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The Quiet Trailblazer – How Kitty Wells Redefined Country Music

Her 1952 single cracked open the doors of country music for women, reshaping the genre with honesty and grit. Here’s how Kitty Wells left her mark forever.

When “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” hit the airwaves in 1952, it didn’t just climb the charts — it changed the conversation.

Kitty Wells, at the time a session singer and mother of three, reportedly didn’t expect much from the track. But its unflinching critique of double standards in relationships struck a chord with listeners and ruffled feathers with gatekeepers.

Radio stations banned it for its perceived impertinence, yet it became the first No. 1 country song by a woman, signalling that audiences were eager to hear female perspectives. Wells’ performance resonated because it was plainspoken yet defiant — a quiet rebellion that cracked Nashville’s glass ceiling.

The song’s resonance extended far beyond its initial reception, sparking conversations about women’s roles in country music and beyond. Contemporary artists have pointed to this track as a watershed moment that allowed them to write and perform songs about real experiences without apology.

Wells showed that women could reclaim the conversation, which inspired artists in subsequent decades to pen tracks with their own rebuttals and perspectives. The controversy around the song even reached national press, with some critics calling it inappropriate while others lauded its honesty. This tension only helped cement its place in country history, sparking dialogue far beyond Nashville about morality and gender in popular music.

Its impact was so profound that it became one of the most covered and referenced tracks in the genre’s history, with younger artists continually citing it as a source of inspiration when crafting songs about love, betrayal, and independence.

Ellen Muriel Deason was born in Nashville in 1919, surrounded by gospel music and the rhythms of hillbilly radio shows. Performing in a family trio during her teenage years, she cut her teeth at local dances before joining her husband Johnnie Wright’s act, touring extensively across the South through the 1940s.

At first, she saw herself as supporting his career, playing rhythm guitar and adding harmonies. It wasn’t until her fateful session for “Honky Tonk Angels” — for which she reportedly earned a modest session fee — that she discovered her ability to speak directly to women’s experiences. Later, she reflected that she hadn’t expected her voice to spark such a reaction but was gratified that it did.

Those early years shaped her professional ethic and deepened her connection to audiences. Growing up in a working-class household, she learned to value humility and hard work, traits she carried into her career even after achieving fame. Family members and collaborators later noted that she always made time for her fans, sometimes staying after shows for hours to greet them. This accessibility became a hallmark of her public persona and further solidified her reputation as “The Queen of Country Music.”

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Kylie Frey – Rodeo Roots and Country Roads

From Louisiana rodeo arenas to Nashville stages, Kylie Frey blends her equestrian heritage with heartfelt country music, crafting songs that resonate with emotional depth.

Born on March 3, 1995, in Opelousas, Louisiana, Kylie Frey grew up immersed in the rodeo lifestyle. A third-generation rodeo participant, she was named Louisiana High School Rodeo Queen at 15 and won the state championship for goat-tying at 16. Music was always present, with family road trips soundtracked by artists like Lee Ann Womack, Wynonna Judd, and Shania Twain.

Despite a childhood lisp and limited vocal range, Frey was drawn to songwriting. At 16, attending the Pensacola Beach Songwriters Festival, she was inspired by Lisa Carver’s storytelling prowess, prompting her to pursue music more seriously.

Frey’s initial foray into music involved writing songs as an emotional outlet. Her early compositions were, by her own admission, rudimentary, but they laid the foundation for her evolving artistry. She began performing at local venues, gradually building a following with her authentic country sound.

In 2014, she released her debut album, Cinderella Dreams, marking her official entry into the music industry. The album showcased her storytelling abilities and deep connection to traditional country themes.

Frey gained national attention as a finalist on USA Network’s Real Country in 2018, where she was mentored by Shania Twain. Her performance of “Wide Open Spaces” by the Dixie Chicks earned her 4.5 stars from the studio audience, a $10,000 prize, and a spot at the Stagecoach Festival.

This exposure led to increased opportunities, including opening for established artists and expanding her fan base. Her time on Real Country solidified her reputation as a rising star with genuine country roots.

Frey’s single “Spur of the Moment” became her fourth No. 1 on the Texas Regional Radio Report, setting a record as the fastest-rising No. 1 by a female in chart history. The song, co-written with Leslie Satcher, reflects her rodeo background and personal experiences.

Collaborations have been a significant part of Frey’s career. She teamed up with Bri Bagwell for a country rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” which topped the Texas charts. Additionally, she contributed background vocals to Cody Johnson’s Human: The Double Album, further cementing her place in the country music community.

In 2022, she released her EP Rodeo Queen, which included a reimagined version of her early single “One Night in Tulsa” and the fan-favourite track “I Do Thing.” The project was praised for its honesty and modern-traditional fusion. Critics noted that Frey had found a balance between honouring her country roots and expanding her stylistic range.

Frey has often credited her songwriting influences to the strong female voices of 90s country. Artists like Reba McEntire and Patty Loveless were formative in shaping her lyrical perspective—resilient, emotive, and steeped in realism. She has said that her goal is to tell the truth, even if it’s hard, and that principle underpins much of her catalogue.

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CMAT – Country at the Fringes

With humour, heartbreak and theatrical defiance, CMAT has built a cult following at the edge of country-pop — and now, the world is finally catching on.

At Glastonbury 2025, CMAT arrived dressed like a rodeo pop star from another planet—sequins blazing, fringe flying, boots planted, and voice unwavering. The Pyramid Stage crowd didn’t just watch her—they leaned in.

It was the kind of moment that feels inevitable only after it happens: Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, known to fans simply as CMAT, commanding the biggest platform in British music, still singing about heartbreak, hangovers, and the strange ache of being alive.

She didn’t explode onto the scene so much as orbit it, waiting for the industry to catch up. And now, with her third album on the way and her live show fast becoming legend, CMAT stands precisely where she’s always said she belonged: on the edge of things, shining.

CMAT’s story is too winding for tidy mythology, but that’s part of the point. Raised in Dunboyne, County Meath, she grew up with a head full of melodies, a love for pop drama, and a taste for country melancholy.

There was no musical dynasty or overnight discovery. Instead, there was a brief, bruising stint in Manchester with a now-defunct duo, a detour into retail, and a creative collapse that sent her back to Dublin.

Her turning point wasn’t an audition or a co-sign. It was a slow return to herself, often documented on social media, where she blended vulnerable songwriting with grandiose humour.

CMAT began uploading songs with titles that read like punchlines but landed like confessions. Her debut album, If My Wife New I’d Be Dead, became a cult classic on release in 2022. Beneath its camp and chaotic veneer was an artist meticulously crafting a voice that could hold both sorrow and absurdity. C<MA

CMAT is often called a country artist, but the label doesn’t quite fit—and she knows it. She’s described her sound as “Euro-country” not just to signal its Irishness, but to reflect the genre’s displacement. Her country isn’t the dustbowl or the truck stop; it’s a karaoke bar at closing time, a night bus through Dublin’s outskirts, a voice memo at 3 a.m. trying to make sense of something already lost.

The musical references range wide: Tammy Wynette, Charli XCX, Magnetic Fields, Meat Loaf. And while she’s drawn to Americana’s emotional directness, she delivers it with European surrealism. On stage and record, she’s melodramatic without irony, sincere without sentimentality.

That contradiction is her power. Her lyrics feel like diary entries written in eyeliner, full of exes, epiphanies and the desperate attempts to make sense of feelings that won’t behave. If her voice occasionally cracks under the weight of what she’s singing, it only underscores her ability to make spectacle feel strangely intimate.

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Bailey Zimmerman – The Weight of Wanting

Bailey Zimmerman’s rise from the rough-and-ready backroads of Illinois to the bright lights of country music’s biggest stages wasn’t carved from a blueprint — it came gut-first.

With a voice like cracked leather and lyrics soaked in heartbreak, Bailey Zimmerman has bulldozed his way into the genre’s core without ever losing sight of what set him apart: the honesty, the ache, and the gravel in his gut.

Heavy boots on fresh concrete. That’s the feeling you get listening to Bailey Zimmerman. There’s momentum in his music — not just in the number of streams or tour dates, but in the way his songs drive forward, heavy-hearted and unrelenting. Even when they ache, they move. And movement, for Zimmerman, has never been optional.

Long before he became a country chart staple, Zimmerman was working on gas pipelines and posting truck cab videos on TikTok. Raised in small-town Louisville, Illinois, he’d clock a full day on the job before singing straight into his phone. It wasn’t a marketing strategy — it was a release. As he once revealed, he thought he was going to build gas pipelines for the rest of his life.

Instead, one of those videos — a raw vocal run on a song that would become “Fall In Love” — caught fire. And in 2022, the heartbreak anthem shot to No. 1 on the Country Airplay charts, making him the fastest debut artist to top that chart in seven years.

Zimmerman’s rise was fast, but not fluked. With no formal music background, he crafted his debut album, Religiously. The Album., from instinct and grit. Released in May 2023, it debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and spawned multiple hits, including “Rock and a Hard Place.” The track, a bruising ballad of romantic stalemate, landed in the Billboard Hot 100’s Top 10 and became a multi-platinum juggernaut.

His songwriting process, by his own account, isn’t guided by formulas or co-writing workshops. Instead, Zimmerman has described it as trying to get the truth out of my head before it chokes him. He tends to record voice memos and rough takes as soon as the emotion hits, sometimes capturing the chorus before the story has a setting. This rawness gives his music its punch — a kind of emotional timestamp that hasn’t been buffed smooth.

Zimmerman has credited artists like Morgan Wallen and Post Malone with helping him find a voice that could carry both country grit and contemporary urgency. He’s said that genre lines don’t interest him as much as emotional clarity, and that what matters is whether a song feels honest enough to hurt. That outlook has shaped his blend of country, rock and modern pop, helping him carve a lane that resists pigeonholing.

To read the full article, see our last issue here.

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Morgan Wallen – The Sound of Now

From small-town ballads to streaming-era behemoths, Morgan Wallen is reshaping country music with sprawling albums, lyrical duality, and a reach few in the genre have ever matched.

In a genre that has long wrestled with questions of authenticity, evolution, and mass appeal, Morgan Wallen’s career is a case study in how country music is not only surviving the streaming era, but redefining itself through it.

Wallen’s trajectory from a small-town Tennessee upbringing to record-breaking global success reflects not only his own adaptability, but also a growing appetite for genre fusion, narrative depth, and emotional immediacy in modern country.

His earliest musical influences were rooted in gospel and classic rock, shaped by a childhood steeped in church music and a family atmosphere that encouraged performance.

Originally pursuing a career in baseball, Wallen pivoted toward music following a sports injury. His appearance on The Voice in 2014, though brief, exposed him to the mechanisms of mainstream entertainment and helped forge early industry connections. But the real transformation came later, through persistence and a careful cultivation of both sound and image.

Finding early traction as a songwriter before becoming a headline act, Wallen’s storytelling sensibility was clear from the start. He has often cited lyrical depth as a guiding principle, inspired as much by the detail-rich songwriting of Eric Church as by the party-starting energy of Florida Georgia Line. That duality—introspective yet rowdy, grounded yet ambitious—would become his creative signature.

While Wallen’s music has consistently drawn wide acclaim, his work ethic behind the scenes has also been pivotal. He is reportedly known for long writing sessions, extensive demo tracking, and a meticulous approach to pre-production. Producers close to him have noted his commitment to vocal takes and narrative sequencing, revealing a discipline that contrasts with his freewheeling public persona. This blend of creative freedom and studio rigour has helped him maintain both quality and quantity in his prolific output.

Wallen’s 2018 debut album If I Know Me laid the groundwork. With singles like “Whiskey Glasses” and “Up Down,” he married party anthems to twangy hooks, shaping a persona that was equal parts everyman and outlaw. The album spoke to a younger demographic without alienating traditionalists. While its themes were familiar—heartache, small-town nights, and longnecks lifted high—the delivery was fresher, the phrasing more conversational.

Critics were initially unsure how to categorise Wallen. Was he a bro-country holdover? A pop-country crossover? What became clear, however, was his knack for building songs that worked both acoustically and algorithmically. Tracks gained traction on playlists and social media, reflecting his growing relevance in a shifting media landscape.