48 SEPTEMBER 2019 WOMANSDAYMAGAZINE
Inspire / SISTERS IN SONG
CP: You have Kelsea, Maren
and myself, and Runaway June
and Lindsay Ell really doing
some things on the charts that
are amazing, and I think we’re
all really happy for and rooting
for one another. We know we’re
just continuing to bulldoze it
down so the next girl in 10 years
is sitting there watching us the
way we watched Faith and Reba
and wondering, “Oh my gosh,
can I be like them?”
On Working With
Other WomenML: The Roadside Bars & Pink
Guitars Tour [kicking off this
month] is all females. I get to go
watch these girls every night and
get inspired and try to go kill it
after I watch a full show of girls
who killed it. It’s such a driving
force to lift each other up and
push each other.
I’m in a group with Ashley
Monroe and Angaleena Presley
called Pistol Annies. We put into
songs the things you talk about
at a girls’ night with wine. We
want other women to know that
they’re not alone. We’re not afraid
to talk about the good, bad, and
ugly, because it’s real.
RM: I love to work with other
women because it gives me
strength; it gives me inspiration.
And I say to myself, “Wow, they’re
doing this, and I can do that, and
I’m going to put more work into
it and I’m going to be this, because
they inspire me.” They show me
better ways of doing things.
CP: I think it’s a sisterhood. I think
you’re seeing, more than ever, lots
of women on the radio, and I feel
like we all believe that if one of us
is winning, we’re all winning.
We are championing each other.
ML: There’s room for all of us, and
competition is healthy. It makes
me want to work even harder.
I
n his new documentary,
filmmaker Ken Burns
does one of his
signature deep dives
into the origins, history,
and colorful personalities
of country music. Airing
September 1 5 on PBS, the
eight-part Country Music
is a joyful celebration of a
uniquely American genre.
Burns painstakingly
examines the evolution of
country music through the
work of artists like the Carter
Family and Hank Williams.
“At the heart of every
great country music song
is a story,” he says. “As the
songwriter Harlan Howard
said, ‘It’s three chords and
the truth.’”
Another major focus of
the film: the women who
gave country their own brandof emotional resonance,
like Patsy Cline, with her
achingly lovely voice,
and the beloved icon Dolly
Parton. “Whether it’s the
sisterhood that runs across
generations or the topics
the songs cover, women
and their stories have always
been an essential part of
country music,” says Burns.
The film also reminds us
of country’s unique ability
to bring people together,
whether at early barn dances
or the down-home Grand Ole
Opry in Nashville. Musician
Rhiannon Giddens, who
is interviewed in the film,
told Woman’s Day: “People
connect through music
faster than any other thing.
Somebody hums a tune, the
other person hums a tune,
and you’re in.”COUNTRY ROOTS
Some of
the artists
featured
in Country
Music,
clockwise
from top
left: Dolly
Parton, Patsy
Cline, Charley
Pride, Tammy
Wynette,
and Johnny
Cash and June
Carter Cash.PARTON,CLINE,ANDWYNETTE:^ LESLEVERETT.^ C
ASH:SONY^MUSICARCHIVES.^PRIDE:^MICHAELOCHS^ARCHIVES/GETTYIMAGES.^