Trisha Yearwood Encourages Women in Country Music to Be ‘Unique’: ‘Don’t Be Afraid to Be Yourself’

Yearwood tells PEOPLE about the inspiration behind her song “Country Music HerStory” as she premieres a live performance video

Trisha Yearwood is shining a light on women in country music.

The Grammy winner, 61, is currently touring in support of her latest album The Mirror, and PEOPLE can exclusively premiere a video of Yearwood performing her song “Country Music HerStory” with Leslie Satcher and Bridgette Tatum at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s Ford Theater in Nashville last month.

The video, which arrives during Women’s History Month, finds Yearwood, Satcher and Tatum playing guitars and trading vocal parts as they rock out to “Country Music HerStory,” an ode to women in the genre that features shoutouts to Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette and Tanya Tucker in its lyrics.

Trisha Yearwood.Becky Fluke

“Leslie and Makayla and I were talking about wanting to write a song about the women who have paved the way and who continue to do so, and we wanted to give it a rocking Emmylou feel, and the lyrics just kinda poured out,” Yearwood tells PEOPLE over email.

“Country Music HerStory” serves as an ode to the genre’s women who came before Yearwood rose to fame in the ’90s. “What’s crazy is, other than Patsy Cline, I have had the honor to meet and know everybody else [referenced in the song] and call them friends,” she explains.

Trisha Yearwood.Credit: Becky Fluke

Trisha Yearwood.Credit: Becky Fluke

“What their music has brought to me musically is inspiration to keep going, a hand on my shoulder when I was lonely or sad through a song that I related to,” adds Yearwood, “and those great women paved the way for my personal friends and heroes like Reba [McEntire] and Wynonna [Judd].”

At this point in Yearwood’s career, she also looks to support the next generation of women in country music. “I think the biggest advice I would have is to take from those artists what they have to teach you, if it’s from learning how to hold a note to learning what kind of songs you want to sing yourself, but also realize that every artist, every woman, is unique,” she says.

The “She’s in Love with the Boy” singer continues, “Don’t be afraid to be yourself, even if you’ve never seen anybody else doing it the way you’re doing it…especially if you’ve never seen anybody do it the way you’re doing it!”

Yearwood is currently performing shows on The Mirror Tour: An Acoustic Evening of Stories and Songs with Satcher and Tatum.

Trisha Yearwood.Credit: Becky Fluke

Trisha Yearwood.Credit: Becky Fluke

Later this month, she’ll host the second annual Band as One Nashville Concert for the Cure: Trisha Yearwood & Friends with Susan G. Komen at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville.