An Examination of the Rise and Reception of Female Country Crossover Artists from 1990

Historically, women in country music have not received levels of radio airtime or chart success in line with that of their male counterparts. However, during the 1990s, female country music artists saw perhaps their highest levels of success and radio airtime. Country music artists are increasingly becoming ‘crossover artists’, who leave their country music roots to find success in popular music markets. Country music is a genre that is male dominated in every aspect including production, chart success, festival appearances and many other areas. It is therefore significant that so many female artists cross over to popular music markets when they begin to find success in country music.

This thesis examines the reasons why particular artists have become crossover artists and determines why women often become excluded from the country music narrative. It focuses on female artists who become crossover artists, moving both from country music into popular music and popular music into country music. By looking at the many political, cultural and social aspects that are ingrained in the history of country music, this thesis determines the perception of women in the genre and why women are often not included in country music discussion. This leads to lack of inclusion and acceptance of women within the genre and subsequent lack of success within the genre’s charts.

The following tracks and artists are discussed in detail:
Sheryl Crow ‘All I Wanna Do’ (Bottrell, Baerwald, Gilbert, Crow & Cooper, 1993)
The Chicks ‘Not Ready to Make Nice’ (Maguire, Maines, Robison & Wilson, 2006)
Bebe Rexha ‘Meant to Be’ (Garcia, Hubbard, Miller & Rexha, 2017)
Maren Morris ‘The Middle’ (Aarons et al., 2018)