In the seven years since the release of the Highwomen’s self-titled debut LP, the quartet of Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris, and Amanda Shires have lived enough life to fill endless classic country songs: babies born and others grown, divorces filed and finalized, pandemics weathered. They’ve won Grammys and released eight solo albums. They’ve lost loved ones.
“And a uterus!” quips Natalie Hemby, sitting in the green room between rehearsals with her bandmates. Only a group like the Highwomen, filled with artists insistent on sharing women’s stories in a genre where beer, truck, and fishing songs by men rule country radio playlists, could kick things off with a joke about a hysterectomy.
It’s the Thursday before the Highwomen are set to take the stage as part of Carlile’s Echoes Through the Canyon run at the Gorge in Washington state, and the champagne (alongside pre-champagne IV hydration) is already flowing. This is the first time the band has reunited to perform since their last show at this same venue in 2023, which they just released as a digital-only live album. Their custom Nudie suits are pressed, their kids are in tow and, according to Shires, they’ll be playing under a full moon.
