Country music icon and Real Country executive producer-panelist Shania Twain didn’t hold back one bit while discussing ongoing issues within the genre with E! News.
“What women?” she expressed when questioned about female artists in modern country music. “We have too much of the sameness right now. I’m a little bit bored of it, and I want to pick it up. The only way to do that is to be proactive … I wanted a show that, when you talk about diversity, that includes gender diversity, style diversity, lifestyle diversity.”
The 53-year-old Canadian also spoke out about country radio’s inequality problem and hopes to see improvement.
“We are not making radio progress,” she reflected, “but we are making very small, steady steps towards awareness that we’re lacking women on country radio.”
Besides sexism, Twain hopes to also bring attention to ageism in country music as well.
“It doesn’t matter what age you are,” she said. “I’m fed up with the whole ageist thing as well as the sexist thing. This [Real Country] is wide open, bring your talent on if you’re good enough, I don’t care what you are, as long as you’re a human being.”
For the reality television competition, Shania selected the following artists to represent her— Billie Jo, The Davisson Brothers Band, Kylie Frey, Riley Thompson, Tiera, Micah Woods, and The Young Fables.
Watch a few of Shania’s picks perform below!
Billie Jo Performs Jo Dee Messina’s “Heads Carolina, Tails California”
Davisson Brothers Band Performs Zac Brown Band’s “Chicken Fried”
Kylie Frey Performs Dixie Chicks’s “Wide Open Spaces”
The Young Fables Perform Deana Carter’s “Strawberry Wine”
In each hour-long episode, hand-selected emerging solo artists, duos, and groups perform in showcases that spotlight the rich traditions, songs, and themes specific to the country music genre. The best artists from each showcase will go on to perform in the grand finale. The winner gets $100,000 along with a performance slot at the Grand Ole Opry.
So far, four episodes have aired and you keep up with the show here.
Episode 4 Winner: Larry Fleet (Jake Owen Pick)
Episode 3 Winner: Jaida Dreyer (Jake Owen Pick)
Episode 2 Winner: Kylie Frey (Shania Twain Pick)
Episode 1 Winner: Copper Chief (Travis Tritt Pick)
Share Shania’s take with other country music fans!
