Headlining a sold-out date on tour behind her recent solo album, “,” the popular country singer — if that’s indeed how we should think of her — took a moment partway through her show to talk up the other project that’s kept her busy this year: the self-titled debut by the much-discussed roots-music supergroup she shares with Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires and Natalie Hemby.
Country and roots music have known such pop adventurers before. Think Taylor Swift. Before Swift, think, who plays bass on “The Highwomen.” Before Crow, think Dolly Parton, who turned up to join the Highwomen at July’s Newport Folk Festival. The CMA has used that last award as something of a prestige prize to recognize artists at the respectable fringes of country’s mainstream — your Eric Churches and Chris Stapletons, for instance. Last year’s winner was Musgraves’ “Golden Hour,” a critical favorite that’s struggled to attract much interest from the terrestrial radio programmers who still wield enormous power in Nashville.
Good for her music