How the Women of Country Music Became the Success They Were Never Supposed to Be
by Marissa R. Moss
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Published May 2022
320 pages
Genre: History, Current Affairs and Religion
Publication Information
The full and unbridled inside story of the last twenty years of country music through the lens of Maren Morris, Mickey Guyton, and Kacey Musgraves - their peers and inspirations, their paths to stardom, and their battles against a deeply embedded boys' club, as well as their efforts to transform the genre into a more inclusive place for all (and not just white men in trucker hats), as told by award-winning Nashville journalist Marissa R. Moss.
It was only two decades ago, but, for the women of country music, 1999 seems like an entirely different universe. With Shania Twain, country's biggest award winner and star, and The Chicks topping every chart, country music was a woman's world: specifically, country radio and Nashville's Music Row.
Cut to 2021, when women are only played on country radio 16% of the time, on a good day, and when only men have won Entertainer of the Year at the CMA Awards for a decade. To a world where artists like Kacey Musgraves sell out arenas but barely score a single second of airplay. But also to a world where these women are infinitely bigger live draws than most male counterparts, having massive pop crossover hits like Maren Morris's "The Middle," pushing the industry to confront its deeply embedded racial biases with Mickey Guyton's "Black Like Me," winning heaps of Grammy nominations, banding up in supergroups like The Highwomen and taking complete control of their own careers, on their own terms. When the rules stopped working for the women of country music, they threw them out and made their own: and changed the genre forever, and for better.
Her Country is veteran Nashville journalist Marissa R. Moss's story of how in the past two decades, country's women fought back against systems designed to keep them down, armed with their art and never willing to just shut up and sing: how women like Kacey, Mickey, Maren, The Chicks, Miranda Lambert, Rissi Palmer, Brandy Clark, LeAnn Rimes, Brandi Carlile, Margo Price and many more have reinvented the rules to find their place in an industry stacked against them, how they've ruled the century when it comes to artistic output―and about how women can and do belong in the mainstream of country music, even if their voices aren't being heard as loudly.
"Part coming-of-age tale, part hard-hitting documentary of country music's antagonistic history with women artists, this story is a page-turner even if you know how it turns out…The author's reporting and storytelling shine as brightly as her subjects." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Moss's stunningly crafted debut book…interlocks her subjects' stories for a captivating structure, jumping between them to effectively create a cohesive narrative of feminist uprising in 'the good ol' boys club.' This must read for music fans displays Moss's extensive knowledge of Nashville's Music Row scene…Her Country speaks (sings, really) volumes about the rise of female artists in country music, and how far they still have to climb." - Booklist (starred review)
"Moss illustrates how these artists have carved out spaces for women, including women of color and LGBTQIA+ people, who are even less represented in the country music field. Moss's clear and accessible writing is a delight, deftly capturing the lyricism of the genre…A must for anyone interested in country music and how the genre reflects on the United States as a whole." - Library Journal (starred review)
"Music journalist Moss debuts with an exuberant deep-dive into the careers of three country music stars who 'opened up a window to a musical world where women are in charge' ... a spirited cultural history of country music over the last 25 years...This is the unapologetic celebration fans have been waiting for." - Publishers Weekly
"Her Country is a fascinating look at the weird isolationism of contemporary country." - Literary Hub
"I can't think of a better person to be leading this much needed conversation than Marissa R. Moss. I'm thankful for how Her Country celebrates the power of women, our artistry, vision and perseverance in this industry." - LeAnn Rimes
This information about Her Country was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
An award-winning journalist, Marissa R. Moss has written about the topic of gender inequality on the country airwaves for outlets like Rolling Stone, NPR, Billboard, Entertainment Weekly, and many more. Moss was the 2018 recipient of the Rolling Stone Chet Flippo Award for Excellence in Country Music Journalism, and the 2019 Nashville Scene Best of Nashville Best Music Reporter. She has been a guest on The TODAY Show, Entertainment Tonight, CBS Morning Show, NPR's Weekend Edition, WPLN, the Pop Literacy Podcast, and more.
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