The Highwomen Album Review
The highly anticipated self-titled debut album from new country supergroup The Highwomen is here, and we’re here for it!
Maren Morris, Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, and Amanda Shires have joined forces and voices to create a 12-track album that we’ve been excited about since its announcement. And when we heard Redesigning Women, we started to count the days until the full album was available.
The record is a whole lot of things. As covered widely, the entire project came together in a search for female representation in country music. That alone is something worth keying in on and fighting for. But there’s a lot more to this album than that statement. From top to bottom this thing is packed with fantastic songwriting, magnificent harmonies, and powerful performances that take every expectation we had for The Highwomen and blows them out of the water.
Starting with Highwomen at the top of the album, there’s a depth and willingness in the tracklist to tell hard stories in a way that country music does best. It’s slow and it’s upbeat too. It’s fun and it’s deep and full of feelings. It’s balanced and complete.
Note: The group has also recorded and released a wonderful rendition of the Fleetwood Mac classic, The Chain for The Kitchen movie soundtrack. We wish it was included on the album, but we’re really just happy that it exists.
For years we’ve been writing and talking about the lack of women being played on country radio or being booked at country music festivals. We watched as women like Maren Morris finally get to #1 on the charts with and are celebrated for breaking through, and wondered aloud why we can’t just celebrate her for releasing great music instead of her success being a novelty. We aren’t alone in thinking or saying those things. But still we look around and see women getting fewer spins than men, fewer chances to play big stages, and while they may earn critical acclaim and build dedicated fanbases, they are all well aware of the steeper hill they have to climb to get to the top. The Highwomen should challenge all of that very quickly.
Related: Why Maren Morris Hitting Number One Matters, And Why It Shouldn’t
Redesigning Women should rise up the charts when it hits radio. Heaven Is A Honky Tonk could do the same. And if stations (especially in the Bible Belt) can gather the strength to stand up to homophobic pushback, If She Ever Leaves Me could be a hit too.
That’s a big if though. And if you’re asking what’s likely to happen with If She Ever Leaves Me, the safe money (based on history) is on little to no radio play, hateful remarks and attacks online, and threats from fundamentalist groups to boycott whatever they think will protect their homophobic views. And all of that should make people fucking angry. I hope I’m wrong.
BUT, more importantly, and most importantly, If She Ever Leaves Me is the representation that the LGBTQ+ community doesn’t get in mainstream country music. It is a song about a lesbian relationship and it matters. There’s love coming in already on Twitter for the song from those who are hearing their story or feeling represented. We hope that continues and drowns out whatever negativity pops up.
In social media posts celebrating and sharing the release of the album, the band says…
“We are The Highwomen. We hope these stories find you when you need them most.”
Track by track, The Highwomen is a big win. Depending on your mood at any given time there are songs that are going to work for you. And if you just love great female voices singing quality country music, you can hit play on track one and listen to the full 42-minute album.
It’s difficult not to let the significance and weight of this album as a statement overshadow the quality of the songs. You shouldn’t look at this as an album that four women put together just to ruffle some feathers and further their cause. We hope it does that, but we also hope that listeners allow Old Soul and My Only Child and Cocktail And A Song and My Name Can’t Be Mama and Don’t Call Me to sit with them and earn their way onto playlists with repeat listens in mind. We hope the songwriting and singing resonate purely based on a love of country music.
Sometimes, expectations for art can hurt its reception when it arrives. Words like supergroup can do that. Stories in the New York Times and Rolling Stone can do that. Fans and industry members talking to each other about how excited they are can do that. But sometimes, like this one, the weight of the expectations is shrugged off and the art shines as intended.
The bottom line is this: The Highwomen have released a full album of really good country songs that are important because of both their quality and what they represent.
We recommend that you listen to the whole thing now, and then start picking which songs belong on which of your playlists for easy access anytime.
The Highwomen Tracklist
1. Highwomen
2. Redesigning Women
3. Loose Change
4. Crowded Table
5. My Name Can’t Be Mama
6. If She Ever Leaves Me
7. Old Soul
8. Don’t Call Me
9. My Only Child
10. Heaven Is A Honky Tonk
11. Cocktail And A Song
12. Wheels Of Laredo
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