It’s Women’s History Month, a good time to reflect on music’s many remarkable female artists. The Weekly caught up with five seasoned local musicians—who have themselves surely inspired countless others within the Vegas scene over the years—to learn about the women who influenced them.

Paige Overton

“I don’t know which girl didn’t love Gwen Stefani,” says Paige Overton, the singer-songwriter who fronted cowpunk band The Clydesdale for nearly 14 years. “I loved how eccentric she was. She was such a rocker and just unapologetically herself.”

In high school, Overton says, she adored Cat Power, too, and then she discovered her true muse—Patsy Cline. “She really changed my world,” Overton recalls. “I started relating so much to country music, because I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is just somebody singing their diary entries.’ It’s so raw.”

A reverence for Etta James and Billie Holiday, The Supremes and The Marvelettes, and Dolly Parton and Wanda Jackson, followed from there. “The thing I really loved about a lot of these women is that they were not trying to fit into any type of box,” Overton says. “They were very honest.”

Hear those influences for yourself when Paige & The Overtones play the Sand Dollar Lounge on April 13.

Kaylie Foster

The Queen of Soul soundtracked much of Kaylie Foster’s adolescence. “My mom would always have Aretha Franklin playing in the car,” says Foster, who has been writing songs since her teenage years. “I distinctly remember hearing her voice at a very young age and realizing you can be an emotional powerhouse and be successful.”

The singer-songwriter, who performs her alt-pop as simply Foster, marveled at Franklin, a woman who lacked the commercial look of the time but still delivered profound talent. That respect for non-conformists also led her to latch onto artists like Björk.

“[Björk] was always ahead of the curve, and so artistic and different, on another planet,” Foster says. “It’s cool to see music from that perspective, because she was just doing it regardless of what people thought.”

Norah Jones would also prove pivotal to Foster’s later sound and writing approach, she says.

Jenine Cali

The Dirty Hooks’ Jenine Cali grew up in the same house as one of her primary musical influences. “My mom was actually a singer in a band,” Cali says. “[She] would sing with us every single night before we went to bed.”

Cali didn’t always listen to her mother’s music, but she did absorb her mom’s influences. “She got us into music. It was her collection,” Cali says. “We’d listen to Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin and The Pointer Sisters. A lot of that good ’80s stuff.”

Dance-rock band Luscious Jackson, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon and Madonna also mesmerized Cali, as did Lilith Fair founder Sarah McLachlan. “I thought she was great,” Cali says. “I saw her at the Huntridge when I was in high school, and I was just in awe.”

Sonia Barcelona

As she has traveled the globe, indie singer-songwriter Sonia Barcelona has fallen in love with music by artists all over the world, from Iceland’s Björk to German electronic act Enigma to Nigerian-born English singer Sade.

“[Sade’s] all about love, and it’s so soothing,” says Barcelona, who has opened for the likes of Japanese Breakfast here in Las Vegas. “Anything that’s smooth and soothing attracts my attention, because that’s what I want in myself.”

Sade’s velvet delivery informed Barcelona’s own enveloping timbre. English artist Laura Marling, who slides easily from light folk to heavier grunge, also influenced Barcelona’s craft. “I loved the way she played the guitar and was also a great storyteller,” Barcelona says.

Courtney Carroll

Like many musicians, Courtney Carroll remembers rummaging through her parent’s record collection as a kid. “Blondie was one that stood out to me. Maybe that’s why I love playing disco beats so much now,” she laughs.

Since 1994, Carroll has drummed in more than 20 Vegas-based bands, including The Clydesdale, Kid Meets Cougar and Love Pentagon. These days, she keeps the beat for surf-rockers Thee Swank Bastards and harmonious folk outfit Dusty Sunshine.

Carroll says she spent the ’90s obsessing over Sonic Youth, Erykah Badu and Björk, and that later, watching Santigold and St. Vincent in person reinforced what she already knew: Women rock.

“All of my bandmates and other local musicians are really my biggest musical influences, though,” she says, citing Acid Sisters and Sonia Barcelona among her current favorite live acts.

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