Image Courtesy Dot RecordsCountry radio is filled with men singing the praises of the women in their lives these days, but we have no idea what those women are doing when they’re not dancing on tailgates, wearing short-shorts or opening a beer for their man. New duo Maddie & Tae have made a splash turning that supporting female role on its head with their debut single, “Girl in a Country Song.”

Though the two 19-year-olds are stunningly beautiful, Maddie and Tae think it’s important for country fans to acknowledge women as three-dimensional human beings with brains and hearts.

Maddie Marlow tells ABC News Radio, “Tae and I don’t want to be that perfect Barbie doll girl, ’cause we’re not. You know, some days our hair looks a hot mess or sometimes your makeup is crazy. And both of us, we’re fairly short, so we don’t have the long, beautiful, tan legs.”

As they worked to land a record deal in Nashville, the duo grew tired of hearing an endless stream of male acts on country radio singing about the same prototype woman.

“We were like, ‘Man, I would hate to be that girl in the country songs, because all you have to wear is cutoff jeans; you have to have long, tan legs; and you have to dance on tailgates,'” Maddie says. “All you do is play a part and look beautiful. That’s all you get to do. You don’t get to talk. You don’t get to have a personality. Nothing.”

Instead of just getting upset about it, they wrote “Girl in a Country Song” with their co-writer Aaron Scherz. He has a four-year-old daughter and is concerned about how she’ll see herself portrayed in country songs, too.

Tae Dye explains, “He was like, ‘Well, this is perfect, because I don’t want her growing up thinking she has to look a certain way or do certain things to be beautiful.’ So, we all pulled from our own experiences.”

As you can see from the video for “Girl in a Country Song,” Maddie & Tae are having fun poking holes in that country stereotype. The single is now available for download at all digital outlets.


Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio

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