ALL THINGS MUSIC
PAGE 6 • GO! MAGAZINE
THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021 • THE BULLETIN
Oregon musicians launch She’s Speaking
Virtual series features female
songwriters writing about
women who inspired them
BY BRIAN MCELHINEY
The Bulletin
I
nspired by the life and work of Supreme
Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sis-
ters songwriter Beth Wood wrote the
song “One Step at a Time.” The song became
the catalyst for the virtual series She’s Speak-
ing.
“It was a song that was inspired by RBG
that got me thinking about this whole direc-
tion,” Wood said. “Wouldn’t it be really cool
to invite women songwriters to write songs
about women that inspire them? And so not
only are we amplifying women’s voices, but
also women’s stories.”
“One Step at a Time” is the first song fea-
tured in the March 8 launch video for the
series, which is dedicated to female song-
writers writing about the women who in-
spired them (and named for Vice President
Kamala Harris’ now-famous “I’m speaking”
quip during the Vice Presidential debate).
Wood teamed with Salem’s Kristen Grainger
and Portland’s Bre Gregg for the project,
which will feature different performances
five days a week, Tuesdays through Satur-
days.
“When we started this we were hoping
for like 10 videos, but instead we got 50-
some,” Gregg said. “So now we’re going back
through and we’re doing artist highlights.”
The launch video featured 16 performances.
Wood cited a graphic listing the percent-
age of women in different roles in the music
industry, including artists (22% women),
songwriters (13%), producers (3%), engi-
neers (3%) and label owners (15%). The
graphic was posted to Instagram by Amplify
Her Voice, an online platform “dedicated
to helping advance the careers of women in
music through educational, networking and
creative opportunities.”
“My interest is in helping to lift wom-
en’s voices,” Wood said. “And there are so
many amazing women artists out there that
are what I like to call blue-collar musician.
women, just in general?
in Bend, that doesn’t seem to be necessarily
I think when you have a male-dom-
proving true all the time?
inated industry it can be difficult on
I guess you’re right. … My boss — I had
women no matter what. But I try not to focus
a bunch of bosses — but my boss in the
on that stuff. I mean, personally, I always try
promotion department (at Atlantic) was a
not to focus on that; I just try to do the best
woman, and I think she always tried to sup-
job that I could do. But there’s that kind of
port women as much as she (could). So I feel
attitude and sexism and misogyny in every
like we had a lot of women on our staff, which industry, every single one. … At Bend Radio
was really great.
Group, I feel like our owner, Jim Gross, and
I just try not to look at people as gender.
Mike (Flanagan), who’s our program direc-
I try to look at people based on who they
tor, I feel like they respect everybody — man,
are as a person, and in the job setting, how
woman. Mike and I have deep, deep discus-
well they do their job. I feel like I’m such a
sion about music and I don’t think he ever
music head in general and I’ve always been
thinks of me in any other way than as a peer
passionate about music and the bands that
who loves music. I think I’ve been pretty for-
I love. I’m not stupid. I just feel like the jobs
tunate in the jobs that I’ve had.
that I’ve had, I’ve earned them.
RINDY ROSS
… But I am very pro-women. I
feel like we get the backseat so
Vocalist and saxophonist
often. I just heard this story
Ross, along with her husband,
on NPR the other day about
Marv, started the band Jones
the pandemic, and how an
Road in Bend in the 1970s.
X amount of the women
After relocating to Port-
in the workforce are not
land, the group changed
in the workforce anymore.
its name to Seafood Mama
And the numbers are such
and then Quarterflash,
that it’s the same as it was
and scored a No. 1 Bill-
in 1982, because the women
board Mainstream Rock hit
are staying home with the kids
with “Harden My Heart” in
who have to be homeschooled.
1981. The Rosses retired Quar-
And that just broke my heart.
terflash and their long-running
Rindy Ross
From your perspective hav-
folk group, The Trail Band, in
ing been in the music industry for a
2019 to focus on duo performances.
long time, do you think it’s better in the music
What have your experiences been in an
industry or worse in the music industry for
industry that has a reputation for being,
Continued from Page 3
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There’s this whole sector of working musi-
cians that are not on the charts, they’re not
on the radio, they’re not on the Grammys.
They’re working people. I love taking song-
writers that I think are amazing and show-
ing them to other people, and being like, oh
my gosh, check her out, she’s so good. And
that’s one of the fun things about this chan-
nel too.”
Wood, Grainger and Gregg have sourced
performances from a “very curated list of
songwriters,” but have discussed opening it
up to anyone who wants to submit a song.
Featured artists so far include Mare Wake-
field, Anna Tivel, Shireen Amini and Lady
A, who hosted the launch video.
Submissions are limited to original songs,
and for now they are sticking to the theme
of women writing about women who in-
spired them, though they may expand to
other themes in the future.
“It’s a platform channel that’ll exist for-
ever,” Grainger said. “We hope that it will
continuously grow, and there will be more
women’s songs and tribute songs added to
it, and different campaigns — maybe we do
young women or girls or some other kind of
theme to it.”
They’ve also thought about hosting a live
event tied to the series when things start to
open up more.
“Just judging from the energy of having
us all together on Zoom the other night (for
the launch video), I just can’t imagine a live
event, how inspiring and celebratory that
would be,” Wood said. “That’s something
that I would love to work toward. … That
really was for me a part of the seed in reach-
ing out, is that I have missed collaborating
so much. You can’t harmonize on Zoom. So
that has been one of the biggest gifts of this
whole thing, is being able to collaborate with
friends and also new songwriters that I’d
never heard of before.”
People can follow She’s Speaking on You-
Tube (youtube.com/channel/UCoVBT-
kpT-dWRQxqhe3c1eVw), Facebook
(facebook.com/shesspeakingsongs) and
Instagram (instagram.com/shesspeaking-
songs/).
e e
Reporter: 541-617-7814,
bmcelhiney@bendbulletin.com
at times, difficult for women to be in?
less of that, that women have more of a voice,
It’s interesting. I think women have
which is how it should be, that women’s
— women in the music indus-
voices are just as valued and re-
try have greatly changed since
spected as a man’s voice.
I was that girl who plays the
BETH WOOD
saxophone. I mean, it was
just so unusual, and that
Singer-songwriter
is less of a big deal that a
Wood is well known to
woman is playing an in-
Sisters Folk Festival audi-
strument. And in fact just
ences, and in April 2020
she relocated to Sisters
the Grammys (on Sun-
from Bend (before that she
day), it was kind of swept
lived in Portland and
by women and women song-
Eugene). She recently
writers. So I think much has
launched the virtual perfor-
changed and I’m so glad to see
Beth Wood
mance series She’s Speaking
that, but yeah, it’s been a progres-
alongside songwriters Kristen
sion, as women in the workplace in
Grainger and Bre Gregg (see sidebar for
general has been a progression over the ages.
ertainly had my experiences in record-
more information).
ing, et cetera, where — I know one par-
What have your experiences been in an
ticular producer that we worked with that, I
industry that has a reputation for being,
won’t mention his name. On our third record, at times, difficult for women to be in?
we were actually making the record in France
I’ve been doing this for almost 25 years
and he was English. And he would only take
now. There have been multiple times in
feedback from Marv. I could say something
my career where I have been told, “We can’t
like, ‘Well, you know, I think blah blah blah,
add your song because we already have too
this song needs this,’ and he would sometimes many women on the radio this week.” Or, I
not even acknowledge I was speaking, and
was in the final stages of negotiating with a
then other times just kind of nod his head and national publisher about being an on-staff
completely ignore it. And then Marv could
writer with them, and they came to us the fol-
come and say the exact same thing and he’d
lowing week and said, “Ah, I’m so sorry we
go, ‘Oh, done deal, bro.’ So it was very interest- can’t do this; we have too many women writ-
ing and extremely nerve wracking for me, and ers already.” It was maddening. There’s noth-
I just learned to speak through Marv. I had to
ing I could do in either of those situations.
speak through my husband, which is never an e e Reporter: 541-617-7814,
bmcelhiney@bendbulletin.com
ideal type situation. I think there’s a whole lot
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