By Naomi Robin

On Tuesday (2/23), the CMT Next Women of Country Tour turned Los Angeles into a country hot spot, as Nashville's leading ladies took The Wiltern by storm.

The night began with Valory/BMLG’s fresh signing, Tara “Damn” Thompson—as Scott Borchetta likes to call her—who was accompanied by a single guitarist. The Tennessee native charmed the crowd with songs about making love on a Maytag, and even got me—the rocker who hated on country music for years—singing along to her spunky set. The crowd went wild for single “Someone to Take Your Place,” which impacted Country radio this week, among the Top 10 Most Added. Watch the lyric video below.

Next up was Stoney Creek Record’s glitter-clad Lindsay Ell. The blonde badass earned the audience’s respect, as she looped killer electric guitar and beatbox riffs underneath single “Criminal.” At that moment, I was converted from a shtetl princess to dime store cowgirl. Ell closed her solo set with an Ed Sheeran/Taylor Swift/John Mayer medley, paying homage to the artists who clearly influenced her unique style.

Then came four-time Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Brandy Clark. The Warner Bros. artist might be famous throughout the Nashville community for writing #1 hits recorded by Miranda Lambert, The Band Perry and many more, but damn, she also totally holds it down as a performing artist. Clark controlled the room with powerful vocals and cheeky lyrics, singing "Girl Next Door," the single off her upcoming, not-yet-titled album, due this summer. She almost makes me want to retire my leather booties for bandannas and cowboy boots.

BMLG siren, Jennifer Nettles, topped the evening off with a scorching set of fresh solo material and a few Sugarland favorites. The songstress seduced the crowd with “Three Days In Bed,” a new song about a rendezvous with a Frenchman. Three days, huh? She must have had the flu...

Just as I thought it couldn’t get any hotter, Richard Marx joined Nettles onstage for a steamy duet, adding some testosterone to the mix. She continued to tease the audience with a taste of her upcoming solo album (due 5/13). Her performance of the first single, “Unlove You”—which just crossed over to Top 40 this week—stole the heart of HITS prexy Todd Hensley, leaving BMLG CEO Scott Borchetta and manager Gail Gellman (pictured below) with no choice but to double as bodyguards to protect Nettles from the HITS weasel. They’re still trying to figure out how we got into the venue in the first place.

Keith Hill may have been right about men being the lettuce in the salad of Country music, but these fierce females proved that women are the meat.