These are just some of the performers and experts who have generously shared their time with us to tell the story of women in music.
Country music singer Crystal Gayle is widely known for her hit song from 1977, “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue.” She was introduced to the industry by her iconic older sister, Loretta Lynn, who encouraged her to forge her own path and sing her own songs. She followed Loretta’s advice and became one of the most successful crossover artists in the 1970s and ’80s.
Recording artist Kathy Mattea has combined a successful career in music with her interest in social and environmental issues. The two-time Grammy award winner frequently lectures on her family history and her coal country heritage in a program titled “My Coal Journey.” Mattea was also a consultant on filmmaker Ken Burns’ documentary “Country Music.” She has 14 studio albums and was awarded CMA Female Vocalist of the Year for 1989 and 1990.
Stella Parton has recorded 40 studio albums. Author, recording artist and social activist, the Nashville musician has more than 100,000 Twitter followers. Parton engages her followers with her keen observations on Democratic politics. She has authored books on her own musical journey and her sister, Dolly Parton’s career.
Karen Waldrup is a BMI songwriter, a member of NARAS/The Recording Academy (The Grammy organization), and the CMAs, and she was a top 5 finalist on season 25 of NBC’s “The Voice.” Waldrup has recorded seven studio albums and released more than 50 songs internationally.
Jeannie Seely is a country singer/songwriter who found success with the Grammy Award-winning song “Don’t Touch Me” in 1966. She has appeared on the Grande Ole Opry more than any other performer, having taken the stage there more than 5,000 times so far. She’s also known for breaking the “calico curtain” when she first wore a miniskirt on the Opry stage.
Wood Newton is a Grammy-winning songwriter, record producer and musician based in Nashville. Newton is active in the Nashville music scene, working with singers including Ashley McBryde, Stella Parton, Kathy Mattea, Karen Waldrup and Justyna Kelley.
Devon O’Day is a longtime Nashville radio personality who was inducted into the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame in 2023. She’s the host and emcee of Backstage Nashville, the most popular songwriters show in Nashville.
Becky Hobbs is a country singer, songwriter and pianist who has recorded seven studio albums and charted multiple singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including the 1983 top 10 hit, “Let’s Get Over Them Together,” a duet with Moe Bandy. Hobbs has written for country, rock and pop acts from Loretta Lynn and Helen Reddy to KISS.
Historian Donna Halper has worked extensively in radio since the 1960s. She is credited with discovering the rock ‘n’ roll group Rush while at WMMS in Cleveland in 1974. Halper has also authored books on radio including Invisible Stars: A Social History of Women in American Broadcasting. She is currently an associate professor at Lesley University in Boston, where she
teaches courses in media and communication.
William McKeen is chairman of the Boston University Journalism Department. He’s authored books on Bob Dylan, the Beach Boys and the Beatles. He has also lectured for the online program “One Day University” on the power of music in advancing social issues. He teaches a popular class on the history of rock ‘n’ roll for Boston University.
Author, screenwriter and teacher Brad Schreiber’s latest book, Music Is Power, chronicles music’s power to bring attention to social issues. Schreiber has authored books on such diverse topics as Patty Hearst, the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office and Jimi Hendrix. Schreiber is a 2022 Hearst Award winner at San Jose State University.
Ariel Jade is a singer/songwriter who picked up the guitar at 8 years old and the mandolin at 12. She co-produced her debut album, “Honky Tonic,” with Mike Loudermilk, and she writes, produces and co-hosts a Music City podcast called “Shootin’ the Shit Show on Music Row” from “The Magic Room” at RCA Studios.
Marcus K. Dowling is The Tennessean’s Nashville Country Music Reporter. He is also a member of the 2025 class of Leadership Music and was also the 2023 Country Music Association Media Achievement Award winner, the 2021 recipient of the Rolling Stone Chet Flippo Award for Excellence in Country Music Journalism, plus the recipient of the 2022 Best of Gannett and National Headliner Awards.
Jada Watson’s research focuses on representation in the country music industry, using various forms of market data to explore inequitable programming for songs by women and artists of color. Principal Investigator of the SongData project (www.SongData.ca), Dr. Watson’s work has been cited in industry advocacy initiatives, including legislative decision-making regarding radio ownership, the Grammy Recording Academy’s report on Inclusive and Diversity, CMT’s EqualPlay initiative, and the Black Music Action Coalition’s report on racism in country music.
She is an associate professor in the School of Information Studies at the University of Ottawa.
Dr. Mary Bufwack holds a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology and specializes in women’s studies.
In 1993, she and her husband, Robert K. Oermann, a noted music journalist, wrote and published Finding Her Voice: The Saga of Women in County Music, the research for which initially brought Dr. Bufwack to Nashville. Since then, a CBS network special was produced on the project and the book remains in print; now with Vanderbilt and the Country Music Foundation Press.
Dubbed “the dean of Nashville’s entertainment journalists,” Robert K. Oermann writes weekly columns for Music Row and has been published in more than 100 other periodicals. He has authored nine books, including collaborating with Dolly Parton on the 2020 New York Times best-seller Songteller and with his wife Mary Bufwack on the award-winning landmark publication Finding Her Voice.
He has penned liner notes for 130+ recordings, including the 2001 Grammy Album of the Year, “O Brother Where Art Thou?” He has scripted 50+ TV specials and was a consultant for the 2019 Ken Burns PBS country-music documentary series. He serves on the board of The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, as well as on Country Music Association, Recording Academy and Leadership Music committees. He is a 1990 graduate of Leadership Music and a 2003 graduate of Leadership Nashville.
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