Country music is dominated by women right now, and the festival lineups are not showing it. The Two Step Inn festival in Georgetown, Texas, is running April 17 and 18 with Ella Langley as the female headliner for one night, while Brooks & Dunn anchor the other. The lineup also includes Kaitlin Butts and Carter Faith, performing a Dolly Parton tribute together, Flatland Calvary, Stella Lefty, Sheryl Crow, Michelle Branch, and Los Hermanos Mendoza. Older female artists on the bill include Jo Dee Messina, Pam Tillis, and Lorrie Morgan.
The national picture is not as bright. Windy City Smokeout 2027 booked Megan Moroney as one of its four headliners — with the other three being men. Stagecoach will be headlined by Riley Green, Zach Top, Garth Brooks, and Florida Georgia Line in the late-night slot. Gulf Coast Jam features Bailey Zimmerman, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, and Zach Top as headliners.
The Two Step Inn Lineup
The Two Step Inn festival is a small example. Ella Langley headlines one night, and she is joined by a strong collection of female artists. But the festival still makes the choice to split the bill by gender, with an all-male anchor for the other night.
It is a choice, not a rule. And it is a choice that repeats across the industry.
Stagecoach’s Numbers
Stagecoach is a bigger test. The festival sits at 17.6 percent women and 0.0 percent nonbinary or trans artists this year, according to Book More Women. That number tells you everything you need to know about the scale of the problem.
The lineup includes Matchbox Twenty, the Fray, Melissa Etheridge, Sean Paul, Flo Rida, and Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth. Those acts are not country. They are booked on a country festival bill. The women on the bill — Kelly Clarkson, Maggie Antone, Butts, Faith — are mostly on the second day and later acts.
Riley Green and Zach Top are both on the bill, though the source does not assign either of them a specific day. Garth Brooks and Florida Georgia Line headline the first day.
The Booking Picture
Booking lineups is a complicated business. There are radius clauses, sponsorships, and the degree to which festivals must reflect country radio airplay — which still plays far more men than women — all part of the picture. Sometimes, women aren’t extended offers at all, while other times, they’re offered less money than their male counterparts for the same slot.
That is a real argument. But it is not an artistic one.
What the Numbers Show
The numbers are the clearest evidence of the problem. According to Book More Women, the festival sits at 17.6 percent women and 0.0 percent nonbinary or trans artists this year. Those numbers are not a victory.
They are a warning.
The industry is not on track to close the gap. It is not even close to it.
Olivia Rodrigo’s Daisy Chain Fields
Olivia Rodrigo’s Daisy Chain Fields is cited as an example of female artists promoting best-selling festivals. That is not a counterargument. It is a comparison.
It shows that women can draw crowds. It does not explain why the headline acts are still all-male.
The comparison is worth making. It shows that the problem is not a lack of demand. The problem is a lack of supply.
The Verdict
The Two Step Inn is a good example of what a festival can do when it tries. Ella Langley is the headline act for one night, and the lineup includes a strong collection of female artists. It is a step in the right direction.
Stagecoach is a different story. 17.6 percent women is a low number, and 0.0 percent nonbinary or trans artists is a total absence. The headline slots on the first day are all-male, and the headline slot on the second day is a one-woman show. The festival is not built for women.
The two festivals are not the same. But they share the same problem. The problem is that the industry is not built for women.
The path forward is simple. Book more women. Book more nonbinary artists. Book more artists of color. Book more queer artists.
It is not a radical idea. It is a practical one. The industry has the talent. It has the audience. It has the money. What it lacks is the will.
The will is the hard part. It is the part that requires change. It is the part that requires festivals to stop making the same choices they have made for decades.
The headline slot is the most important slot on the bill. It is the slot that sets the tone for the festival. It is the slot that determines who is the main event. It is the slot that determines who gets the biggest stage.
That is the headline.
Source material: “Women Are Dominating Country Music. Why Don’t Festival Lineups Reflect That?,” Rolling Stone.
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