The Must List
HIGHWOMEN
MUSIC
LIKE WITH MANY GROUPS
deemed worthy of the “super”
moniker over the years, one of
the most beguiling aspects of the
eponymous debut album from
the Highwomen—the supergroup
comprising Natalie Hemby, 42;
Maren Morris, 29; Brandi Carlile,
38; and Amanda Shires, 37—is the
quartet’s goose-bump-inducing
harmonies. As solo singer-
songwriters, the women are
formidable; together, they are
sublime. Part of what makes the
punch of the Highwomen’s har-
monies so potent is when they
transition from singing the
same notes (in unison), like the
gorgeous segue on “Crowded
Table”—one of a dozen songs
steeped in classic country
and Americana.
“When I look back on it, it
was all really natural, but in a
mystical way,” says the Grammy-
winning Carlile, who cooked up
the group concept with Shires
and then brought Morris and
Hemby into the fold. (A host of
other well-respected names sup-
port the Highwomen on the
album, among them Carlile’s
bandmates Tim and Phil Hanse-
roth; Shires’ husband, Jason
Isbell; producer Dave Cobb; and
singers Yola and Sheryl Crow.)
For Carlile, the record was
deeply personal, particularly
“Crowded Table,” which she
co-wrote with Hemby and singer-
songwriter Lori Mc Kenna. The
ballad helped her articulate a
concept she had long wrestled
with of being an individual inside
a community, of “going out into
the world and being an activist...
but still being able to come home
at the end of the day and be in
my family with people that do
not agree with me, so that we can
all move a little bit closer to the
middle of the road.”
She realized that, almost unwit-
tingly, the vocal arrangements of
certain Highwomen songs mir-
rored that concept. “Even within
our band, we do not all believe the
same things,” says Carlile. “But
to snap those voices back into
unison like that is really what the
concept of women learning to
work together and community is.”
The Highwomen have already
proved themselves a force, play-
ing the Newport Folk Festival this
past July and welcoming none
other than Dolly Parton—no
stranger to supergroups, given her
beloved Trio records with Linda
Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris—
to the stage as a special guest.
“I felt like I was having an out-of-
body experience,” says Hemby, a
longtime writer of Nashville
hits now getting her own time in
the spotlight. “I was just like,
‘There’s Dolly Parton. This is
Dolly Parton. She’s right in front
of me.’ ” And, of course, Hemby
already knows the women who’ve
got her back. —Sarah Rodman
6
THE
16 OCTOBER 2019 EW●COM
ALYSSE GAFKJEN
