'The book is deeply researched...[a] history of the kind of industry - and world - that the white men of country music have always hoped to maintain and the women who wouldn't let them.' Pitchfork For the women of country music, 1999 was an entirely different universe than today: a brief blip in time when women like Shania Twain and the Chicks topped every chart and made country music a woman's world. But the industry, which prefers its stars to be neutral and be obedient, had other plans. Women are played on country radio as little as 10 per cent of the time, but they're selling out arenas and becoming infinitely bigger live draws than many of their male counterparts, creating massive pop crossover hits like Beyonce's groundbreaking Cowboy Carter; an album that pushed the industry to confront its racial biases and swept the 2025 Grammy's. In Her Country, award-winning journalist Marissa R. Moss tells the story of how in the past two decades, country's women fought back. It's the behind-the-scenes story of how women like Kacey Musgraves, Miranda Lambert, Rissi Palmer, Brandi Carlile and many more have reinvented their place in an industry stacked against them. When the rules stopped working for these women, they took control, changing the genre forever, and for the better.
An award-winning journalist, Marissa R. Moss has written about the topic of gender inequality on the country airwaves for outlets like Rolling Stone, NPR, Billboard, Entertainment Weekly, and many more. Moss was the 2018 recipient of the Rolling Stone Chet Flippo Award for Excellence in Country Music Journalism, and the 2019 Nashville Scene Best of Nashville Best Music Reporter. She has been a guest on The TODAY Show, Entertainment Tonight, CBS Morning Show, NPR's Weekend Edition, WPLN, the Pop Literacy Podcast, and more.
'Moss] examines the past two decades of country music through the distinct careers of Guyton, Musgraves and Morris -- exploring how women, queer people and people of color have charted space for themselves in an industry that was never built for them.' The Washington Post 'Moss goes deep into the archives and shares the often tumultuous journey of countless women trying to pursue a music career in the male-dominated industry. Her Country is an eye-opening account of the gender bias...[and] Moss unpacks each singer's story with precise detail and often harrowing accounts of sexism and racism.' Forbes 'Marissa R. Moss's Her Country is a serious interrogation of the cultural meaning of contemporary gender and race in country music. It is sharp and fun (at times) and critical in exactly the way we need.'Tressie McMillan Cottom, author of Thick: And Other Essays '[Moss] deftly makes a case for, among other critical changes, country music's urgent need to embrace diversity...[and examines] the misogyny, inequity and racism embedded with the country music power structure.' Dallas Observer 'Humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating umorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating' Kirkus Reviews
