Lesley Fram, Angaleena Presley, Braelynn, Kelsea Ballerini, Danielle Bradbery, Cam and the CMT crew backstage before the CMT Next Women in Country event.

“Today, we possibly won’t address and fix the gender gap, but we will hear women who step up to those challenges,” CMT Senior Vice President Leslie Fram announced onstage from the Country Music Hall of Fame’s CMA Theater.

At CMT’s Next Women of Country, a panel devoted to exposing diverse voices in popular country music, Fram candidly interviewed RaeLynn, Angaleena Presley, The Voice’s Danielle Bradbery, Kelsea Ballerini.

The audience roared in applause as Fram introduced each panelist onstage.

RaeLynn, who performed at the CMT Awards Wednesday night in downtown Nashville, took the first seat and admitted she was nervous at the CMT awards, but was glad she made it through it. She seemed relaxed onstage sitting between Fram and Presley.

After greeting herself and entertaining the audience with her bubbly personality, Raelynn entertained the audience with her new song, “For a Boy.”

Lesley Fram announces the panel of CMT’s Next Women of Country.

Presley, described as the current-day coal miner’s daughter by Fram, said she was in a “sea of beautiful blonde babes” on stage and then gave her praise to country lady legends like Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette. She also gave credit to her father’s past for her track “American Middle Class,” which she later performed, as inspiration and how she wanted to write about being his daughter.

Often dominated by a distinct monoculture of masculinity, the panel felt like a distinct breath of fresh air as these rising stars seemed poised to make a breakthrough for women in the country scene.

Kelsea Ballerini performs her song “Peter Pan.”

“I’m excited to be here,” said Ballerini, the last in the round of panelists and performers. “I’m excited to see how many people come out to celebrate women!”

Throughout the interview, Fram asked the female artists who inspired them to be singers, and Ballerini admitted she used to want to be a veterinarian and it wasn’t until she was in the eighth grade when she discovered she wanted to be a country singer.

Fram discovered what kind of challenges these artists face everyday.

“It’s 90 percent elbow grease and 10 percent glitter and rhinestone,” Presley admitted. “The challenge is that you miss a lot to do the job.”

The other panelists agreed with Presley, and Cam added that another challenge is that there isn’t anyone to tell her she made it and everything is mapped out for her.

Raelynn performs “God Made Girls.”

Fram seemed to hit a nerve for Presley when she quoted radio personality Keith Hill, who compared women in country to tomatoes in a salad, and men like Luke Bryan being the lettuce.

“I would consider myself more of a melon than a tomato, but that’s just me,” dismissed Presley. “I’m a hard-working, sophisticated lady and my mama didn’t burn her bra for nothing,” she added.

All of the female artists did agree that being a female in the country music scene is tough, but Raelynn pointed out “it doesn’t matter if you are girl or a guy, you have to work your butt off.”

Cam and Ballerini mentioned that amazing music is coming from women and always have from artists like Shania Twain, Taylor Swift and Leann Rhymes.

“Women will always be the staple,” said Ballerini.

By Hayley Greenhouse

Photos by Hayley Greenhouse