In 2004 Gretchen Wilson exploded onto the country music scene with 'Redneck Woman.' The blockbuster single led to the early release of her first CD and propelled it to triple platinum sales."

Gretchen Wilson celebrates a new kind Virile Woman on the country music scene—but this subtle gender analysis reveals much more than immediately meets the eye.

This article appears in the 2011 Music issue of Southern Cultures.

Southern Cultures is published quarterly (spring, summer, fall, winter) by the University of North Carolina Press. The journal is sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Center for the Study of the American South.