Reba McEntire, Trisha Yearwood working to get out the vote
Female country music stars Reba McEntire, Martina McBride and Taylor Swift will appear on the November cover of Redbook and appear in Lifetime Television public service announcements to encourage millions of women to vote.
The cover feature and PSAs, titled “Vote (For Your) Country,” are part of Lifetime’s and Redbook’s nonpartisan, yearlong Every Woman Counts campaign to empower and engage women in the political process as voters and future candidates, according to a news release. The stars won’t be touting their party affiliations, just working to encourage voting.
“Who better to represent the heart of America at election time than country stars?” said Redbook Editor-in-Chief Stacy Morrison in the release. ”Redbook readers have always been huge country fans and so we are thrilled to partner with Lifetime Television in this latest expression of our Every Woman Counts/What We Share campaign, which has been wildly successful in motivating women to speak up and talk about what matters most for our country in politics.”
Meredith Wagner, executive vice president of public affairs for Lifetime said the netowrk is particularly pleased to partner with McEntire, who was born in McAlester and raised in Chockie.
“We are thrilled to work with Reba, the queen of country and star of our hit series, and so many other passionate and talented artists. Thirty-five million eligible women did not vote in 2004. With these powerful and respected country voices and with Lifetime and Redbook teaming up to amplify them, we can and will change this statistic and get millions more women to make their voices heard.”
McEntire said in the release, “There are people in foreign countries who stand in line all day just to be able to vote, and when people here take it for granted, I think it’s a shame. If you have a gripe, you have the right to voice it and try to fix it by voting.”
The PSAs will air on Lifetime through the Nov. 4 presidential election, and the special Redbook issue will be on newsstands starting Oct. 14. Photos, outtakes and exclusive quotes are also posted on www.redbookmag.com.
Several other country stars, including Owasso resident Trisha Yearwood, also appear in the Lifetime PSAs, in the expansive Redbook photo spread and on www.everywomancounts08.com, sharing why they feel voting is so critical and what they would do if they were president. Other country stars participating in the proejct include Rodney Atkins, Clint Black, Sarah Buxton, Jewel, Julianne Hough, Jack Ingram, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Rissi Palmer, SHeDAISY, Sugarland and Wynonna.
Redbook has a circulation of 10 million, and Lifetime, is the No. 1 network for women in about 97 million homes. To reach women where they live, work and play, Lifetime and Redbook launched the first Every Woman Counts media and advocacy coalition. Celebrities, experts and hundreds of women’s nonprofit organizations joined the cause, bringing together more than 15 million women from all sides of the political spectrum.
The Redbook cover feature and Lifetime PSAs were shot at the 43rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas in May and in Nashville, where the country stars donated their time.
The project is extremely meaningful to Swift who said, “The first thing I did this year on my 18th birthday was register to vote. I was still in my pajamas and I got on my computer and registered. It was so cool and empowering. I felt this sense of responsibility that I’ve never felt before - I actually had a say in the political decisions of my country.”
McBride also feels incredibly proud to lend her voice to the effort to get women to the polls, “I sang the national anthem at the first Monday Night Football game after 9/11. I will never forget hearing 70,000 Americans who were as hurt, confused, and proud as I was sing the words. The compassion, faith, strength, and determination I saw in that time of fear and uncertainty changed the way I view this country forever.”
-BAM
Related posts:
- Reba McEntire, Jimmy Wayne working with First Book
- Reba McEntire and husband featured in romantic Country Weekly special
- Trisha Yearwood records carol for “Heroes at Home”
- Reba McEntire on Country Weekly cover
- Reba McEntire makes a splash on TV, online
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[...] Another article about the Redbook magazine cover and their mission to encourage millions of women to vote: Female country music stars Reba McEntire, Martina McBride and Taylor Swift will appear on the November cover of Redbook and appear in Lifetime Television public service announcements to encourage millions of women to vote. The cover feature and PSAs, titled “Vote (For Your) Country,” are part of Lifetime’s and Redbook’s nonpartisan, yearlong Every Woman Counts campaign to empower and engage women in the political process as voters and future candidates, according to a news release. The stars won’t be touting their party affiliations, just working to encourage voting. The project is extremely meaningful to Swift who said, “The first thing I did this year on my 18th birthday was register to vote. I was still in my pajamas and I got on my computer and registered. It was so cool and empowering. I felt this sense of responsibility that I’ve never felt before - I actually had a say in the political decisions of my country.” [...]