"Tomato" Talk: A Female Country Music Fan's Perspective

Country Music is just one of the many genres that I've grown to know and love. Even though I'm only a young adult, I can appreciate the older musicians that country was built on. Including the kick ass females that paved the way for modern day women in country. If you don't know what a "tomato" is and why us females need to be speaking out then allow me to ask you to read this and then let me explain why I feel the need to speak out.

“If you want to make ratings in country radio, take females out. ... They're just not the lettuce in our salad. The lettuce is Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, Keith Urban and artists like that. The tomatoes of our salad are the females.” - Keith Hill

As a young woman born in the 90's my taste has evolved and expanded. I can like more than one genre, female, male, girl group, boy band, whatever it is and not be penalized for liking it. What I'm more concerned about is why Mr. Hill felt the need to speak on behalf of all females. Do I love Hunter Hayes? DUH. Of Course I do. but because I'm a female period I have the luxury of loving any female artist as well. I remember growing up with Reba and Shania Twain on the radio and I loved them just as well as any of the men. There was no division.

Now of course I and many other females can relate to a love song, a heart break song, or anything in between but the moral of the story is females relate to other females. No questions asked. Who else is going to tell your ex that he's just another picture to burn? or that we need wide open spaces? or even how hard it is to stand by your man? We NEED girl power and taking females out of anything disrupts the delicate balance of a great radio station. To be frank, I wouldn't listen to the an all male radio station. I have just as much respect for the males as I do for the women, but as a woman and a writer, I become inspired by fellow women. It's kind of hard not to when you hear someone like Patsy Cline or Tammy Wynette or even someone as modern day as Miranda Lambert, belting out a tune and it clicks with you as an individual. Isn't that the whole point of music? To connect with someone and to share a story that they might dig.

Girls, young women, and even adult women need role models to tell them it's okay to be fierce and all that they can be. Why wouldn't women stand up for fellow women? I can't tell you how refreshing it is to see how many women of country that have stood up and showed their support for not only themselves but other women in the country genre. You can throw statistics at us all you want Mr. Hill, but you will not stop bad ass women from connecting with us fans and doing what they do best. We didn't come all this way to be silenced by some silly radio station consultant. You do not have the right to speak on behalf of women every where. I'm appalled that you do not understand that you  spoke of female musicians in a dimmer light, and that means you spoke fighting words towards someones daughter or mother and I would hope you wouldn't speak to your daughter or mother like that. I would hope that if next time you think about speaking on behalf of women, that you understand that you are not a woman, and instead of you wanting to silence female country musicians that you would silence yourself. Thank you.

I have to admit the original inspiration for this post is the host of a new segment called "Tomato Talk."  She is too a country music "tomato" and a great one at that - April Kry is her name. I really hope Tomato Talk is a success! And congrats you're doing an amazing job. :)