Female Friday Country Thunder Calgary 2019 Preview
For as long as we’ve been doing this, we’ve been asking where the women are in country music. It’s not always an easy question to answer, but on Friday night at Country Thunder in Calgary, they’ll be on the main stage.
It’s often tricky question to answer, because we know where the women are. They are writing, singing, playing, recording, producing, and selling a lot of really great country music in Nashville and beyond. They’re just not on country radio or the big stages at the big festivals at the same rate that men are. At Country Thunder Alberta though, Meghan Patrick, Lindsay Ell, Tanya Tucker, and headliner Miranda Lambert make up the entire day’s main stage line-up. It’s an opportunity for thousands of country music fans to be entertained by four supremely talented artists, who all have the ability to put on one hell of a show.
#FemaleFriday may sound gimmicky, but the fact is it matters. Over the course of the weekend in Calgary, 16 acts are currently listed for the main stage. On Friday, all four are female. On Saturday and Sunday, there is one female solo artist listed each day with Lauren Alaina and Terri Clark set to play. The total percentage of female artists on the schedule, 37.5%. The percentage of solo male artists is 50%, with all-male group Hunter Brothers and male/female duo Leaving Thomas making up the remainder of the line-up.
There have been times in the last few years where we’ve thought the tide has been changing, but it feels like we’ve been spinning our wheels, waiting for parity and equality in the number of female acts or their billing. The fact we’re celebrating less than 40% representation is a great example of that.
What we know is that Female Friday is set up to be a huge day of country music. Meghan Patrick (Two-time Canadian Country Music Association Female Artist of the Year) will be the first to take the stage at 4 pm. Lindsay Ell (four-time nominee at the 2019 CCMA awards and ACM New Female Artist of the Year nominee) will follow her with a set at 5:30 pm. Country Music Hall of Fame member and genre legend, Tanya Tucker will be the next to take the stage at 7 pm. And nine-time American Country Music Awards winner for Female Artist of the Year, Miranda Lambert will play her headlining set at 9 pm.
With the exception of legend Tanya Tucker, we’ve had the chance to see each of these women perform. We know that they all kick ass. We know that the Country Thunder Alberta crowd at Prairie Winds Park is in for a good time on Friday, August 16, 2019.
Meghan Patrick will bring all kinds of raw energy with sides of grace and grit when she takes the stage to open the Friday show. With hit singles from her first two albums, including #1 smash, Walls Comes Down the crowd will have lots of opportunities to sing along. If she chooses to, she can slow it down a little. If she doesn’t want to do that, Meghan can keep things going with up-tempo, boot-stomping, honky-tonking tracks.
Related: The Bad Guy, Meghan Patrick at Boots & Hearts 2018
Calgary’s own Lindsay Ell goes next, and will no doubt keep things moving with incredible guitar skills, a talented voice, and a #1 single of her own, Criminal. Her reputation as a dynamic performer continues to grow, and deservedly so. Whether she’s ripping through her own songs, covers of John Mayer, or putting on a wicked guitar battle, Lindsay Ell is can’t miss. You best not take your eyes off of her.
Related: Champagne, Lindsay Ell at Boots & Hearts 2018
Tanya Tucker, the 1972 Academy of Country Music Top New Female Artist, has released 25 albums. She’s got 10 No. 1 singles. She’s a legend, a hall-of-famer, an outlaw, and is still doing what she loves and what she does best. When Tanya Tucker takes the stage in Calgary, she’ll do it at 60 years old, with 47 years of experience. She’s amazing. Everyone is lucky she’s coming.
Miranda Lambert will close out the night at Country Thunder, and it’ll be a party. We’ve already put together a list of 50 reasons we’re excited to see her in Ontario at Boots & Hearts before she heads to Calgary. And 98% of them work for #FemaleFriday too.
She’s sassy, bad-assy, takes no shit, and performs country music with everything she’s got in her. Miranda has also just dropped two new singles (It All Comes Out In The Wash and Locomotive) with an entire new album on the way. And when you combine the new rockier edge that she’s promised with the music we’ve come to know and love over the last 15 years, the possibilities are exciting and enticing.
Related: 50 Reasons We’re Excited to See at Boots & Hearts 2019
Call it what you want, the Friday night line-up at Country Thunder Alberta is awesome. The full weekend is going to be great. And while it’s a great win here, we also still need to recognize that we’ve got a long way to go.
Here’s to the women of country music! Enjoy!
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