The Highwomen - The Highwomen (2019)

Amanda Shires was not happy as she toured the country in support of her latest album back in 2016. She noticed the obvious lack of women artists being played on country radio nationwide and decided to do something about it. The result was this eponymous debut album by The Highwomen, the supergroup she organized hoping to give the women of country music a higher profile.

Accepting Shires invitations to join her were Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris, and Brandi Carlile, all established country stars with their own careers.

The ladies took their name, The Highwomen, from the similarly named all guy supergroup who got together in 1985 as the Highwaymen, famous for its lineup of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Willie Nelson. It's hard to put together a band with more star power than one involving those four legends but that doesn't mean you shouldn't listen to this excellent set of songs.

This highly collaborative album includes a lot of social commentary which doesn't help get your work played on the country radio these days so, it remains to be seen if Shires achieves her goal. Case in point is "Redesigning Women," written by Hemby and Rodney Dale Clawson, a song that discusses the daily lives of working women:
"Running the world while we're cleaning up the kitchen
Making bank, shaking hands, driving 80
Tryna get home just to feed the baby
Skipping the bread for the butter
Changing our minds like we change our hair color
Yeah, ever since the beginning
We've been redesigning women ."
The title track is another song mining the same subject matter that reinforces the foursome's desire to work outside of country's safety zone.

Carlile, a member of the LBGTQ community, is the lead singer on "If She Ever Leaves Me." It tells the tale of an interested male suitor who has no chance of winning the love of the protagonist's partner because if the relationship ever ends it won't be for him, but for another girl. The track was written by Shires and her more famous husband, Jason Isbell, and it's another example of the quartet's teamwork and their willingness to stir the pot.

If these stellar songs don't get on the radio it's because of the subject matter, not because The Highwomen don't know how to make good music.

When all the voices work together the twelve song album is pure, four-part harmony, country bliss.


Comments

Post a Comment

WHAT'S HOT TODAY!

Slower Than Slow: 16 RPM Records

Image
Have you ever heard of a long forgotten vinyl format, the 16 2/3 RPM record? They were half the speed of the 33 1/3 RPM albums that were the traditional standard for recorded music. Most record players in the 1950s and 1960s came with a speed setting to play these long forgotten discs that were considered novelties even during the years they were available. Because most, but not all, 16s had big holes and were 7" in diameter many of them were mistaken for 45 RPMs and at that size the speed allowed for up to 20 minutes of playing time per side. However, there was no true standard size and they were also manufactured to be 9, 10, or 12 inches in diameter, and these larger records played even longer. Just like the other speeds and formats 16s could be played one record at a time or stacked on a changer for continuous play. Radio stations often used the discs for pre-recorded radio shows containing interviews, dramas, and documentaries. More frequen...
Read more

The Band - Christmas Must Be Tonight (1977)

Image
In 2006 Hall and Oates released Home For Christmas , their one and only holiday album, an extremely good set of music that immediately became one of my favorite seasonal listens. I wrote then that I was stunned at how many overtly religious songs the famous duo put on the the disc considering the very politically correct climate of the new millennium. One of them was a cover version of a song that alluded me for almost thirty years, "Christmas Must Be Tonight." I liked the new, upbeat track sung by Daryl Hall and it made me go out and search for Robbie Robertson's never-to-be classic. Sung by Rick Danko, it appears on the great American band's last album, Islands (1977). It's a surprise that a group whose members were not known to have any specific or powerfully strong religious beliefs would release a song that tackled the subject of Jesus's birth as blatantly as our most loved Christmas carols. It's not about a reckless reinde...
Read more

The Chieftains With Jackson Browne - The Rebel Jesus (1991)

Image
"The Rebel Jesus" is a Christmas song composed by Jackson Browne and performed with The Chieftains, the eclectic, veteran Irish folk band on  The Bells of Dublin,  their 1991 holiday album. Browne wrote the song specifically for his guest appearance on this record. The singer-songwriter, who is deservedly in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, can be a bit preachy when he wants to be, and he is again here, but no one can dispute what the man is saying.  The last two verses are the key to the song. Browne points out that people often feel more generous at Christmas so they'll give to those who were less fortunate than themselves during the holidays. But, if anyone tries to dig deeper and root out the poverty that envelops the downtrodden they are often scorned like Jesus was. This message is coming from a man who is admittedly a "heathen and a pagan," but on this occasion he is "on the side of the rebel Jesus." At the same time Browne doesn't want to sp...
Read more

The Beatles - Christmas Messages (1963 - 1969)

Image
For seven straight years beginning in 1963 - even before they were famous in America - The Beatles recorded annual Christmas messages exclusively for their fan club members as a holiday thank you. They were issued on seven-inch, vinyl records that were very thin, very bendable, and easily damaged. These flexi-discs, as they were called, could not be stacked on record changers. Over the years the tracks have been bootlegged in countless ways, and until a few years ago the only legal release was sent to fan club members in 1970 on 33 RPM vinyl records after the boys from Liverpool went their separate ways. The LP cover shown here is from that album. Finally, in 2017, a limited edition box set  on colored vinyl was released and is now an expensive collector's item. Many Beatles fans managed to hear these records over the years, and with the Internet being what it is, there are several websites where anyone can easily listen to all of them.  Archive.org ...
Read more

Chicago: An Album By Album Analysis Of The Terry Kath Era (1969 - 1977)

Image
The original lineup of Chicago has always been one of my all time favorite bands. My affection for this great horn band is such that I want to discuss all of the albums they recorded before Terry Kath's unfortunate and accidental passing. Their debut album is now forty years old, and it's followup is not far behind, yet their music endures to this day. * * * * * Everyone Must Own * * * * Excellent * * * Good * * Fair * Poor * * * * * Chicago Transit Authority (1969) - Whether they were playing screaming psychedelic hard rock, jazz, blues, or love songs, everyone in the band proved they were worthy of the huge mass success that followed CTA 's release. The band's ability to play anything and play it well is the hallmark of their debut album. The stars are Robert Lamm, Terry Kath, and the horns, and even Peter Cetera demonstrates he can be a rock and roll animal when he wants to be. The standout tracks are Lamm's "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It...
Read more