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Shuttling between Toronto and Nashville, Jessica Mitchell first earned notice for her emphatic ballad from 2016, Workin’ on Whiskey.

Back in the day, before he became famous for asking America if they were "ready for some football," Hank Williams Jr. declared his Southern-man defiance with the hit song Country Boys Can Survive. We was he right? You bet your mud flaps he was. Country boys not only survived, they've thrived.

The headliners for this year's edition of the Boots and Hearts jamboree in Oro-Medonte include Doc Walker, Keith Urban, Luke Bryan and bro-country patriot Brantley Gilbert. Whatever happened to the days when we were "looking at country," we were looking at Loretta Lynn?

But if we have to look harder to see the women of country music today, the squinting is worth the effort. On Friday afternoon, the bourbon-voiced songstress Jessica Mitchell will take charge of a secondary stage, a couple of hours before the actor Kiefer Sutherland, a well-known actor who fills out a pair of blue jeans well enough to earn a 60-minute set at one of Canada's biggest country-music festivals.

Shuttling between Toronto and Nashville, Mitchell first earned notice for her emphatic ballad from 2016, Workin' on Whiskey. Signed to a publishing deal with Slaight Music, the Ontario-bred singer-songstress recently released a pair of singles, Don't Love Me and Tear it Down.

Those not able to make it to Boots and Hearts can catch Mitchell locally: at the Markham Civic Centre (Sept. 10), at the Songwriters Hall of Fame gala at Massey Hall (Sept. 23), and at a Drake Underground showcase (Sept. 25).

It's a busy, high-profile schedule, designed to get Mitchell in front of faces. A country girl will survive.

Boots and Hearts Music Festival, Aug. 10 to 13. $119.99. Burl's Creek Event Grounds, Oro-Medonte, Ont., bootsandhearts.com.

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