Members of the 'Be A Highway Women' collaborative build a platform for women across the industry to ... [+]
American country music supergroup The Highwaymen established in 1985, and included “outlaw country” subgenre stars Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson. These men’s names are recognized individually and as a group. Their collaboration created three major label albums and even a feature film called “Stagecoach.”
Unfortunately, an equally influential supergroup of women in country music can be difficult to find. Of course, the era brought individual superstars such as Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. But The Highwaymen had no contemporary equivalent, to the department of women in the industry. There is strength in numbers. Men in country music had the means to collaborate, the means to be gatekeepers, to consolidate resources. If the only “supergroup” is single-gender, it’s likely connections will continue to be made within that gender. These days, women in the music industry seek to change that.
A Nashville-based “country blend” music group called The Highway Women is launching a company called Be A Highway Woman. Be A Highway Woman is a platform for women in the music industry — across locations and genres — to connect and collaborate. According to Jill Pavel, the owner of independent record label Heart Songs Records, it is an action-based platform of women committed to supporting one another’s careers.
“I do believe that women in the music industry deserve fair radio play and consideration on festival lineups,” Pavel says. “Often you see a line up featuring mostly male artists, with maybe a woman thrown in as an opener. With that being said, as women we need to come together and start delivering music that speaks to the female demographic that drives the Top 40 on our radio stations.”
The project has been in the works for a while. The initial incarnation of the music group occurred in 2016, when a friend of Pavel’s started Heart Songs Records with the dream of establishing an all-women country supergroup. The dream failed to reach fruition a couple of times, and Pavel took over the record label in 2017. After letting the label breathe, Pavel re-built the band a year later. The band’s lineup changes, but currently, its roster is composed of Drew Haley, Kristen Kae, Heather Harper and Bailey James.
But merely rebuilding the band was not enough for Pavel. She wanted to initiate action in the industry, and inspire equitable treatment by other means. This drive convinced her to start the band’s corollary platform.
The platform is open-door, free for all who wish to participate. It is open to musicians, producers, songwriters, and other industry executives like publicists and social media managers — the only requirement is to sign an agreement stating that one will contribute to the community. Signing the agreement not only connects these artists with other community members, but gives them access to the platform’s free programming.
Some of this programming includes access to Spotify-curated playlists, or business education workshops. Pavel also started a mentorship program called Big Sis, in which experienced artists are paired with up-and-comers both young and old. Be A Highway Women will also host an online conference in late 2020 with free singing, songwriting and management workshops to help women navigate the industry independently. Benefits extend outside the program’s immediate members, as well — similar to Houston rapper Megan the Stallion’s Hood Mona Lisa scholarship, proceeds from the traveling band’s upcoming single will fund a scholarship for to a high school senior pursuing a degree in music business, music technology or music communications.
These programs redirect education and mentorship resources, historically consolidated by men in the country music industry. But what may be most radical about the Be A Highway Women platform is that they don’t seek for individual members to consolidate power, in the same manner of men. In contrast, an ethic of equal participation and collaboration governs everything they do.
