When CMT announced its annual Artists of the Year lineup earlier this month, the group was a solid one, though there seemed to be one thing missing.
This year’s winners include Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Chris Stapleton and Keith Urban, five incredibly successful performers who assuredly deserve the honor. All are talented in their own right, but the lack of women in the group is a glaring note.
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While this in no way takes away from the men’s accomplishments, it would have been nice to see a woman represented in this year’s lineup to acknowledge the importance of females to the country music genre, something that has been noticeably absent in recent years.
Aside from the genre’s biggest stars, many women are receiving scarce radio airplay compared to their male counterparts, and festival lineups often feature only a handful of females in comparison to the male-dominated sets, making it more difficult for females to break into country music in a major way.
Read on for a few women who we think could have earned a spot in this year’s group of winners.
Miranda Lambert
Lambert released her critically-acclaimed double albumย The Weight of These Wingsย in 2016, with the widely lauded LP gets deeply personal, showing fans a side of Lambert they may not have seen before.
The singer also kicked off her Highway Vagabond Tour in January 2017, and has been on the road for a majority of the year, impressing fans with her songwriting talent and raw, emotional delivery along with the Southern attitude she’s known for.
Lady Antebellum
Sure, Lady A is a group, but it’s a group with a female member, and Hillary Scott is an integral part of the country trio, rounded out by bandmates Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood. In June, the group released their seventhย studio album,ย Heart Break, following a year-long break that saw Scott and Kelley take on solo projects.
Reunited, the trio is stronger than ever, and recently wrapped up the U.S. leg of their You Look Good World Tour in Nashville. The tour showcased the group’s new album, as well as older hits as well as Scott and Kelley’s solo work.
Maren Morris
After releasing an EP, Morris officially dropped her debut album,ย Hero, in 2016, reissuing the LP in 2017 as a deluxe edition. The 27-year-old also earned a Grammy this year for Best Country Solo Performance for her debut single, “My Church.”
This year, Morris also notched her first headlining tour, The Hero Tour, and the fall leg of the tour will feature her fiancรฉ, Ryan Hurd.ย Spending lots of time on the road, Morris has also been opening for Sam Hunt on his 15 in a 30 Tour this year.
Little Big Town
Another country group, featuring female members Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman alongsideย Jimi Westbrook and Phillip Sweet, theย quartet kept the music coming this year with the February release of their eighth studio albumย The Breaker, which features the No. 1 single “Better Man,” written by Taylor Swift.
On the day of the album’s release, the group began a residency at the Rymanย Auditorum,ย Little Big Town at the Mother Church, and will be headlining a U.K. tour in the fall. They also held residency performances throughout the year.
Margo Price
Price made a major name for herself with her 2016 debut solo album, the critically-acclaimedย Midwest Farmer’s Daughter,ย whichย showcased Price’s songwriting skills and traditional country style and earned her a spot as the musical guest onย Saturday Night Live.
This year, Price headed out a U.K. tour and released an EP, Weakness,ย in July, performing on stage with country greats John Prine, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson along the way. Theย 34-year-old is also gearing up to release her second album in October and will headline her Nowhere Fast Tour starting in January.
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