Martina McBride, Cassadee Pope Head Up Pandora’s Women in Country
Martina McBride, Cassadee Pope and RaeLynn are sharing a bill next month to further the role of women in country music. Presented by streaming-music service Pandora, “Pandora Presents: Women in Country Music” will highlight the contributions from country’s fairer sex.
Held October 14th in New York City, the show’s timing is spot-on, arriving toward the end of a year in which “TomatoGate” — a debate about the ongoing gender divide on country radio, where songs performed by male artists are reportedly pulling in better numbers — has refocused the spotlight on those females looking to rebalance the scales. The event will also help benefit the T.J. Martell Foundation and its breast-cancer research.
“Women are such a rich part of country music’s history and its future and I’m so happy that Pandora created this event to showcase that,” says McBride. “I know it will be a great night of music and storytelling and I love that it supports women’s breast cancer research through the T.J. Martell Foundation.”
“The scale of Pandora is the perfect way to amplify the power of women in country music in a year where some have questioned it,” says Pandora’s Lars Murray, adding that those statistics are starting to even out. “Listeners and fans have spoken; these women have over 370 million spins on Pandora.”
Free to Pandora listeners who RSVP online, the concert takes place at New York’s Altman Building. McBride, who has been on tour behind her covers album Everlasting, has dates scheduled into the new year, while Pope recently released the single “I Am Invincible” and RaeLynn is working on her full-length debut.