Lobos on the same bill launched The Mollys. Hard to say which album is their countryest, but might actually be this late 'un, despite and because of its scars, as noted by me in 2004:

Nancy McCallion & The Mollys: TROUBLE (APN): the party's over (on this record, anyway). Now Nancy's hung her name overhead, but isn't (always) quite the right lone frontperson her pungent barstool ballads deserve (really it still takes two---so where are you tonight, Catherine Zavala?). Yet somewhere in the winter West, keyed-up, mixed-buttoned Accordion-Americans still prowl a mining town, ghost town, college town (all the same, if you stay long enough). Seven years after I started listening to these erotic pilgrims, notes begin to multiply again, like (a new generation or ten of) jackrabbits with every spin, so better hit PAUSE and send over my own round of label-peelings (TROUBLE songs' last lines): "I've paid off all the interest with my tears. Put the baby in the shopping cart and run. It's all spanking new like a white dress and vow, and you're a stranger now. If you don't stop to tell me that you want me back again, I won't stop to tell you it's too late. First class patrons be spilling their wine, never make the station on time. You will have him or you won't. This is my round put it here. It has done it before it will do it again. They wish us well and what the hell, tonight is all our own." Just don't let me get to first lines.

*Tucson's*, sorry!!

Thinking The Chicks could get vote split. Favorites? Fly will get my album vote but for tracks I'd struggle to choose a favorite...maybe "There's Your Trouble" or "Give It Up or Let Me Go"

I'm going to vote on all 3 ballots but full disclosure I don't have enough time to prepare so it will be really half-assed.

For Your Consideration this 2022 jam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHpR-vbKEAw

Also I hate to triple post but what about songs/albums by groups with both male and female members, e.g. Little Big Town, Sugarland?

High Greg, I already hyped Gram Parsons feat. Emmylou's Grievous Angel, also Mary McCaslin & Jim Ringer's The Bramble and The Rose, by cracky.

Seems like Sugarland would be OK, Jennifer Nettles def. the main vocal presence.

Not going to impose any rules, so it's up to you all, but I for one am going to skip stuff like GP/GA where Gram's name and face is on the package and Emmylou has a (critical) supporting role. She's got enough incredible solo material to choose from as it is, though I'll consider it when ranking artists.

Country has a long history of male/female duets and albums, but is "Jackson" in contention? "Mississippi Woman, Mississippi Man"? I don't know... There's enough there that it could be its own poll. I'm going to prioritize songs and albums where the female is the lead.

*Louisiana Woman :)

My favorite Dolly track would have to be this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecPCXui2nEU

Sally Timms also does a great version of that!

I'm a country a dilettante at best (more a spectator here than a voter) but some days I'm convinced "Down From Dover" is the best song I'll ever hear in any genre.

Absolutely. (Dolly is also the sole credited songwriter as well.) It was included on her great 1975 Best of LP, but it's crazy that it fell out-of-print for at least decade during a long period when she let most of her best stuff become unavailable and focused on reissuing her later poppier hits. The four-CD Dolly box set was a godsend for that reason alone.

figure i'll just share my playlist here with a few special shoutouts to artists below:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6LaK3szO8vfdTjcw1e0R2x?si=412c5ca7099a4733

Ashley Monroe - Like a Rose

my top country album of recent years, at this point, represented by 'the morning after', which isn't one from this album that folks usually point to but it's my favorite track. really like her subsequent albums too, The Blade is almost as good, might get a vote from me as well. But this one is just her classic, to date.

Ida Red - Harmony Grits

this is from 2021, they have 18 listeners per month on Spotify, but it's a really terrific album. Don't know if they're an ongoing concern, highly recommended.

Michaela Anne - Desert Dove

Really great album from 2019, some pure lush country goodness here.

I did include Freakwater on here, but I also included 'Hex' by Freakwater's Catherine Irwin, which is one of the best country tracks you'll hear. Neko Case covered it on The Tigers Have Spoken, and she kills it, but I think the original version is the best.

on the more mainstream sounding sounds, I did include Little Big Town, Kellie Pickler, Sara Evans, Maren Morris, and some others, but my fave mainstream track here maybe is 'I Can't' by Caitlyn Smith, which feels a bit generic at first pass but she has a certain sui generis power.

But someone who i think is *really* unique in a lot of ways is Lilly Hiatt (John's daughter) -- she's not to be slept on. Every time I hear her i'm pretty impressed.

Overlooked a lot of the time: Whitney Rose, Jaime Wyatt, and Brennen Leigh.

i'm sure i forgot a few, i'll add to it as i go.

Like a Rose is marvelous

its brevity is its greatest strength. not a dis, just makes those 9 songs hit all the harder.

also included Esther Phillips' 'Release Me', since it was on her country album and it's mind-blowing imo.

Yeah I have no problem citing Margo Timmins as the main Cowboy Junkie, so I would admit Blood Oranges, Sugarland, Hem, and Nickel Creek under the same logic.

But doesn’t Chris Thile sing as much as Sara Watkins in Nickel Creek?

May as well just have Watkins as an artist and include any Nickel Creek songs she sings lead on

Little Big Town and Lady A are trickier since the women and men usually trade verses

when I think LBT I tend to think Karen Fairchild, her vox dominate for me even though the others are absolutely stellar lead vocalists too.

Female - male country duets are almost their own category. So many great ones. Gram and Emmylou got a shout out upthread. Here are two more tracks worth voting for

Alison Krauss and Dwight Yoakam - If I Were A Carpenter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqNKJm2EWv4

KD Lang and Dwight Yoakam- Sin City

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw0gdKJ5mpw

Whoops I missed indexed saying kinda saying something similar about female/male country duets. The two above have Dwight as guest duet partner not top bill so might be ok. Whereas with George & Tammy and Johnny & June, the two of them are the stars.

on that same note, I have genuinely tried with those Dolly Parton/Porter Wagoner records, I just can't hang with the dude he's too square

Porter Wagoner has some truly NUTS solo material; not for this thread but I'll hit you up inna group chat stylee.

Porter Wagoner had a great duet album with Skeeter Davis too.

Skeeter Davis will be high on my personal list. I did a deep dive on her stuff a few years back and was pleasantly surprised at how many great albums she had in the 60s. Will need to spend some time figuring out which songs//albums I’ll vote for.

Y’all got “Strawberry Wine” yet

re: omar little, thanks for sharing your playlist! Know a whole lot of it, but not all:

-Catherine Irwin is new to me, and what a discovery.
- Like a Rose is definitely my Ashley Monroe preference. I like the persona she carves out on its stories as an extension of her stuff in the Annies.
- Michaela Anne's Desert Dove is one of my favorite country albums in recent years. Dusty, border vibe with lots of space. A really creative record that sounds unique to me.
- I think I was the sole voter for Brennen Leigh's album in the EOY poll--nice to see it represented on your playlist. Also love Jamie Wyatt's Felony Blues; easily digestible at 7 tracks and 30 minutes.
- Will consider Allison Russell's Outside Child from your list -- an absolutely superb country-adjacent album that didn't get much attention here but made ripples a couple years ago.
- Sierra Ferrell from your list has not put out much but is one to watch. Captivating vocals.
- Kellie Pickler's 100 Proof is worth a listen and better than some probably remember
- Tami Neilson hasn't been mentioned yet but I love that record, especially "Cry Over You" below, which has an incredible chorus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry2cRem1AyA

Also know Katie Pruitt's Expectations was a hit here a couple years ago so will add that to the "noms" spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wZG8IgHCDheS-83yJpnIQC0pu-cdciuZ9suKwPs0Q4E/edit#gid=0

Another half a male/female duo but who absolutely belongs in contention - Mary Ford. So many great songs that are great because of her, not just Les Paul’s inventive guitar playing.

100%. Highly recommend the History of Rock podcast episode on "How High the Moon":
https://500songs.com/podcast/how-high-the-moon-by-les-paul-and-mary-ford/

Another modern album that deserves attention is Cam's Untamed, produced by Jeff Bhasker and Tyler Johnson, which did shockingly well on country radio but has since been a bit forgotten. Love this Luke Laird co-write, which has a chorus that recalls his work with Kacey Musgraves:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNEuFfmqnrw

A half-truth's still a lie
"I need my space" is still goodbye
A wrong size shoe could look good on you
But you'll be cussin' your feet at midnight
A half-cold beer ain't cold
"I'll be back soon" is still gone
"A half-smoked cigarette's still smoked
And a half-broke heart's still broke

Xpost Catherine Irwin. She sang most of the leads in Freakwater. If you like her voice and approach, highly recommend Freakwater’s Springtime lp which I mentioned upthread.

Thanks! I knew "Hex" from The Tigers Have Spoken but am unfamiliar with Irwin or Freakwater. Will spend some time there for sure.

Extremely 90s content but love this track. This record also had "Bye Bye" on it, and both somehow have over 50M Spotify plays.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-lBN5Jl7iU

Have to share one more...Digging through some old playlists and just rediscovered The Everybodyfields/Jill Andrews. This one always got me. Lovely, unadorned vocals. Looks like she's done a lot since but I lost track of her at some point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7MrKW-nktg

Re: Kacey Musgraves. I want to go on record saying that her most popular songs - e.g., "Merry Go Round," "Follow Your Arrow," "Rainbow" - are justifiably so, and they work. I am not going to contrarianly rep for deep KM tracks, because I just think those three are perfect.

Note that I am omitting "High Horse." I feel it attempts something that it doesn't achieve. That sounds weirdly abstract, but it is the best way I can explain it. In my view, it is not just not a country song, but it is un-country. Anti-country. The brightness of the production and the aggressive melisma make it feel both too glossy and too idiosyncratic.

My choices will never strictly adhere to the formula, which is of course (3 * (number of chords)) + (the truth) = country. But that formula does inform my judgement and "High Horse" is difficult for me to process as a country song.

“High Horse” is kind of a disco song, in the vein of late ‘70s Nashville pop crossovers.

Speaking of which: Let’s add Terri Gibbs’ excellent “Somebody’s Knockin’” to the playlist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-_xjKYJ_us

Personally I can do without "Somebody's Knockin'" as well as "High Horse."

But de gustibus etc.

high horse is good, too bad it's not country

Is "Here You Come Again" a country song?

(Sorry, not trying to be contrarian)

Just trying to clarify my own thinking more than anything. Canciones de Mi Padre is a mariachi album by someone who is a country artist. Bonnie Raitt's version of "Angel from Montgomery" is a country song and remains so in her hands, but I still would not classify her as a country artist. Dolly Parton's "look at me, didja know I can RAWK" song is not going to make it to the poll under any rubric.

Hence I am just going to embrace the artists/tracks/albums distinction as Indexed intended. I like that approach. Thanks, Indexed.

xp not really tbh!

lol so you mean I can't vote for disco Dolly?

https://i.discogs.com/uA4T_rhqKdR3WPVAEzppqNEENEH5Zxwya1FGAxnYsLw/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTMzMzM3/OS0xMzgzOTM1NTI3/LTM4NTIuanBlZw.jpeg

On a quick scan didn’t see Reba McEntire mentioned. Both Fancy and The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia should be nominated as tracks. She has such a great storytelling voice.

Is "Here You Come Again" a country song?

does the fact that it hit #1 on the billboard country chart carry any weight? and is it possible to come up with an actual definition of country that excludes it but doesn't exclude, say, "i will always love you" (which also was a country #1)?

Nice to see fcc!

Sometimes that song is presented as her entry to pop, is all. Of course I will vote for it because I am a Dolly stan.