Marissa R. Moss

I read Her Country: How the Women of Country Music Became the Success They Were Never Supposed to Be by Marissa R. Moss. I don't follow music but I had heard of the Dixie Chicks and how they were treated. It seems, for some bizarre reason, country music stations didn't want to play female artists. Their explanation was that country music is like a salad - they need lots of lettuce, which is the male artists, and just a sprinkling of tomatoes - the female artists. They especially wanted their female artists to be compliant and feminine, which did not exactly cover the Dixie Chicks. Aside from their political comments about Bush, country radio found them over all to be too rebellious. You can imagine how the straight, which men reacted to "Good Bye Earl." I'd never heard this happy song about killing an abusive husband, so I'm glad the book directed me to it. It also directed me to country women who won Grammys, and even then radio didn't want to play them because they were queer or of color or just outspoken. So I've been able to listen to people I'd never heard of before that the rest of the work has - Brandy, Mickey Guyton, Maren Morris, Amanda Shires, Natalie Hemby. I don't know if those in charge of country radio have wised up by now, but I think all the kerfuffle about Beyonce going country reflects the same old attitude.… (más)

I received this book as part of the Early Reviewers Program on LibraryThing. It was an enjoyable and quick read, even though it made me angry. Why is it so hard for industry executives to play more women and people of color? There is so much good music out there, and who really cares what the musician's gender or race is? If it's good, it's good. I appreciated the playlist in the back of the book introducing me to more artists I'd never heard of. I loved hearing how some of my favorite female musicians started out. I think the only thing I would have liked to have read more about is how this will change. What is actively being done, or what can be done to decrease the good ol' boys club and white male singers?… (más)