If you're a fan of the way country has evolved over the past decade, you have Natalie Hemby to thank. The Nashville-based songwriter has slyly ushered the music away from its traditional roots—guiding some of its most fearless new female voices, flipping tired cowboy tropes on their ear, and embracing elements of club music and R&B. The modern influences she's imprinted on songs for Maren Morris and Kacey Musgraves have proven transformative for the genre. And when Hemby writes a tune for one of the dudes—like, for instance, Justin Moore's “You Look Like I Need a Drink”—she manages to smuggle complicated, real-person perspective into what might sound, on the surface, like a classic barroom stomper. Few have taken country back from the "Good Ol' Boys Club” as convincingly as she has.