Some of the string world’s finest players have banded together to take the “book more women” campaign to the next level on the festival circuit—and to make some fine music in the process.

During the summer of 2018, I produced a festival called Sister Winds, which showcased women artists. Immediately, I noticed there was a need in the community and surrounding culture to highlight women artists. The same rang true in the WinterWonderGrass family as conversations began around how we could incorporate a similar concept into the lineup. Megan Letts, who is on the WinterWonderGrass crew and an incredibly talented musician and singer, was also producing shows that boasted women-heavy lineups. When Megan, WinterWonderGrass producer Scotty Stoughton and I put our heads together, we effortlessly came up with an exciting concept—even the name “WinterWonderWomen” was immediately apparent.

We added a few WinterWonderWomen sets into the festival schedule, and I began reaching out to the ladies already on the lineup. For Colorado, we had Lindsay Lou, the Shook Twins, The Sweet Lillies, Mimi Naja (Fruition), Katia “Pixie” Racine and Amanda B. Grapes (Pixie & The Partygrass Boys) and Eve Panning (The Lonesome Days). Megan and I were the host musicians and we brought along guitarist Tiffany Christopher to hold it down. Then, we sorted the gals into groups for three different 40-minute sets and started planning the music in the most elegant, 21st-century way we could—Google Sheets!

Given that we all live in different areas and lead busy lives of playing and performing, it wasn’t possible to have full group rehearsals until the day of the show. That left everyone to do most of their preparation before they arrived. We gave each singer a chance to take the lead on a song or two and asked them to choose songs that were relatively easy to follow, included many harmony vocal parts and allowed some space for solos. The song selection was incredible, complete with some lovely originals and some wisely selected covers that were energetic and exciting for the crowd.

We took that model and applied it to WinterWonderGrass California one month later. The lineup had fewer women musicians, so we had to get creative. We were lacking slightly in the rhythm section department, so we asked the gents in Lindsay Lou’s band to back us up for a few songs. The concept was “men supporting women,” and it was very sincere. This time, we featured the gals from Upstate, Jenni Charles (Dead Winter Carpenters), Claire Byrne (Driftwood), Lindsay Lou, Pixie and Amanda, with Megan and I hosting once again. We carried over as much material as we could from Colorado and added new songs where we needed to. We started out simple and acoustic, featuring just the gals, but grew the set organically to include the gentlemen. Once again, it was a success.

We continued with WinterWonderWomen performances at Campout for the Cause, the Arise Music Festival, Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom and the Great American Beer Festival, with each show uniquely designed to highlight the strengths and talents of the rotating cast of females that were available to participate. As much as we have enjoyed incorporating the gents, now the focus is trying to do these sets with all women. We are also trying to stay true to the genre, by using a more traditional bluegrass lineup, and to be more than a festival “house band.”

As we embark on WinterWonderGrass 2020, the amazing Shelby Means will join us on upright bass to hold down WinterWonderWomen’s rhythm section. We are also looking forward to featuring members of Della Mae, Twisted Pine, Trout Steak Revival, Damn Tall Buildings and Bowregard. Lindsay Lou will be joining us again and we hope some new faces like Molly Tuttle and Nikki Lane will also make appearances. As usual, we will spotlight a few behind-the
scenes talents and offer some other fun surprises, too.

In the words of Lindsay Lou: “WinterWonderWomen is a special part of this festival— collaborating with other women in the scene nourishes me unlike anything else. The tides are changing on the ‘book more women’ front with promoters, like Scotty, doing their parts to balance out the gender disparity in our world. WinterWonderWomen is a beautiful celebration of that.”

“WinterWonderWomen is an ever-evolving group of strong women that not only feels like an environment to express, but also to empower,” echoes Megan Letts. “Instead of shutting other women out, we should be broadening and opening more spaces for our female comrades, and WinterWonderWomen does just that. The women they hire are masters at their art. There’s nothing ‘token’ about that!”

The mission behind WinterWonderWomen is to highlight the special talents of women in our scene, in a collaborative and engaging setting that is outside of the comforts of their usual bands. We find that when women share the stage, they empower one another through love and support. Lifting each other up in a non-competitive way is key to creating cultural change and empowering women of future generations. It’s in our nature, and there isn’t anything more beautiful than the sound of numerous women singing together in harmony.

Bridget Law was a founding member of Elephant Revival. She has also collaborated with Béla Fleck, Sam Bush, Lyle Lovett, Ani DiFranco, Michael Franti, Little Feat, George Clinton, The String Cheese Incident and Yonder Mountain String Band, among others.