NASHVILLE, TN — Recently, Nashville’s all-female, singer-songwriter collective, Song Suffragettes, celebrated their milestone fifth anniversary with two rounds featuring 11 women singer-songwriters and a special presentation to Grammy, CMA and ACM award winning songwriter and publishing icon, Liz Rose. Rose accepted the inaugural “Yellow Rose of Inspiration Award” for her contributions to the songwriting community including writing and publishing many of the songs that have inspired the over 200 women who have performed on the Song Suffragettes stage through the years.
Eleven of those women were featured recently in front of a sold-out crowd at The Listening Room, including Kalie Shorr, Candi Carpenter, Tiera, Sarah DeFors, Kasey Tyndall, Savannah Keyes, Livy Jeanne, Michelle Pereira, Stevie Woodward, Caroline Watkins and 14-year-old prodigy Mia Morris on cajon.
In addition to the rounds and award presentation, NPR’s Jewly Hight moderated a Q and A with Liz Rose, diving into her storied career and journey through publishing and into songwriting.
The evening capped off one of the biggest years of the critically-acclaimed collective. Last year, they released the original song and music video for “Time’s Up”, a musical nod to the female empowerment movement. The song went on to receive major media coverage, critical accolades and ultimately raised $10,000 for the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund through single sales and streaming.
Most recently, the song was one of sixteen songs featured on TuneIn’s Country Roads “Fab Females of 2018” radio special. TheShotgunSeat.com named the song one of the Top 20 Singles of 2018 calling it “arguably the most important song released in 2018.”
Song Suffragettes remains at the forefront of the disparity and discrimination debate surrounding females in the country music genre. ELLE Magazine prominently featured Song Suffragettes in their November 2018 issue with a story titled “The Women of Nashville’s Music Scene Are Calling Time’s Up.” In December, National Public Radio (NPR) touted Song Suffragettes nationally in a Morning Edition piece called “Female Country Music Singers In Nashville Navigate Gender Bias To Be Heard.”
Song Suffragettes is a collective of female singer-songwriters that performs every Monday night at The Listening Room Café in Nashville, Tenn. In just five years, Song Suffragettes has showcased over 200 talented women out of over 1,350 who have submitted to play the showcase. With weekly sell-outs and a mantra of #LetTheGirlsPlay, Song Suffragettes vocally combats widespread discrimination against women in the music industry by giving female talent a place to play, grow and evolve with fellow creatives. Since its inception, 11 Song Suffragettes women have gone on to receive record deals and 40 have landed music publishing deals. With over 2.4 million views on their YouTube channel, Song Suffragettes was recently named by Billboard magazine as one of “Next-Gen Nashville: 16 People, Places and Things Shaking Up Music City”. Song Suffragettes continues to fight for female talent to be heard throughout the country and beyond.
Liz Rose is a Grammy Award-winning songwriter, 2007 SESAC Nashville Songwriter of the Year, founder of a music publishing company, and most recently Texas Heritage Songwriter Hall Of Fame inductee. Rose was born and raised in the Dallas, Texas area. In the mid-1990s she moved to Nashville and began writing songs at the age of 37. One of her first cuts was Elisabeth, recorded by Billy Gilman in 2001. In 2003, Gary Allan took Rose’s Songs About Rain into the country Top 20.
A frequent collaborator of Taylor Swift’s, Rose co-wrote 16 songs with Swift, including the No. 1 crossover hits Teardrops on My Guitar, You Belong With Me (which won the 2010 BMI Award for Song of the Year), Tim McGraw and White Horse (which won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Country Song). Rose was the recipient of the 2012 ACM Award for Song of the Year in honor of Eli Young Band’s “Crazy Girl.” She has also penned songs for many other artists including Tim McGraw, Dan and Shay, Allison Krauss, Blake Shelton, LeeAnn Womack, Chris Young, Bonnie Raitt and more. In 2015, she won Song Of The Year at the Country Music Association awards and won the Grammy for Best Country Song for writing Girl Crush by Little Big Town. Girl Crush was written with Hillary Lindsey and Lori McKenna, and collectively they call themselves The Love Junkies. With Carrie Underwood, the wrote “Cry Pretty,” Carrie’s current single that is climbing the charts. Liz Rose is not only a songwriter, but a successful publisher. Rose began as a publisher before signing her first songwriting deal with Jody Williams Music. In 2010, Rose launched Liz Rose Music with her son Scott Ponce as a home for burgeoning songwriters. The company’s roster now includes Phil Barton, Cameron Bedell, Seth Ennis, Femke, Alyssa Micaela, Emily Shackelton, Caitlin Rose, with legacy writers Corey Crowder, Jeff Middleton, Stephony Smith, Jesse Walker, Chuck Wicks, and Walt Wilkins. The company operates on the simple principle, “great songs, great people.”
