Rebroadcast: Sexism and the role of women in country music

The This Is Nashville team is off for July 4. We’re rebroadcasting an episode about women and country music, which originally aired on May 16. As the 1990s came to a close, country music’s biggest stars were women — Shania Twain, Faith Hill and the Chicks ruled the charts. Fast forward to 2021, and it’s “bro country” as far as the eye can see. Women are often the subjects of songs — wearing short shorts as they climb into pickup trucks. Women appear in as few as 10 percent of the songs on country radio. How did we get here? And how have women found ways to fight back and find paths for themselves? Writer and journalist Marissa R. Moss unpacks these questions and more. At the top of the show, reporter Paige Pfleger talks about her recent story about women’s negative experiences with men in songwriting sessions. Guests: Paige Pfleger, WPLN reporter Crys Matthews, singer/songwriter Marissa R. Moss, author of Her Country: How the Women of Country Music Became the Success They Were Never Supposed to Be Leah Turner, musician