![No. 17: Martina McBride – Country’s Most Powerful Women of All Time](http://townsquare.media/site/204/files/2017/09/Martina-McBride-Women-of-Country.jpg?w=980&q=75)
No. 17: Martina McBride – Country’s Most Powerful Women of All Time
Martina McBride exemplifies power in country music. The multi-time Female Vocalist of the Year winner is one of the genre's best singers, but that alone is not why she ranks high on this list of country music's most powerful women.
It's not how McBride sings as much as it is what she sings about. Her best songs are reminders that not everyone has an easy path in life, yet even when she's singing about abuse ("Independence Day"), poverty ("Love's the Only House") or cancer ("I'm Gonna Love You Through It"), her fans came away hopeful for their own future. There are nearly a dozen examples of singles that blow the roof off of one's inner potential. If you don't think you can run through a wall after hearing her sing the final chorus of "Anyway," you probably have two broken legs.
What separates McBride from so many country singers is her absolute commitment to the emotion of a song. She'll make you cry or laugh, or just smile sweetly as you adore a precious memory of your own. She makes you feel. Beginning in 2003 she began to weave stories of her life with daughters into her albums. She didn't write "This One's for the Girls" or "In My Daughter's Eyes," but there's no doubting she felt every lyric.
She did write "Teenage Daughters," the lead single from Eleven. It's a song every mother raising girls needs to hear, perhaps on Friday nights with a glass of wine poured.
The stats are not as important as the songs for McBride. She has hits, Platinum singles and albums and plenty of awards. She also has "Broken Wing" and a catalog of life-changing country stories. That's more important, and it's ultimately what lands her at No. 17 on the list of country music's most powerful women.
Female Trailblazers Who Are Changing Modern Country Music
Watch: Country Women Well-Represented in 2017 Taste of Country RISERS
More From 92.5 The Ranch
![Martina McBride Remembers Her Late Mother in Emotional Post: ‘She Took Good Care of Us’](http://townsquare.media/site/204/files/2016/05/martina-mcbride-sarah-cannon-band-against-cancer.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Chris Stapleton, Martina McBride + More Earn 2020 Hall of Fame Exhibits](http://townsquare.media/site/623/files/2019/12/martina-mcbride-chris-stapleton.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Martina McBride Calls Out Spotify’s All-Male Country Music Playlist Suggestions](http://townsquare.media/site/623/files/2019/05/country-star-interns-4.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![10 Things You Might Not Know About Martina McBride](http://townsquare.media/site/623/files/2015/04/martina-mcbride-2015-acm-awards-performance.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Martina McBride Has ‘Mixed Feelings’ About ‘Independence Day’ Becoming a Patriotic Anthem](http://townsquare.media/site/204/files/2019/07/martina-mcbride-mixed-feelings-about-independence-day-misinterpretation.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Country Chart Chronicles: Another Superstar Almost Sang Brad Paisley’s ‘I’m Gonna Miss Her’](http://townsquare.media/site/623/files/2019/07/brad-paisley-the-fishin-song.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![These Country Stars Can Tell You How to Get to ‘Sesame Street’ [PICTURES]](http://townsquare.media/site/623/files/2019/03/Sesame-Street.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![20 Country Albums Turning 20 in 2019](http://townsquare.media/site/623/files/2019/01/1999-country-album.png?w=980&q=75)
![Ten #10YearChallenge Celebs Who Haven’t Changed a Bit!](http://townsquare.media/site/204/files/2019/01/Keith-urban-Hasnt-Changed.jpg?w=980&q=75)