Lindsay Ell is not only the next “big thing” in country music, but she’s bringing a new movement with her. She calls it “Girl Power.”
“It’s crazy that you don't see a lot of female artists fronting bands with instruments.” Lindsay notes as she explains “girl power."
“Across formats, you can almost list them on two hands how many front female musicians there are. So, I’m really happy at least in country music, I can help lead that movement and say you know girls can play guitars too.”
And Lindsay can play guitar. She’s been compared to Bonnie Raitt and Keith Urban as a lead guitar player…an instrument almost exclusively reserved for men.
“I find the coolest thing when fans come up to me and say, ‘Lindsay you’ve inspired me to start playing the guitar,’” Lindsay says before a recent concert in Ypsilanti. “And if that's what people can take out of everything I’m trying to convey then I’m all about it."
"Yes, I hope there are so many more guitar payers, I hope I inspire a lot of girls to pick up the guitar …especially pick up the electric guitar.”
Male performers, like Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton and Jason Aldean have dominated country music for years. They even have a name for it: “Bro Country.”
“You know bro country is still there,” Lindsay says, “And as long as fans are wanting to listen to it and buy those records I’m totally fine with it being there.”
But she hopes the next movement will be called “Girl Power.” And you can mark the start of that movement as last year’s CMA awards show, which featured a performance by Carrie Underwood of “Dirty Laundry” backed by an all-girl band…including Lindsay Ell on lead electric guitar.
“Carrie Underwood is one of the coolest,” Lindsay says. “She’s so strong and beautiful and poised—and yet to have an all-girl band to perform dirty laundry last year on the CMA stage was amazing. It was the epitome of girl power.”
