‘Dangerous gatekeeping’: why is country music still resistant to diversity?
Grammy-winning star Maren Morris has announced she is leaving the genre that made her famous due to bigotry, revealing an industry still stuck in the past
January 2023
Grammy awards 2023: who will win – and who should?
Will Adele’s Grammy dominion continue and Harry Styles steal more limelight? Or could Kendrick Lamar or Beyoncé finally take one of the headline prizes?
March 2021
Women fell back in race for inclusion in 2020 pop charts
Only 20% of artists in 2020 Billboard’s year-end Hot 100 were women, academic survey reports, while female producers were credited on only 2% of hit songs
March 2019
Maren Morris: Girl review – country or pop, or stuck in the middle
After a lauded debut album and a dance hit, Morris seemed poised to go mainstream, but her follow-up to Hero is unconvincing
February 2019
Grammys' female producers scheme backed by Pharrell and Ariana Grande
Justin Bieber among 200 industry figures to support proposal that at least two women are considered for every technical job
November 2018
Maren Morris review – acoustic warmth from country chart-topper
This low-key set ahead of a big-room tour next year shows off Morris’s powerful storytelling and luminous voice
January 2018
Maren Morris and the country singers attacking gun violence at the Grammys
After the country music community’s notorious silence over gun control, a new generation of stars will voice their opinions at Sunday’s award show
April 2017
Maren Morris: ‘Country music shouldn’t always be about the guy’
Talented and outspoken, the rising country star is part of a new generation of female American singers intent on ‘being the aggressor, not the pretty scenery’
February 2016
Grady Smith on country
The good, bad and bizarre: 10 current country hits on sex, booze and death
Chris Lane peddling Breaking Bad metaphors and Steven Tyler ‘fallin’ into your yum-yum’ among tunes forcing listeners to tap their feet and scratch their heads
