Women Revolutionising Country Music
By Daniel Sumpton | Misfit Media Columnist
Hayley Jensen’s hit country song Breakin’ Hearts encapsulates swinging on a front porch under a sky full of stars with city lights out of view in a way that country rock legends have taken decades longer to master. Breakin’ Hearts even sounds like a spiritual successor to Kid Rock’s Po-Dunk, overlaying raw heartbreak with the Sweet Southern Sugar sound.
On the exact same day Hayley Jensen released her album to follow up her smash country single, renowned country music artist Jessie James Decker released The Woman I’ve Become, an all killer and no filler country EP with back-to-back self-love anthems with a perfected country formula.
There were many more country women who became headliners in 2021. Morgan Wade exploded onto the scene with a string of powerful songs that appear on her debut album Reckless. Morgan’s power ballad Mend puts a spotlight on the chilling realities that toxic relationships can have on someone. The song is an unadulterated breakdown of one’s soul wrapped up amongst a sweet southern tune.
“Turn that car around
You don’t need to be leaving me now
Come to bed and I will shut my mouth”
Morgan Wade was not the only spark of lyrical genius to come out of 2021, far from it. Other women showcased their finetuned hits like Caylee Hammack with her brilliant track Small Town Hypocrite. The song is a smash hit from 2020 that has been revamped, this time featuring Chris Stapleton, and couldn’t sound better. Caylee puts her own unique perspective on toxic relationships into Small Town Hypocrite. A tale of a lifetime making bad decisions and ignorance crushed into one song that creates a sobering effect for the listener. Mending stories deeply heartbreaking with music so beautiful is a trend that I hope sticks around through 2022.
“And that scholarship was a ship that sailed
When I chose you and daddy gave me hell
I made myself into someone else just to love you, damn, I loved you”
I wouldn’t stop there if you’re on the prowl for great country music by talented women to add to your playlist. Laci Kaye Booth and Kylie Morgan released their debut EPs this year that serve as a first taste of what is to come from their respective careers. Other country albums released this year include, but are not limited to Tenille Arts’ Girl to Girl, Lauren Alaina’s Sitting Pretty on Top of the World, Carly Pearce’s 29: Written in Stone, and that’s not even bringing up the newcomers that made waves in the country scene last year. If I have established anything, it’s that incredible female-led country music is in abundance.