Brandi Carlile takes the National Rifle Association, the male-dominated Nashville music industry and more to task in a new song, "Cowgirls," which she debuted live at Costa Mesa, Calif.'s Pacific Amphitheatre on Wednesday (July 17). Press play above to watch a live clip of the as-yet-unreleased track.

"Listen to the radio and sing along, you're not saying anything / You never laid a railroad tie / Or watched a lonesome cowboy die / Or listened to the bells of freedom ring ..." Carlile sings in the new track's chorus. "Cowgirls" is by turns poetic and matter-of-fact, and just a few lines earlier, Carlile's lyrics turn more biting: "The NRA can kiss my country ass," she quips.

Carlile has a strong history of speaking out on the causes that matter to her most, both in her long and prolific solo career and also in her brand-new supergroup, the Highwomen. That band -- also featuring Maren Morris, Amanda Shires and Natalie Hemby -- is set to drop their first-ever single, "Redesigning Women," on Friday (July 19).

Promoting gender equality in country music and beyond is one of the Highwomen's founding tenets, Carlile explained to The Boot and other outlets at CMA Fest 2019: "Almost all of us are mothers of young girls. And we all grew up listening to country music," she pointed out. "We recognize that we're in a time right now where our daughters don't have the same country heroes that we had ...

"Our goal is to simply elevate all women and completely abandon the concept of competing with one another, so that we can let as many women through the door as possible, and give our girls those country music heroes that we all had," she added.

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