Can Laura Bell Bundy break the curse that plagues women in country music?
Let me tell you what I mean: In its early days, the country music industry ignored female artists, dismissing them as “girl singers,” refusing to book them for concerts, and declining to play them on the radio. Things improved, of course, but for every Dolly Parton or Loretta Lynn who managed to strike it big in the genre, there were six or seven men who were doing just as well.
And then came the late nineties and early aughts, when it seemed things were turning around. There weren’t any female producers or anything, but more and more women were writing hit songs. Meanwhile, loads of female artists dominated the radio, the charts, and the touring market. “Legacy acts” like Reba McEntire and mid-career artists like Faith Hill and  Trisha Yearwood were maintaining their popularity, and new stars like Jo Dee Messina, the Dixie Chicks, Shania Twain, Deana Carter, and SHeDAISY were enjoying multiple hits.
And then… boom. The glass ceiling fell back into place, especially at country radio.
Consider this: Since 2005, only five women have had a number one single on Billboard’s country songs chart, which is based entirely on airplay: Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Reba McEntire, Hillary Scott, and Jennifer Nettles. (The last two are part of the coed acts Lady Antebellum and Sugarland, respectively.) Since 2007, only ten women have made the top ten—the five chart-toppers, plus Miranda Lambert (twice), Kellie Pickler, Faith Hill, Miley Cyrus, and Kelly Clarkson (all once.) And Clarkson and Cyrus are pop stars who were just doing one-off country duets, so their hits can hardly be considered breakthroughs for new artists in the genre.
That’s crazy, especially when you consider that women are almost always the country artists who crossover into the mainstream. A male country act hasn’t won an album of the year Grammy since 1969, for instance, but Taylor Swift, Allison Krauss, and the Dixie Chicks have all done it in the last five years. Swift and Lady Antebellum have had top ten hits on pop radio in the last few months , and a male country act hasn’t done that since Lonestar rode high with “Amazed” in 2000.
Even people within the country music industry seem to be feeling the love. Since 2007, Swift, Underwood, Lambert, and Nettles have all earned at least one of the top awards—album, song, and entertainer of the year—from the two major country music associations.
And yet despite this proof that there’s a hunger for female country artists out there, country radio continues its general freeze-out. It’s as though there are only a handful of slots for women in the entire genre, and until Carrie Underwood rejects music for Buddhism or Jennifer Nettles jumps ship for Broadway, no one else gets a chance.
Record companies keep trying, though, and talented women keep dropping records on us. Holly Williams, Julie Roberts, Sarah Buxton, and Meghan Linsey of Steel Magnolia all jump, though none of them have exactly broken through.
Given all this, I’m intrigued by the hat that Laura Bell Bundy has thrown into the ring. From what I can tell, she’s taking a different approach to making herself heard. Will it work? Should it? Let’s discuss it after the jump.
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