The bastards hung me at the Salem Gallows Hill ...

Highwomen, by The Highwomen, 2019 (song)

I have loved Highwayman ever since I was a little girl. The haunting, mystical song was written in 1985 by a group of rock-star country musicians who came together as The Highwaymen: Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson.

The lyrics tell the story of men (or one man, depending on your interpretation) who lived rough and tumble lives, who risked it all for love or money or mere survival, who may have died but whose stories didn’t end.

Although beautiful, the song tells similar stories as our history books did in school: those of the white man’s journey.

Perhaps that’s why a group of female musicians came together in 2019 as The Highwomen to create their version of the song: Highwomen.

The group consists of Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Amanda Shires, and Maren Morris.

“[The Highwaymen’s characters] all died doing things that men do. Willie was a bandit. Johnny Cash drove a fucking starship, nobody knows why,” Carlile told Rolling Stone. “We rewrote it with fates that befell women: a doctor convicted of witchcraft; an immigrant who died trying to get over the border but got the kids over safe and sound; a preacher; and a freedom rider who gets shot.”

Excerpt from Highwomen

I was a healer

I was gifted as a girl

I laid hands upon the world

Someone saw me sleeping, naked in the noon sun

I heard of witchcraft in their whispers, and I knew my time would come

The bastards hung me at the Salem Gallows Hill

But I am living still …

Adding women’s voices to history is one way we can honor the roles women have played throughout time – not as second fiddle, but as lead vocalists.

Listen to Highwomen.