The Highwomen—the self-titled release from acclaimed collaborative movement formed by Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris and Amanda Shires—debuts this week at #1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, #10 on the all-genre Billboard 200 and #4 on Billboard’s Top Current Albums chart with over 34,000 equivalent units sold.
Produced by GRAMMY Award-winning producer Dave Cobb, the album was released earlier this month via Low Country Sound/Elektra Records (stream/purchase here) and continues to receive overwhelming critical praise from numerous media outlets.
In advance of the release, The Highwomen made their live concert debut at Newport Folk Festival earlier this summer. Of the landmark performance and their only confirmed concert to date, Billboard praises, “set a sky-high standard with a performance that was the sum of its extraordinary parts,” while Rolling Stone declares, “it was clear that country music’s newest supergroup’s first time on stage had been a triumph.” The Highwomen also performed several songs with Dolly Parton at the festival as part of the all-female headline set curated by Carlile. Of the collaboration, Consequence of Sound proclaims, “now etched in legend as one of Newport Folk’s most memorable moments…a lifetime musical zenith.”
Continually demonstrating the importance of inclusion and collaboration, The Highwomen are joined by several guest musicians, vocalists, and songwriters across the album. The project features Sheryl Crow (vocals, background vocals, bass), Yola (vocals, background vocals), Cobb (acoustic/electric guitar), Jason Isbell (acoustic/electric guitar), Phil Hanseroth (bass, background vocals), Tim Hanseroth (guitar, background vocals), Chris Powell (drums) and Peter Levin (piano and keyboards) with songs written by Carlile, Hemby, Morris, Shires, Isbell, the Hanseroth twins, Rodney Clawson, Lori McKenna, Miranda Lambert and Ray LaMontagne among many others.
“Anyone can be a Highwoman,” Carlile notes. “It’s about banding together, abandoning as much ego as humanly possible, holding one another up and amplifying other women every chance we get. Shoulder to shoulder. One push, one love.”
THE HIGHWOMEN TRACKLIST
- Highwomen (written by Jimmy Webb, Amanda Shires, Brandi Carlile)
- Redesigning Women (written by Natalie Hemby, Rodney Clawson)
- Loose Change (written by Maren Morris, Maggie Chapman, Daniel Layus)
- Crowded Table (written by Natalie Hemby, Lori McKenna, Brandi Carlile)
- My Name Can’t Be Mama (written by Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, Amanda Shires)
- If She Ever Leaves Me (written by Amanda Shires, Jason Isbell, Chris Thompkins)
- Old Soul (written by Maren Morris, Luke Dick, Laura Veltz)
- Don’t Call Me (written by Amanda Shires, Peter Levin)
- My Only Child (written by Natalie Hemby, Amanda Shires, Miranda Lambert)
- Heaven Is A Honky Tonk (written by Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Ray LaMontagne)
- Cocktail And A Song (written by Amanda Shires)
- Wheels Of Laredo (written by Tim Hanseroth, Brandi Carlile, Phil Hanseroth)