Women Are Dominating Country Music. Why Don’t Festival Lineups Reflect That?

We’ve barely left summer behind, but next year’s festival season is already beginning to roll out. And in country music, despite it being a banner year for women — Ella Langley is breaking records, Kacey Musgraves has one of the most talked-about tours, and Shania Twain is back to collect her flowers — most festival lineups are telling a different story. 

First, the good news: Some festivals, like Texas’ Two Step Inn, are breaking the mold. Taking place April 17 and 18 in Georgetown, Texas, the stellar lineup features a female headliner in Langley on one night (Brooks & Dunn anchor the other), plus a score of artists including Kaitlin Butts and Carter Faith (performing a Dolly Parton tribute together), Flatland Calvary, Stella Lefty, Sheryl Crow, Michelle Branch, and first-generation Mexican-American band Los Hermanos Mendoza. It also boasts an excellent roster of older women artists who aren’t always given their proper due, like Jo Dee Messina, Pam Tillis, and Lorrie Morgan. Meanwhile, Chicago’s Windy City Smokeout 2027 booked Megan Moroney as one of its four headliners (the other three are men, because more women would just be, you know, too much?)

Now, the not so great news. Stagecoach, which has a reputation for curating one of the more creative lineups in the genre, will be headlined entirely by white men: Riley Green, Zach Top, Garth Brooks, and, in the late-night slot, Florida Georgia Line. The same is true for Gulf Coast Jam, taking place in June in Panama Beach, Florida, where Bailey Zimmerman, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, and Top headline. Basically, it’s an interchangeable run of dudes, a move that unintentionally highlights a problem at most of the festivals, including Two Step Inn — no more than one or two Black country artists on the bill, if any at all.

To be fair, if you look at the second line of Stagecoach’s poster and beyond, you’ll find a well-curated list of artists: Brothers Osborne, Willie Nelson, Kelly Clarkson, Stephen Wilson Jr., Charley Crockett, Shaboozey, Maggie Antone, Butts, Faith, and more. There’s also the list of out-of-the-box (and out of other genres) acts like Matchbox Twenty, the Fray, Melissa Etheridge, Sean Paul, Flo Rida, and Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth. But for a festival that claims to not be entirely driven by radio airplay, a lineup that is so male-centric feels like a huge missed opportunity. (A rep for Goldenvoice, which promotes Stagecoach, did not immediately respond to a request for comment).

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According to the organization Book More Women, Stagecoach sits at only 17.6 percent women (and 0.0 percent nonbinary or trans artists) this year. Gulf Coast Jam has yet to announce an artist that isn’t a man, with reps telling Rolling Stone that the complete lineup will be released on the afternoon of Sept. 24 — presumably including more women. All of this runs contrary to trends that prove how women are not only some of the most bankable artists in country music today but also how female artists of any genre are promoting some the best-selling festivals in the industry: see, Olivia Rodrigo’s Daisy Chain Fields.    
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Booking lineups are complicated business. Radius clauses, relationships, sponsorships, and the degree to which they must reflect country radio airplay (which still plays far more men than women) are all part of the picture. Sometimes, women aren’t extended offers at all, while other times, they’re offered less money than their male counterparts for the same slot.

Still, America has chosen “Choosin’ Texas” and the women of country music this year. Maybe it’s time for festival stages to make the same choice.