Redneck Woman

Gretchen Wilson's signature song has a surprising inspiration - one Faith Hill. Wilson revealed to Taste of Country the story of the tune, which she co-wrote with Big & Rich's John Rich. "The day that we wrote 'Redneck Woman' was a day that John and I were sitting around watching country music videos and Faith Hill's 'Breathe' was on," she said. "She's gorgeous. She looks like a supermodel. She's rolling around in satin sheets. And that was the inspiration behind 'Redneck Woman.' I looked at John and said, 'This is probably never gonna happen for me because I'll never look like that, and I'll never be that. That is just not the kind of woman I am.'" Wilson continued: "He looked at me [and asked], 'Well, what kind of woman are you then?' And I said, 'I'm a redneck woman.' Then he said, 'What's the matter with that?' We, at that moment, decided to be as authentic as we could about that kind of a woman, and I felt like it was a responsibility almost at that point to speak to those girls who felt like me."

The song topped the country chart for five weeks. It was a gamechanger for the singer who went from an unknown former bartender from Illinois to a country superstar. "The reason why I became successful in the first place is I think women - and maybe some men - they accepted me because I was a voice that was speaking to them about them," said Wilson. "For a long time, I feel like in country music, women had gotten so slick and soft and pretty. So being authentic and being real, that is what got me to this dance."

Wilson earned a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for the song in 2005.