Cousin Emmy was a multifaceted performer who could play more than a dozen instruments, and she had a more outsized personality than any woman in country music history.
Through her work with Sugarland and her more recent solo efforts, Jennifer Nettles has been a defining female voice in country music during the 21st century.
Her mere presence in country music infuriated traditionalists, but Olivia Newton-John’s pop-flavored country foreshadowed the boundary blurring recordings of future genre-straddling stars.
Olivia Newton-John breaks big in Japan, produces a hit network television special, sues her record label, and sells platinum in America for the first time.