A Patriarchal Music Genre Turned Feminist
Maxine Yip
Andrea Valentine-Lewis
CA 319W
April 16, 2021
A Patriarchal Music Genre Turned
Feminist
In this critical review, the sole
focus will be on the feminist Bluegrass girl band called Della Mae and how they
became one of the successful examples that utilized a patriarchal/misogynistic
music genre ironically with their feminist intentions. Through their live
performance, lyrics, and overall goal expressed through their website, they
were able to deliver their feminist message using color in clothing, lighting,
lyrics, chemistry between the two artists, the choice of using Facebook, and
instrument styles. Each element in the show is symbolic to everything they
advocated for as a band and the history of the genre. This performance by Della
Mae as well as the band itself is a strong representation of feminism and showed
that diversity in music can be achieved through rebellion of traditions.
The music performance hosted by Della
Mae on Facebook livestreams on February 22, 2021 was separated into jam
sessions, questions and answers, and songs that required singing. Although the
two members barely sang for majority of the songs, they performed all the songs
with lyrics in the middle of the show. The two artists exchanged steady eye
contact and smiles with each other. Each jam sessions lasted about two to five
minutes. Titled as “Monday Night Hoedown,” their performance lasted for an hour
and a half. The band was missing Celia Woodsmith, Jenni Gardner, and Zoe
Guigueno in the performance; only Avril Smith the guitarist, and Kimber Ludiker
the violinist was in the show due to the social distancing restrictions. The
performance was in an enclosed space with stringed instruments hung on the
walls. In the middle of the screen and between the two artists, an orange
crystal candle sat on an end table which illuminated the room with a warm and
red tone.
Analyzing the set, this provided a familiar,
comfortable, warm, and intimate setting in which the audience have a sense of companionship
and immediate deep connection with the artists. Crystal candles are often
provided by psychics for manifestations, good luck, and ridding bad energy (Ryan,
ch. 1). By having the crystal candle in the performance and between the two
women, this insinuated the artists’ intention of seeking peace and a loving bond.
Both Avril and Kimber sat directly across from each other closely to fit in
frame. The energy was relaxed, but the music they played were high energy and fast-paced.
Avril wore a vibrant orange and blue vest, while Kimber in contrast wore a dark
green cap and a plain black shirt. This color scheme in their clothing was a
contrast to their instrument style and personalities—Avril exhibited a quiet
personality, while Kimber displayed a playful attitude when playing their
instruments. Avril played a dull-pitched instrument but wore bright clothing, and
Kimber played a high-pitched instrument but wore dark clothing. Visual
presentation often is the first impression of art as it is the first thing an
audience would see before anything else. This choice was made to divert the audience’s
expectation of the musicians through a visual presentation. By choosing a color
scheme that was opposite to their personalities and music style, it was a
direct trait of how their band operated by deflecting and rebelling against societal
expectations. Quite like how they used a genre that ironically preached
misogyny throughout history, the use of the colors in their clothing with the
contrasting styles was their way of saying that the genre is now “different”
and diverted the traditions and women’s expectations to stay out of it.
Della Mae always created songs about women’s
rights and the need to stop misogyny. On top of all of it, their sites showcased
past events of fundraisers for women and girls in third world countries and posted
the importance to stand up for Me-Too victims. The few lyrics that were sung about
femininity and the positive perception of women in the performance was rare in
the traditional Bluegrass genre. In one freestyle song, Kimber sang “by the way
that she was standing atop of the mountain, I knew she was the lion of her own
story.” Just like what they have always pushed for, their last album named Headlight
in 2015 was dedicated to women who are unafraid to be themselves. With similar lyrics
like “wild women like us, we get it bad. Well, you like how we look. But you
don't wanna have our back. Well, you don't have to like our choices. But cut us
some slack,” were a very clear indication of advocacy of women’s rights, identification
of women’s history of being ridiculed, and indirectly challenged the history of
Bluegrass.
Bluegrass for majority of history had been dominated
by Caucasian-American men and usually consisted of misogynistic lyrics.
According to another Bluegrass artist Robin Flower in Mixing Bluegrass and
Feminism written by Kelly White, it was a scary time to be innovative in 1983 as
the audience was “extremely critical of [the artist’s] musicianship” (White 24).
It was an immense pressure on women performers in this genre during this time
as Flower felt like she was “representing all women for one hour on the stage”
(White 24) due to the little number of feminists in the music industry. Bluegrass
eventually transformed into a more diverse genre and is now an ever-changing
community. Bands and artists like Sister Sadie, Front Country, and Della Mae
all represent people of LGBTQ+, people of different ethnic backgrounds, and
women (Leger). These artists all actively used this once exclusive genre to push
a progressive message and created a bigger ratio in diversity, as well as
subconsciously destroying the misogynistic origin of this genre. By applying progressive
views through artistic means like color coding with clothing, warm lighting that
suggested closeness, candle with a healing crystal that indicated peace, using
such a genre with a hefty history to defy the misogynistic stereotypes, Della
Mae’s message of feminism and harmony is apparent.
The uplifting lyrics matched the
feeling of the upbeat pace of their instruments. For once, the cheery beat of
this genre matched the genre’s intended vibe. This version of Bluegrass did not
have a sexist undertone and was finally all inclusive. Avril and Kimber also
seemed to have known each other for a long time as they exchanged a steady eye
contact and were able to cohesively keep up with each other’s instruments. This
was an illustration of how music can create harmony and provide an opportunity for
people to bond. By having the artists be the product of positive effect of their
own music, the audience’s support for the start of the rebellion of this genre’s
toxic history is immediately strengthened. This is also proven as Della Mae has
a community of women that bonded over the advocacy for women in Facebook groups.
By having the performance on such an interactive platform, the audience of
mostly women were able to have conversations via the live chat and send emojis
to express their feelings while watching the two artists played music. In return,
the artists also expressed their gratitude by fulfilling their song requests.
Overall, the artist is successful with
their message being delivered to their long-time followers, but to an average audience
who does not know anything about them—the performance might not be as meaningful.
While it was still an incredible performance as the set and colors in their
clothing were a creative artistic choice to emphasize the contrast of
personalities and music style, an audience will need to know the history of
Bluegrass before they can feel a strong connection with their messages. To
counter that point, their lyrics were a strong message of feminism. Even as a
general audience who has never heard of the band or the history of Bluegrass should
still generally be moved. Now, why does this all matter? Why are female musicians
and all female bands important? To show a side of the story that had always
been marginalized in a music genre through artistic elements like colors,
lighting, symbolic items, and intimacy in a relationship, the oppressed group
is finally heard by others with a surge of “controversy” and the original logic
for excluding women is being questioned. By doing this, this genre is slowly
becoming respectful of women performers as the age of female musicians joining
this genre is starting to rise and be normalized. Like many other Bluegrass shows,
this performance revealed struggles, oppression of women and exclusiveness in arts.
By making this concept well-known in Bluegrass songs, a large audience absorbing
the message will also yearn for equality and respect and question society. This
increases the possibility of spreading a movement that will be beneficial to
women and continue to make art progressive and accepting. There were elements that
can be added in the performance that could have further emphasized their
message like dancing, more formal presentation, quoting or stating their goal
before or after the show, etc. However due to the Covid-19 restrictions and
possibly financial constraints, the show must deliver the message using whatever
was available to the artists around them.
In conclusion, Della Mae and this
performance by them had effectively used art to be their tool to rebel against
the sexist and patriarchal music genre that was Bluegrass. Even with just this
casual performance they hosted, their intentions of showing the hopes to achieving
equality and feminism through their songs, lyrics, color coding, relationship
and spiritual candle were clear. Della Mae continues to influence with their
performances, advocacy posts, platform, and art is an extremely important role for
all artists to do. As this is how art grows, progress, and learn. This
performance by Della Mae is no exception in serving a purpose and rebelling
against bigoted traditional views, as each performance help the music industry one
step at a time to equality.
Works Cited
“About.” Della Mae,
www.dellamae.com/about.
Leger, Devon. “7 Women Smashing the Bluegrass Ceiling.” Paste,
Paste Media Group,
2017, https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/bluegrass/7-women-who-are-smashing-the-bluegrass-glass-ceili/
Ryan, Karen. “Healing Crystals.” Alpha, 2019.
https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/healing-crystals/9781465489432/xhtml/ch01_03-08.xhtml
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