Women in Country Music
Woman's Hour
BBC
4.1 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 1 April 2024
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From Beyoncé's new country album to Shania headlining Glastonbury, country music is reaching new heights of popularity. Who are the women leading the charge, who are the icons who inspired them, and how many barriers are still left to be broken?
We speak to one of its biggest female stars, Carly Pearce, who went from working at Dollywood aged 16 to becoming a Grammy and three-time Country Music Association winner.
We explore the sexism still facing women in the industry as female singers remain dramatically underrepresented on US country radio, charts and awards. We also discuss the growth of the genre in the UK, why it's inspired countless films and TV shows, and its history and icons from Dolly Parton and Linda Martell to Patsy Cline.
We're joined by Marissa Moss, author of Her Country; Beverly Keel, co-founder of Change The Conversation; Alex Hannaby, Head of UK at Big Machine; Simeon Hammond Dallas, singer-songwriter; Helen Brown, arts journalist; Professor Francesca Royster, author of Black Country Music; Nicole Taylor, screenwriter; and Zoe Hodges, music journalist.
Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Lucy Wai Editor: Louise Corley
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.6 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.4 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable |
| 0:14.3 | experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC |
| 0:20.4 | makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | BBC Sounds, Music Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:41.0 | Hello, I'm Nula McGovrin and welcome to Woman's Hour from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:45.8 | Just to say, for rights reasons, the music in the original radio broadcast has been shortened |
| 0:49.8 | or removed for this podcast. |
| 0:52.2 | Hello and welcome to Woman's Hour. |
| 0:54.0 | Hope you had a very good Easter. |
| 0:56.0 | But now for this Monday program, we're going to be keeping a country for the next hour |
| 1:01.0 | because country is having a moment. |
| 1:03.7 | Beyonce has just released cowboy Carter. |
| 1:06.5 | Lana Del Rey has announced an upcoming country album and the country queen herself, |
| 1:10.9 | Shania Twain, will be playing Glastonbury. |
| 1:13.9 | Maybe like me, we're just a goag looking at Tracy Chapman's performance at the grammys. |
| 1:18.5 | She played Fast Car with country star Luke Combs. |
| 1:21.4 | We're going to speak this hour about the growing interest in the |
| 1:24.3 | UK and the genre, also the influence on TV, film and clothes and we'll celebrate |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.