Country music has always been seen as a form of traditional American music, simple and conservative in its songs, melodies, and performers. But like everything else in today's modern world of television and competitive advertising, the music and its makers are becoming increasingly bold and outrageous. This is especially true for the women of country music. They have not only experienced a change in roles within the music industry, going from minimal exposure to the public eye and nonexistent involvement in songwriting and production aspects, to appearing in music videos and concerts and managing their own careers, but have also experienced a dramatic change in image over the years. The conservative, demure costumes once worn by The Carter Family, Loretta Lynn, and Kitty Wells, among others, have been replaced with the revealing, provacative attire of modern performers such as Mindy McCready and Shania Twain. Whether the changes in women's roles and dress in the genre are due to changes in marketing or society's increasing tolerance for individuality, it is obvious that the image of women in country music has undergone many alteration before becoming what it is today.

When country music first began to enter into the popular music scene in the 1930's, "women were systematically excluded from the business side of the developing industry and for decades were expected to fit a few stereotyped performance roles" (Peterson 10), though it was not due to "a lack of talent, or motivation, or business sense" (Peterson 10). Many women at the time played the guitar, fiddle, or piano, even more sang, but few were allowed to express their musical talents outside the family or the church. Virtually none performed publicly for money before the accession of commercial country music (Peterson 16). The music was generally defined "by male performers in terms of male themes," (Malone 22) and when the chance came for country musicians to become professionals, many more men than women were adequately prepared to enter the field (Malone 23).

Today, however, things have changed. The last few years have been "exceptional years for country music's women who [are] dominating the charts as never before," (Bufwack, "Girls with Guitars," 196), and also "writing and producing albums as well and as often as men" (Bufwack, "Finding her Voice," 164). Women no longer sit idly by in the background as men dominate the business, rather, they are in the forefront of the industry, gaining acceptance and winning awards for their work and performances.

Just as women's roles in country music have changed, their images have changed, also. One of the first successful recording groups in country music in the 1930's also featured some of its first female stars. The women of the Carter Family, Sara and Maybelle, outfitted themselves in dresses and hairdos current to the period of their career. "There was no adorment to their music, their performance, or their dress. Theirs was not the clothing of the dancehall or night club" (Bufwack, "Girls with Guitars," 175). The traditional dress perfectly complemented the Carter Family's simple fold songs and widely appealed to the general public.

Appealing to listeners of country music in the 1940's were two other down home images: the sweetheart image, and hillbilly, or rube. The rube was derived from traditional vaudeville, and typically involved the woman wearing her hair in pigtails tied with big, colorful bows, loose-fitting gingham dresses, bright pantaloons, and high-button shoes (Peterson 67, 74-75). One of the most famous hillbillies was Minnie Pearl, a long time star of the Grand Ole Opry. "I spotted a pale yellow dress made of sleazy organdy," Pearl, 129) she says, describing how she developed her Opry character. "It had a round collar and a cheap-looking grosgrain bow at the neckline that had been attached with a safety pin. I was as thin as a rail, and the dress made me look like Olive Oyle...I found some white coton stockings (you never saw country girls wearing silk stocking because they couldn't afford them) and a tacky straw hat, with a brim...I bought some flowers to plop on the hat...I dressed her as I thought a young country girl would dress to go to meeting on Sunday" (Pearl, 129-130). Minnie Pearl's statement shows that rubes successfully made fun of rural people in spite of and because of the fact that they were based on real individuals.

The sweetheart image, although popular at the same time as the rube, was a more subtle and respectable alternative available to femal performers. Women such as Linda Parker who chose to dress in the sweetheart fashion wore gingham dresses like thier less respectable counterparts, but the dreses were fitted, often had ruffled necklines, and were complemented with sunbonnets (Bufwack, "Girls with Guitars," 181, 183).

The rube image began to fade after World War II, but the sweetheart image continues to remain popular, albeit slighlty modified. In the 1950's, the costume of choice was again the gingham dress, a style that bore an intese resemblance to the "New Look" created by Christian Dior (Bufwack, "Girls with Guitars," 190). The "New Look" was a full skirt with a fitted top, in contrast to the previous style of full shouldered dresses with narrow skirts. Kitty Wells was a perfect example of a woman sporting a version of the "New Look."

The "New Look" and sweetheart images soon gave way to make room for the cowgirl style of dress. Full skirts, lots of fringe, and cowboy hats became the norm for female country performers (Peterson 82, 83). "The cowgirl image had a versatility that allowed [women] to adopt new roles, play innovative music, and experiment" (Bufwack, "Girls with Guitars," 189). Patsy Cline first emerged on the music scene in the 1950's as a cowgirl, as did Loretta Lynn in the 1960's and Lynn Anderson and Dottie West in the 1970's. The cowboy image remained prevalent in the 1960's, but was altered by replacing traditional boots with go-go boots in some cases, and with bouffant hairdos in others.

By the 1970's, though, traces of the cowgirl image had all but disappeared, and a more glamourous, flashy look was taking hold in country music. Dolly Parton is probably most recognizable as an icon of the big-hair and lot of make-up era. When asked by a reporter how she came to discover her look, she remarked, "As a child I was impressed with what they called 'the trash' in my hometown. I don't know who trashy these women were, but they were said to be trashy because they had blond hair and wore nail polish and tight clothes. I thought they were beautiful" (Moynihan 36). Dolly Parton was not the only woman to project the sex symbol image during the 1970's. Tany Tucker, Jeannie C. Riley, and Tammy Wynette were also seen as overly dressed and overtly sexual with painted nails, dyed hair, and short skirts.

Women as sex symbols in country msuic continues to present day. "For female country artists of the 1990's, visual style is more important than ever" (Bufwach, "Girls with Guitars," 206). Music videos are now just as important as the recordings themselves for promoting the songs and reaching the targeted sales audience. While most male country singers have a standard uniform of jeans, boots, and a hat, "female country performers are exploring diverse images" (Bufwack, "Girls with Guitars," 208) trying desperately to create a sexy look with attitude and style to get noticed. Shania Twain, for instance, appears on album covers barely covered to stand out and creat her own style, as well as appearing on a 1999 awards show in a short, low cut black dress, a collar, boots, and gloves, an outfit completely unlike the traditional and conservative country performers attire of years past. Mindy McCready also projects herself as a sex symbol to market albums, believing that through "navel-flaunting" she can make a name for herself of Music Row (Leamer 181).

The image of women in country music will continue to be an area of drastic change as female performers look for, find, and develop persoanl styles that will appeal to the masses and at the same time, allow them to retain their self respect and express their creative side. Dolly Parton sums it up best when she says, "We all try to look as good as we can and make positives out of negatives while still hanging on to a sense of self. Makeup and hair and image really is born from a serious place" (Moynihan 37).