Terri Clark

Sure, Gretchen Wilson’s redneck girls stirred up the Country Music Association with their big hell-yeahs last year, but it was Terri Clark‘s inclusion, in her hit “Girls Lie Too,” of four little words — size don’t matter anyway (an example of a lie that women tell) — that really agitated the country sisterhood. A new line had been crossed; the Wrangler bulge had been scrutinized. You could almost hear the quiet, postconcert-drive-home conversations about love and dimensionality. It’s no coincidence, and probably unprecedented, that Reba McEntire has chosen Terri Clark as one of the hats in her “Two Hats and a Redhead” tour. With the most beautiful arms in country music (sorry, Kenny Chesney) and a stage presence that’s half the big sister everyone always wanted and half Xena, Clark is one strong woman. And gentlemen, do your damnedest not to flinch when she kicks off that song. Might be a good time, actually, to just slip off for a beer.