The Answer Song Anthology is writing songs that help bring a new narrative to Americana music. ‘Answer Songs’ are nothing new, and neither is the idea of using an ‘Answer Song’ to combat sexism within Americana music. Famous examples include ‘It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels’ sung by Kitty Wells in 1952 (written by D.J. Miller) and, more recently, ‘Highwomen’ – by The Highwomen. Unlike the ‘Answer Songs’ mentioned above, the Answer Song Anthology is taking a closer look at songs that display different forms of sexism (and fall under the Americana umbrella) and dissecting them. For as long as the Answer Song Anthology can remember folk, bluegrass, blues and old country songs have been a big part of the musical landscape. From a young age, growing up in North Carolina, the Answer Song Anthology was aware of the many ways that women were sung about within these genres, and it wasnt always in a good way. Three years ago, when this project was just a sparkle in the Answer Song Anthology’s eye, if you googled sexism in folk music literally 12 webpages was all that came up. The Answer Song Anthology broadened the search; americana music, sexist lyrics in folk music, even sexism in country music yielded little results, etc. The Answer Song Anthology read (and have kept reading) everything the internet had to offer on the subject. To this day it still isnt much, but year by year there are more articles online regarding sexism in folk/Americana songs, as well as sexism within the music industry itself. The long-term goal with the anthology is to bring in a host of femme/women musicians and record each song with a different lead vocalist, as well as a variety of musicians. The answer song anthology looks forward to putting together a song book that can be released in tandem with these powerful songs.
Find Answer Song Anthology (Another Side to the Story) By Alicia Best online:
