When Ozzy Osbourne performed what would be his final concert, the all-star Back to the Beginning celebration, in his hometown of Birmingham, England, he was surrounded by a rock & roll army of special guests. Members of Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, and Aerosmith were all onstage to salute Ozzy and Black Sabbath. But among that roster, there was only one woman: Halestorm’s scream-queen frontperson Lzzy Hale.
During a rock-focused episode of Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast, Hale says she prefers to look at that distinction as an honor, not a slight.
“It’s not my first rodeo being the only girl in any situation,” Hale admits. “At first, it’s a little unbelievable: ‘I can’t be the only one, there’s so many of us out there.’ But you side with the fact that it’s an honor to be there and represent.”
Halestorm, who just released their new album Everest, with producer Dave Cobb, performed their Grammy-winning song “Love Bites (So Do I)” and “Rain Your Blood on Me,” along with a cover of Osbourne’s solo hit “Perry Mason” at Back to the Beginning. Hale says she was moved to witness all the women in the audience.
“Looking out at all of these girls, and all of these girls who love heavy metal and rock music the same way I do, and you see so many of them relieved that there’s somebody there — ‘OK, just like me, this is great,’” she says.
On this week’s Nashville Now, Hale and Halestorm guitarist Joe Hottinger breaks down Nashville’s vital rock scene, dissect the making of Everest, and makes at least one Spinal Tap reference. Check out the full episode below.
Download and subscribe to Rolling Stone’s weekly country-music podcast, Nashville Now, hosted by senior music editor Joseph Hudak, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts). New episodes drop every Wednesday and feature interviews with artists and personalities like Lainey Wilson, Hardy, Charley Crockett, Gavin Adcock, Amanda Shires, Shooter Jennings, Margo Price, Dusty Slay, Lukas Nelson, Ashley Monroe, Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor, and Clever.
