Once you dive into the musical works of women, it’s pretty hard to stop. When you put all these ground-breaking women together from over the last century or so, you see the remarkable talent these ladies brought to all genres of music. Here are 85 tracks that represent a small taste of some of the female artists most inspiring to us, from those who’ve played the Felton Music Hall stage, to those we wish we would have gotten a chance to see perform at all. Songwriters, vocalists, and performers. New, young, old. From early Rock and Jazz to R&B and Country, Indie, Folk, and Super Pop.
Who runs the world? Girls.
Happy International Women’s Day!
– Kristen Carranza
Head of Marketing @ Felton Music Hall
Tracks for playlist:
Memphis Minnie “When The Levee Breaks”
Sister Rosetta Tharpe “Strange Things Happening Every Day”
Janis Joplin “Me And Bobby Mcgee”
Jefferson Airplane “Somebody To Love”
Patti Smith “Because The Night”
Emmylou Harris “Didn’t Leave Nobody But The Baby”
Patsy Cline “She’s Got You”
Bessie Smith “Weeping Willow Blues”
Etta James “At Last”
Billie Holiday “Strange Fruit”
Nina Simone “Feeling Good”
Grace Jones “Slave To The Rhythm”
Eartha Kit “C’est Si Bon”
Josephine Baker “De Temps En Temps”
Chaka Kahn “I’m Every Woman”
Staple Sisters “I’ll Take You There”
Supremes “You Can’t Hurry Love”
Minnie Ripperton “Lovin’ You”
Tina Turner “The Best”
Aretha Franklin “Say A Little Prayer”
Dolly Parton “9 to 5”
Lucinda Williams “Happy Woman Blues”
Loretta Lynn “Coal Miner’s Daughter”
Abba “Mama Mia”
Cher “If I Could Turn Back Time”
Carly Simon “You’re So Vain”
Indigo Girls “Closer To Fine”
The Slits “Typical Girl”
Bonnie Raitt “Something To Talk About”
Whitney Houston “I Will Always Love You”
Joni Mitchell “Big Yellow Taxi”
Mary Gauthier “Drag Queens In Limousines”
Heart “Barracuda”
The Pretenders “I’ll Stand By You”
The Runaways “Cherry Bomb”
Siouxsie and the Banshees “The Passenger”
Blondie “Call Me”
Fleetwood Mac “The Chain”
Annie Lennox “Walking on Broken Glass”
Cyndi Lauper “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”
Madonna “Like a Prayer”
Selena “Dreaming Of You”
Salt n Pepa “Shoop”
Erykah Badu “Apple Tree”
Missy Elliot “Get Ur Freak On”
Save Ferris “The World Is New”
Garbage “I’m Only Happy When It Rains”
Ani Difranco “Pretty Girl”
Fiona Apple “Criminal”
PJ Harvey “Down By The Water”
Gillian Welch “Everything is Free”
Leann Rimes “How Do I Live”
Sheryl Crow “If It Makes You happy”
Alanis Morisette “You Oughta Know”
No Doubt “Just A Girl”
Destiny’s Child “Say My Name”
Mariah Carey “Always Be My Baby”
Lauryn Hill “Everything Is Everything”
TLC “Creep”
Britney Spears “Oops I Did It Again”
Alicia Keys “Girl On Fire”
Shakira “Waka Waka”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Maps”
Beyonce “Run The World (Girls)”
Taylor Swift “Love Story”
Lady Gaga “Bad Romance”
Amy Winehouse “Back To Black”
KT Tunstall “Black Horse And A Cherry Tree”
Lizzo “Good As Hell”
LP “Lost On You”
Chris Pureka “Hangman”
Rainbow Girls “American Dream”
Ismay “A Song In Praise of Sonoma Mountain”
Nicki Bluhm “To Rise You Gotta Fall”
Emily Afton “Timebomb”
Orianthi “According To You”
Sierra Ferrel “Jeremiah”
Grace Potter “Paris (Ooh La La)”
Alabama Shakes “Hold On”
Sleater Kenney “Modern Girl”
St. Vincent “New York”
K Flay “Blood in the Cut”
Odessa “Hummed Low”
Sasami “Mess”
Phoebe Bridgers “Motion Sickness”
Waxahatchee “Fire”
Valerie June “Shakedown”
Margo Price “Hands Of Time”
Rhiannon Giddens “Mountain Banjo”
Molly Tuttle “Take The Journey”
Gwen Stefani “Let Me Reintroduce Myself”
Billie Eilish “Bad Guy”
Taylor Rae “Morning Fade”
Nattali Rize “Indestructible”
Sierra Lane “Deep Dive”