This week, Advertising sign publishes a series of lists and articles celebrating the music of 20 years ago. Us Week 2004 continues here as we check in with one of the artists who defined mainstream country music 20 years ago: Gretchen Wilson, whose smash hit “Redneck Woman” and subsequent bestsellers Here for the Party The album made her the freshest and most exciting new artist in Nashville.
It's been two decades since Gretchen Wilson set the staid country music landscape on fire in 2004 with her debut single, “Redneck Woman.”
The song's lyrics — highlighting women who prefer beer to champagne and who leave Christmas lights hanging year-round — poignantly describe a lifestyle familiar to millions of female country music fans. It was also a lifestyle Wilson didn't see or hear portrayed among female artists on country radio and music videos in the early '00s. So Wilson teamed up with Big & Rich singer-songwriter John Rich to create a song that celebrated women against the “Barbie doll” type.
“I remember sitting down and going, 'I can't really relate to what I'm seeing on CMT, on GAC, on all the popular music video channels, and that's not real life,'” Wilson recalls. Advertising sign. “That's the mindset we had that day. It was like, “If I'm not him, then what am I?” And the best I could come up with was, “I'm just a normal woman in a red neck.” This is a really pivotal moment, I was just writing this song knowing that I was unique. But I also knew, from a songwriter's point of view, it was as honest as I could tell. I knew at the same time that it would speak to so many women who felt as frustrated as I did.”
“Redneck Woman” was a true slice of life for Wilson, who was born to a teenage mother and raised in Pocahontas, Illinois, a town of less than 1,000. Wilson grew up in trailer parks and was working in local bars as a cook by age 14. She moved to Nashville in 1996 and spent much of her 20s singing on songwriters' demos and playing local bars. When she signed to Epic Records in 2003 and scored her hit with “Redneck Woman,” Wilson was in her 30s and raising her own daughter.
Music fans immediately connected with “Redneck Woman”, calling radio stations and demanding it be played. “Redneck Woman” was released in March 2004. By May, it had reached his penthouse Advertising signon the Hot Country Songs (then called Hot Country Singles & Tracks) chart and stayed there for five weeks. It proved a counterpoint to the impressive pop crossovers of country artists like Shania Twain and Faith Hill, whose more commercially dominant years were already firmly on the back burner by the time Wilson's breakthrough came.
“I felt validated, but mostly with the fans, because radio put up a big fight,” Wilson says of the success of “Redneck Woman.” “The radio was like, 'Who's this chick coming at us with 13 lines on the first song?' My argument at the time—and I had a valid argument, even though it was 20 years ago, before there were a lot of women's movements—my argument was, “I'm on the same label as Montgomery Gentry, who just had a hit with “Hell Yeah” [in 2003]. So, is that just because I'm a woman and I can't say “Hell Yeah” in my song? So they got it, and shut up pretty quickly about it. But it was really the fans calling their local radio stations. They called and basically said “You're going to play this song or I'm going to the other guy's station.”
These fans didn't just call radio stations—they attended Wilson's concerts in droves, holding signs of support and telling Wilson how they identified with her offbeat, rugged persona. “Many of them would have Faith Hill rolling in satin sheets [2000] 'Breathe' video,” Wilson says of the contemporary country image prominent at the time, which some fans found difficult to relate to. “It's a great song, no doubt about it. They'd say, “I just don't think I could enjoy it anymore because who wakes up like that in the morning?” People were so enthusiastic [about feeling represented by my music] that they would show up and have homemade T-shirts that read “Redneck Girl,” “Redneck Woman” and “Redneck Grandma” on them — representing three generations, sometimes four. It felt very validating.”
In 2004, Wilson won the Country Music Association's Horizon Award (later renamed New Artist of the Year) and the following year, Female Vocalist of the Year. “Redneck Woman” won Wilson a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, while Wilson's debut album Here for the Party bowed at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart and was certified five times Platinum by the RIAA. Three more singles from the album, “Here For the Party”, “When I Think About Cheatin” and “Homewrecker”, reached the top 5 on Hot Country Songs.
Wilson's success also helped spawn MuzikMafia, an eclectic collective of artists (including Wilson) founded in 2001 known for holding court with cool shows at Nashville's Pub of Love — all driven by creating an atmosphere acceptance and support in a range of sounds. Along with Wilson and Big & Rich's Rich and William “Big Kenny” Alphin, the group included '00s country stalwarts Cowboy Troy, James Otto, Shannon Lawson and Jon Nicholson.
“At the same time we were crazy, crazy and partying, the other condition was, 'You have to be good,'” notes Wilson. “One of our mottos was that it doesn't matter what you play. As long as you can play it well and hold an audience, we're not going to tell you that you're not country enough or not rock n' roll enough. You just have to be nice. That's why the shows would go on for six or seven hours, just one person after another getting up there because we were a group of talented friends coming to these parties. When you have 13, 14, 15 artists who all want to play five or six songs each, it's a big night of music.”
In 2004, as Wilson's “Redneck Woman” dominated, other MuzikMafia artists also broke new ground. Big & Rich's “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” climbed to No. 11 on the Country Airplay chart. Otto released his debut album Days of our Lives in 2004, while the following year, Cowboy Troy released the single 'I Play Chicken with the Train' and his album Loco Motive. Together, the band broke out into the polished, often pop-oriented sounds emanating from Nashville's Music Row.
After the incredible popularity of Wilson and Big & Rich in 2004, the rising tide of MuzikMafia slowly began to level off. Big & Rich hit No. 1 on Hot Country Songs with “Lost in This Moment” in 2007, then went on hiatus as a duo in 2009 and each released solo projects (they reunited in 2011). Wilson's second album, 2005 All crusheddid not reach the same sales heights as her debut album, while the songs enjoyed more modest success at radio (although the album and 2007 One of the boys, both of which topped Billboard's Top Country Albums chart). Meanwhile, a new group of female artists began to make their own strides on the country charts in the mid-2000s, including Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, and Kellie Pickler (all of whom offered polished, glamorous personas and pop-country sounds ). Wilson's own songs also helped pave the way for independent singer-songwriter Miranda Lambert, who scored her first top 10 hit on Hot Country Songs in 2008.
However, scanning today's country music landscape, Wilson doesn't really see a modern parallel to what MuzikMafia set out to do. “I would say that MuzikMafia was reminiscent of the early Outlaws, in a sense. I don't think there has been [anything like it since] — not to say that it won't happen, it could happen again — but it was definitely a movement and each of us had our own place. I think maybe what made it successful is that it didn't get too big. there was always only a handful of us left. It was a brotherhood and sisterhood, and we're all very close. it's definitely a family.”
Earlier this year, Wilson teamed up with Big & Rich and Cowboy Troy to launch their 20u anniversary celebration tour.
“It's like stepping right back into a scene I never left,” he says of the shows. “Every time I look at John, he's grinning from ear to ear. Every time I look at Kenny, it's Kenny, which is crazy, throwing his hands up in the air — whenever you look at Kenny, you just have to be ready for anything that can come your way. But it was a lot of fun.”
In addition to the current tour, Wilson shares that there is new music on the way: “I have a song that I'm going to try to finish by the end of this month and hopefully have it out by at least the first two weeks of May. I can tell you it's kind of like that [Wilson’s 2005-released single] “Homewrecker” part two. It's kind of a continuation of that kind of atmosphere.”
Wilson says she's always looking to release songs that showcase different aspects of her craft while still maintaining the raucous songs fans have come to expect.
“There are songs I've written that are very personal, more ballads with a softer tone. When people go looking for me and find songs from me, they're looking for the hard edge. They're looking for that girl on a four-wheeler who sucks Jack Daniels barefoot,” he says. “But definitely, there are different shades to my personality and songwriting and it's quite complicated.”
Still, there's a reason Wilson felt “Redneck Woman” was true to who she is. “There's always going to be that layer of me that's that girl they're waiting to see,” she explains. “And I'm barefoot, right now, sitting out on the back porch watching the train go by in the distance. So, after all these years, I haven't changed much.”
