Beware of Woman With Attitude

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In 1952 Kitty Wells ruffled a lot of feathers in country music with her "answer song" to Hank Thompson's "The Wild Side of Life," "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels." Despite the fact that the song was written by a man (J.D. Miller), Kitty took a great deal of flack for this song that, in essence, said, "It takes two to tango, so stop blaming only the women." Hardly a feminist, Wells endured the attacks (she was even banned from the Grand Ole Opry because management told her not to sing the song, but she did anyway) and kicked the door down for women in country music. Then came Loretta Lynn. She had quite a few songs banned in her career, such as "The Pill" and "Rated 'X'," because they dealt with very modern women's issues where the woman stood up to her man instead of standing by him (sorry, Tammy). Drawing inspiration from both, and yet being very unique, Kacey Musgraves has burst onto the country music scene over the past two years like a Sherman tank. She's a maverick in a number of ways. First, her music sounds more like she grew up listening to Kitty and Loretta than most of the other women in country music, who are barely distinguishable from pop singers like Adele and Celine Dion. Second, she writes about topics that are as taboo in country music today as birth control was in Loretta's day or admitting that a man was to blame for having affairs in Kitty's time. While she says they aren't controversial to her they are to the stereotypically conservative country music record-buying fan base. All of this has earned her a number of fans -- and detractors. She stole the show from Taylor Swift at the Grammys in 2014 when Same Trailer, Different Park won the "country album of the year" over the highly-favored Swift album and "Merry-Go-Round" won "best country song" over Swift, Blake, and all the other Nashville-approved mainstream artists. She's not compromising her sound, her beliefs, or anything else: as she told the sold-out audience in the Egyptian Room in Indianapolis last night (March 4), "I'm so happy you like what I'm doing," adding that she didn't give a (four-letter word that starts with "F") about the "mainstream" country. It shows in everything she does. Her songs may be "preachy" against the "system" (such as the crowd favorite "Follow Your Arrow," which proclaims in the chorus, "So make your own noise, kiss lots of boys, or kiss lots of girls if that's something you're into") but they're so good and so much fun you leave feeling that you've been to a great concert, not a lecture on her philosophical views. Backed by her excellent band, Musgraves went through her two albums with that wonderfully delicate balance of being high energy while staying true to country music. The audience was delighted to sing along on most of the tunes. Highlights included some of her best-known songs, "Biscuits" ("mind your own biscuits and life will be gravy"), "Merry-Go-Round," "The Trailer Song," and "Family is Family" had everyone participating. The quieter numbers were also very well and respectfully received. Musgraves did two covers. One was "A Spoonful of Sugar," a song that she has recorded for a "songs from Disney movies" project, and the encore was Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walking." The Cactus Blossoms were originally scheduled to be the opening act, but they were forced to cancel last week. The marquee had the Snails as the opening act, but they, too, were a no-show. The last-minute addition was an act called John & Jacob. The two front men have co-written songs with The Band Perry ("Done," which they performed). Their music was a typical commercial blend of pop, rock, "country," and oldies (they did the Everlys' "Wake Up Little Susie"). They seemed to be groomed for the mainstream, and to that end they really seemed out of place as an opening set for a neo-traditional performer like Musgraves.