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Gift books: For musicians, audiophiles and anyone with a song in their heart

Feature by Hilli Levin

Whether you’re shopping for a burgeoning Bach or someone who can’t carry a tune in a bucket, these books will play on any music lover’s heartstrings.

What do you get for the music obsessive on your list in the age of streaming? Skip the Spotify gift subscriptions and try one of these lovingly curated coffee table books instead. Whether you’re buying for a Woodstock fan who wants to relive the good ol’ days or for someone who’s always hoping to discover their next favorite artist, these are sure to please the person at your holiday gathering who always asks, “Hey, do you mind if I change the music?”

She Can Really Lay It Down by Rachel Frankel
“The present—if long overdue—push toward a more progressive, feminist reading of our cultural history requires disabusing ourselves of known canons, and some pretty deeply entrenched ideas about the history of popular music,” writes Amanda Petrusich in the foreword to the celebratory book She Can Really Lay It Down: 50 Rebels, Rockers, and Musical Revolutionaries. Author Rachel Frankel gamely sets out to help us reconsider the history of popular music with short but thorough essays on big names like Beyoncé, Selena and Dolly Parton. However, the most exciting pages in Frankel’s book shine a light on figures like guitarist Sister Rosetta Tharpe, folk musician Violeta Parra, South African singer-songwriter Miriam Makeba and other women who have been overlooked for too long. This incisive compilation delivers more than just surface-level girl power, and it would make an excellent gift for anyone with a deep interest in music, creativity and popular culture. I’d especially recommend putting this in the hands of a teenage girl.

Supreme Glamour by Mary Wilson
From the vantage point of 2019, it’s easy to wax poetic about the essential give-and-take between fashion and music, but that relationship certainly wasn’t a given when the Supremes began performing together and crafting their iconic looks in 1961. Mary Wilson, a founding member and anchor of the legendary musical group, takes us through the group’s sartorial evolution with Supreme Glamour, a collection of more than 400 photographs of their most influential sequined, bedazzled and brightly colored outfits. Wilson’s personal musings about the group’s journey perfectly accompany the glossy full-page spreads of dazzling gowns embellished with crystals and pearls, sequined show-stoppers seen on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and marabou-trimmed couture made for their Broadway performances. Fashion lovers will especially appreciate the attention to detail, with notes that include the material, embellishments and notable appearances of the outfits along with other interesting historical tidbits.

Country Music: An Illustrated History by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns
As PBS devotees know, a new Ken Burns documentary is cause for celebration, and “Country Music” is already being hailed as one of his best. Although a big ol’ coffee table book that ties in with a television series can be a tough sell, Country Music: An Illustrated History is definitely a worthy companion piece. Country music afficionados are often left a little high and dry, as music journalists tend to reserve their ink for rock ’n’ roll heroes. But authors Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns dive deep into the roots and rise of this genre: the African American banjo players and Scottish American fiddlers who laid the foundations of the genre, the gospel-infused songs from groups like the Carter Family that helped radio stations get on board, the surprising rise of Hank Williams, the storied Nashville Sound of the 1960s, the outlaw swagger of Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, the rise of modern pop-country and everything in between. This tome packs in hundreds of rare photographs, excellent historical asides and interviews with influential figures like singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris. I’d wager that this will be one of the more popular gifts for music lovers this year.

Woodstock Live: 50 Years by Julien Bitoun
It’s the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, and, like it or not, this music festival on a dairy farm in upstate New York remains one of the most influential cultural events in modern history. Long before “festival fashion” was even a part of the zeitgeist, more than 500,000 Woodstock attendees jammed out in harmony with each other, in the rain and mud, while watching performances that have reached near-mythological status. Guitarist and author Julien Bitoun revisits the weekend with Woodstock Live: 50 Years, an attractive giftbook that includes a short and reverential summary of each performance, along with every performer’s setlist, their accompanying musicians, the amount of time they spent on stage and striking photographs from each gig. Bitoun begins with Richie Havens’ improvised opening set at 5:07 on Friday and ends with Jimi Hendrix’s guitar-burning closer on Monday morning, then wraps it all up in an extensive epilogue that runs through notable absentees, the most iconic guitars played at the festival and how the weekend is remembered today. This will make a great gift for anyone hoping to relive the experience, or those who dream about traveling back in time to attend.

What do you get the music obsessive on your list in the age of streaming? Skip the Spotify gift subscriptions and try one of these lovingly curated coffee table books instead.
NonfictionAudioMusic

Audio: February 2021

Feature by Anna Zeitlin

This month’s column highlights three monumental audiobooks from Dolly Parton, Michael Eric Dyson and Rachel Bloom.

★ I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are

Co-creator and star of the musical comedy TV show “Crazy Ex-­Girlfriend” Rachel Bloom presents a kooky collection of essays that are every bit as hilarious, brash and humiliating as you’d expect from a woman known for singing big Broadway-style numbers dedicated to stalking and antidepressants. I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are (5 hours) is a book made to be listened to, from Bloom’s original songs that detail her experiences growing up as a musical theater kid to her sample audition monologue in which she jumps from accent to accent in an absurd demonstration guaranteed to snag the attention of any casting directors out there. With a background in comedy, Bloom knows how to deliver a joke, and her narration is funny, touching and real.

Dolly Parton, Songteller

Any fans of Dolly Parton’s music will be delighted by Dolly Parton, Songteller (5.5 hours). The country music superstar goes deep, revealing the stories behind many of her greatest songs and digging in to family history, musical feuds and the interactions with fans that have inspired her songwriting. Parton’s narration feels natural and off the cuff, like listening to stories from an old friend—and isn’t she the most beloved old friend? It’s no surprise that an artist known for writing songs that tell rich stories would make for a captivating storyteller. Only on the audiobook can you hear clips of the songs she discusses, which makes the yarns around them all the more special.

Long Time Coming

The bestselling author of Tears We Cannot Stop taps into current events and calls for a reckoning with race in Long Time Coming (5 hours). Delivering a harsh but hopeful message, Michael Eric Dyson bears witness to the recent killings of Black men and women by the police and puts their violent deaths in context, tying them to history and our present moment. He zooms in on five hugely pivotal tragedies of racism, breaking down each element to its core as a way to understand it, preserve it for the ages and move forward. In particular, his recounting of George Floyd’s killing is haunting and vital. A professor at Georgetown University and an ordained minister, Dyson delivers hard-to-swallow truths with powerful and knowledgeable authority.

This month’s column highlights three monumental audiobooks from Dolly Parton, Michael Eric Dyson and Rachel Bloom.
PhotographyNatureMusicArts & Culture

Get ready, get set, shop!

Review by James Dickerson

As the holidays approach, bookstore shelves are already beginning to fill with gift books that are big, bold, beautiful and beguiling. If you're the type who likes to get an early start, we have a few selections to jumpstart your holiday shopping.

When prize-winning documentary maker Ken Burns "discovered" jazz, it was an eye-opening experience. Like so many others, the New Yorker thought he knew exactly what jazz was all about, only to learn, once he began his research, just how far off the mark he had been. Jazz: A History of America's Music is a companion volume to Burns' 10-part PBS series on jazz scheduled to air in January 2001. Co-written by Geoffrey C. Ward, this book offers a compact history of the jazz era, along with a splendid collection of photographs. Not meant to be a comprehensive guide, the book focuses primarily on the music and lives of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, though scores of other musicians are drawn into the narrative. It is through the lives of those four men that Burns and Ward are able to present the larger picture of how a peculiarly Southern art form transformed an entire nation.

If someone on your list has an interest in history, particularly the time period from 1492 to 1600, then you're in luck. Historical Atlas of Exploration, by museum curator Angus Konstam, is a fascinating guide to the golden age of world exploration. Konstam details the dates and events associated with explorers such as Ferdinand Magellan, St. Francis Xavier, Vasco Nunez de Balboa and Sir Francis Drake, to name a few. The maps, illustrations and color photographs are first rate, and the stories are often spellbinding: These explorers were, after all, among the world's first superstars.

In your search for a captivating gift, consider the butterfly. Over the centuries, these sprightly beauties have captured the imaginations of naturalists, poets and children. A World for Butterflies: Their Lives, Behavior and Futureexamines the life cycle and patterns of the insect world's most charismatic species. Written by Phillip Schappert, a charter member of the North American Butterfly Association, the book details the life cycles of butterflies, from egg to caterpillar to winged insect. More than 300 color photographs, all beautifully done, show the various stages of a butterfly's life, making the book an ultimate guide to the world of butterflies. Also noteworthy is The Family Butterfly Bookby Rick Mikula, which offers projects and activities in addition to field-guide information. At a time when we are inundated with celebrity images every day on television and in newspapers and magazines, it is important to remember that the first modern-day celebrity photographers were artists in their own right. One in particular comes to mind: Lord Snowdon, born Tony Armstrong-Jones, has been taking photographs of celebrities for nearly half a century.

Photographs By Snowdon is a retrospective collection of the British photographer's work. Included are photographs drawn from his entire career, with special emphasis placed on his images of the royal family (his photos of Princess Diana offer a haunting window into her soul) and movie stars such as Vanessa Redgrave, Uma Thurman and Emma Thompson. Snowdon's photo of Richard Harris and Peter O'Toole having tea in an ornate hotel says more about celebrity than words could ever tell. Agatha Christie, sitting at a writing hutch, dressed to the nines but wearing color-coordinated house slippers, creates an atmosphere of mystery that is both daunting and fragile at the same instant. When it comes to portraits, Snowdon is about as good as it gets.

As the holidays approach, bookstore shelves are already beginning to fill with gift books that are big, bold, beautiful and beguiling. If you're the type who likes to get an early start, we have a few selections to jumpstart your holiday shopping. When prize-winning documentary maker Ken Burns "discovered" jazz, it was an eye-opening experience. […]
MusicArts & Culture

American growing pains

Review by Robert Fleming

When the Johnson brothers, James Weldon and Rosamond, wrote the song, "Lift Every Voice And Sing, in 1900 to honor President Lincoln's birthday, they certainly had no idea how important their creation would be to future generations of African Americans. In a glowing new collection that celebrates the 100th anniversary of the anthem, 100 voices have been assembled to comment on the song's influence on their lives and on the state of race relations in the nation.

The Johnsons intended the inspirational song to serve as a musical protest against the humiliating conditions of Jim Crow and the bloody wave of racial lynchings that were sweeping the country. The book's editors, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, a veteran civil rights activist, and Sondra Kathryn Wilson, literary executor of the James Weldon Johnson estate, work hard to keep the historical angle front and center. Following an informative introduction by the editors, the authors let each of the assembled voices speak in brief essays.

Historian John Hope Franklin reminisces about his days as a young Fisk University student when he heard James Weldon Johnson dramatically recite the song's lyrics during one of his lectures. Poet Maya Angelou tells how the residents of her impoverished hometown of Stamps, Arkansas, would cry when singing the song, thinking of what opportunities time could bring for their children. Entertainer Harry Belafonte praises the song's "dual message of the dark past of slavery and hope. Former U.S. Senator Ed Brooke remembers how the song revived the sagging spirits of the enlisted men and officers of the segregated Negro 366th Infantry Combat regiment fighting in Italy during the Second World War. The collective impact of the tribute is supported by an eye-catching collection of photographs from the fabled archives of the Schomberg Center for Black Research in Harlem, many of them never previously viewed. Lift Every Voice And Sing is highly recommended for those interested in African American history, the growing pains of democracy and America as a glorious work in progress.

When the Johnson brothers, James Weldon and Rosamond, wrote the song, "Lift Every Voice And Sing, in 1900 to honor President Lincoln's birthday, they certainly had no idea how important their creation would be to future generations of African Americans. In a glowing new collection that celebrates the 100th anniversary of the anthem, 100 voices […]
Pop CultureMusicHistoryBiographyArts & Culture

Gift gallery

Review by Miriam Drennan

An invitation flutters out of the usual coupons, bills, and sweepstakes notices. Cousin Curtis's daughter, Sally the Scholar, is graduating this month; you can't remember if she's finishing grammar school, officer training, or clown college, but the invitation definitely reads commencement. What gift doesn't require bake sales, passing grades, or student loans? Why, books, of course!

A physics book? As a gift? If Sally or anyone else you know has a penchant for subatomic particles and chaos (theory, that is), then Physics in the 20th Century is the gift of choice. Author Curt Suplee, science writer for the Washington Post, explores the past, present, and future of physics, and readers will realize that matter . . . well, matters! Suplee's text includes practical, everyday applications, making physics accessible to all types of thinkers. Gorgeous photographs and digital illustrations, many presented as center spreads, make this a lovely display book as well. Definitely not your run-of-the-mill, ho-hum, college physics textbook.

Noel Coward was living proof that one needn't have only one profession. The sometimes-playwright, sometimes-painter, sometimes-composer was the definitive artiste of his time, and perhaps of this century. To celebrate what would have been Coward's 100th birthday, The Overlook Press has published Noel Coward: The Complete Lyrics. Editor Barry Day, who has authored several books on Coward, has compiled and annotated 500 songs, including many that remain unpublished and unknown. Plenty of photographs and illustrations, as well as background information from both Coward and Day, make this book an elegant gift for the well-rounded, sophisticated person in your life.

If your favorite graduate has chosen a less-than-traditional career path, The Virtuoso: Face to Face with 40 Extraordinary Talents will provide inspiration. Author Ken Carbone interviews folks like Henri Vaillancourt, canoe maker; Sylvia Earle, explorer; and Olympic gold medalist Nadia Comaneci, to name a few. Peppered with essays on the elements of virtuosity, The Virtuoso includes stunning photographs by Howard Schatz, who captures each virtuoso in perspectives that illustrate the marriage of occupation and soul. A gorgeous gift for those who dare to take the road less traveled.

Memorial Day and Armed Forces Day are both recognized this month, and Scholastic's Encyclopedia of the United States at War follows our country from the Revolution to the Gulf War. Tragedy and triumph are brought to life with photographs, illustrations, maps, eyewitness accounts, and other historical details of each war. Why did Anna Marie Lane receive a soldier's pension following the Revolution? And just how old was Johnny Shiloh when he fought in the Civil War? Famous battles are chronicled, and authors June English and Thomas Jones follow each war from start to finish. A wonderful gift for history buffs, military buffs, and students both young and old.

As the turn of another century draws nigh, William Morrow Books asked 25 women to recall their memories of the last turn of the century. The result is We Remember: Women Born at the Turn of the Century Tell the Stories of Their Lives. Brooke Astor, active as ever, recounts her heartaches and triumphs (between phone calls with her veterinarian); Martha Jane Faulkner, age 104 and the daughter of a slave, talks about moving north to the Promised Land of New York City, only to find it not-so-promising; Dr. Leila Denmark discusses her 70+ years of practicing medicine; and many other remarkable women reflect on what a difference a century makes. Includes a foreword by Hillary Rodham Clinton and timeline endpapers.

Is Sally someone who is destined to ask, What's behind Curtain #3? while wearing a tuxedo and/or evening gown midday? The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows is the perfect solution. With a foreword by Merv Griffin, this reference book contains over 250 pages of entries, and dozens of appendices and photographs. It's fairly inclusive; you'll find information ranging from gameshow dynasties like The Price Is Right to gameshows that were merely blips on the screen (does anyone remember The Better Sex from the 1970s?). And did you know that Walter Cronkite, Hugh Downs, and Mike Wallace all served as gameshow hosts? A fun conversation piece, The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows makes an ideal prize for departing graduates, departing contestants, and otherwise.

An invitation flutters out of the usual coupons, bills, and sweepstakes notices. Cousin Curtis's daughter, Sally the Scholar, is graduating this month; you can't remember if she's finishing grammar school, officer training, or clown college, but the invitation definitely reads commencement. What gift doesn't require bake sales, passing grades, or student loans? Why, books, of […]
NonfictionMusicMemoir

Saga Boy

Review by Henry L. Carrigan Jr.

Hurtling down the blind curves and treacherous twists and turns of family dysfunction and social displacement, Antonio Michael Downing searches for himself among the cultural clutter of sports, religion and music. Combining staccato prose and singsong storytelling, Downing’s Saga Boy: My Life of Blackness and Becoming navigates loneliness, uncertainty, fear, hopelessness and hunger.

Downing grew up in Trinidad with his grandmother, Miss Excelly, dreaming of mango season. She taught him two important things: how to sing and “the magic of the Queen’s English.” While his childhood was not idyllic, Downing felt safe with his grandmother and her love. When Miss Excelly died, however, he and his brother were shipped off to Canada to live with an aunt, and thus began a peripatetic lifestyle marked by a lack of security or family love.

Downing was shuttled between aunts in Canada. He never quite fit in at any particular place, though he valiantly threw himself into basketball and music in high school. He eventually recovered his love for language and writing at the University of Waterloo and put together a show with an artist friend who painted scenes from a short story Downing wrote. That experience gave birth to DJ Mic Dainjay, Downing's alter ego that he used as a performer during a time when he was also working at Blackberry as a sales representative. Today he performs music as John Orpheus.

Downing’s heart-wrenching memoir chronicles his saga of trying on and casting off many masks, learning the dimensions of the face through which he sees the world and the world sees him. As he writes, “This is a story about unbelonging, about placeness, about leaving everything behind. This is about metamorphosis: death and rebirth. . . . This is a story about family and forgiveness. About becoming what you always were.”

Combining staccato prose and singsong storytelling, Saga Boy hurtles down the treacherous twists and turns of family dysfunction and social displacement.
NonfictionMusicMemoir

Saved by a Song

Review by Sarah Carter

“When emotional truth is the goal, and courage is part of the equation, the process is deeply therapeutic, but it’s not therapy,” writes Grammy-nominated folk singer and songwriter Mary Gauthier in her debut book. Saved by a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting is memoir, autobiography, creative process guide and journal of spiritual formation all in one. It’s a true expression of the inseparability of songwriting, spiritual practice, recovery and relationship that have been endemic to Gauthier’s 25-year career.

Saved by a Song is organized topically, with each chapter pairing a song title with an element of craft; for example, “Drag Queens in Limousines: Story/Meaning.” Starting with the song’s lyrics, Gauthier recounts her personal connection to the song through concrete, accessible personal narrative. By the end of each chapter, readers have gained a behind-the-scenes scoop on the real-life experiences that influenced the song and a wise takeaway for their own lives.

Readers also get a play-by-play of how to put art into practice. One of the biggest questions novice writers have is, “How did the artist get from this (their own experience) to that (a polished work)?” The elements of craft can seem like puzzle pieces that don’t fit together. Gauthier creates an external map of the mysterious internal songwriting process not once but 13 times throughout the book.

Alongside these gems from her lifelong study of creative practice—think Anne Lamott meets Julia Cameron meets Patti Smith—Gauthier also shares all the gory details of her recovery from addiction, plus quotations from the artists and writers who influenced her own development. In Gauthier’s words, “I believe songs that heal come from a higher place. They help us with the struggle of being human and by letting us know we are not alone. This is the greatest gift a song can give a songwriter and a songwriter can give the world.”

Anyone who can still write from the heart about writing from the heart after being in the music business as long as Gauthier has is the real deal. Her book invites seasoned artists to deeper authenticity, new artists to deeper craft and all readers to deeper self-reflection.

Mary Gauthier’s debut book invites seasoned artists to deeper authenticity, new artists to deeper craft and all readers to deeper self-reflection.
NonfictionSocial ScienceMusic

A Little Devil in America

Review by Henry L. Carrigan Jr.

Both of Hanif Abdurraqib’s earlier books—They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us and Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest—skillfully weave memoir and cultural criticism. He’s known for unraveling our ideas about music, history and culture and then using threads of commentary and insight to stitch a totally original pattern.

With the same ingenuity, Abdurraqib traces the depth and diversity of Black modes of performance in his brilliant A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance. Opening with an examination of Black dancers who participated in the dance marathons of the early 20th century, Abdurraqib dispenses prose in motions that shuffle forward, step sideways, leap diagonally and waltz gracefully through five sections exploring different facets of Black performance in America.

Performance can be liberating, like when dance marathons give partners “a powerful enough relationship with freedom that you understand its limitations.” It can also provide an opportunity to show off, as in the dance line on “Soul Train.” Performance can demonstrate self-awareness, too—a chance to define yourself by how your body moves when you’re throwing down in a beef, which Abdurraqib vividly illustrates as a kind of performance. He traces the rich history of performance through sketches of Black magicians, dancers and musicians, including Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Josephine Baker, Aretha Franklin and Merry Clayton, who’s most famous for her performance on the Rolling Stones’ track “Gimme Shelter.” Clayton’s chapter may be the best in the book, if only because it gives her the recognition she deserves for her ethereal voice.

A vibrant showcase of sharp writing, Abdurraqib’s A Little Devil in America attests that Black performance at its root is not simply an outward show of talent but also a means of survival. Read carefully. Abdurraqib’s book is a challenge not to accept the usual explanations for the performances we witness.

Hanif Abdurraqib unravels our ideas about music, history and culture and then uses threads of commentary and insight to stitch a totally original pattern.
NonfictionMusic

Dolly Parton, Songteller

Review by Henry L. Carrigan Jr.

’Tis the season to be Dolly! In Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, the lovable, candid, tell-it-like-it-is singer shares her own story through the lyrics of her songs. While fans love Parton for her crystal-clear vocals and her charming, witty stage presence, she’s always thought of herself as a songwriter first, and this book illustrates her deep devotion to music that captures a moment or tells a heart-rending tale. As she reveals, “I write a lot from my own heart. But I also just have a big imagination. When I was young, we didn’t go to the movies, so I just created my own stories. It’s kind of embedded in me to make up songs and stories.”

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Don't miss Sarah Smarsh's incisive investigation into Dolly Parton's influence on the women who grew up with her music, She Come by It Natural.

Chock-full of never-before-seen photographs and memorabilia from Parton’s archives, every chapter tells a portion of her biography. Using lyrics from 175 of her songs—including “Coat of Many Colors,” “I Will Always Love You” and “Jolene”—she traces the journey from her Tennessee mountain childhood to her role on “The Porter Wagoner Show,” her 9 to 5 days and her bluegrass albums. As she provides a glimpse into the origins of each song, Parton notes that she has “never shied away from any topic, whether it was suicide or prostitution or women’s rights or whatever. . . . Whatever it is, I can say it in a song, in my own way.”

Parton tells her stories with a grin and a twinkle in her eye. Her book invites us to sit a spell as she weaves her enchanting storytelling web around us, wrapping us in the warm, silky threads of her voice and comforting us with her presence.

In Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, the lovable, candid, tell-it-like- it-is singer shares her own story through the lyrics of her songs.

NonfictionWomen's HistoryMusic

Nobody Ever Asked Me About the Girls

Review by Kelly Blewett

Lisa Robinson offers a panoramic view of women rockers, whom she collectively refers to as “the girls,” in Nobody Ever Asked Me About the Girls: Women, Music and Fame. Chapters explore topics that are personal (relationships, family, motherhood), professional (fame, bad reviews, stage fright) and artistic (inspirations, influences, the writing process). What emerges is not a detailed profile of any one woman, though certain women are referenced several times, but rather a collective portrait of how women have navigated the music industry, which Robinson calls “one of the sleaziest and more corrupt sides of show business.”

If you, like me, have never considered the careers of women rockers, certain patterns may surprise you. Most got their start because of powerful male sponsors. Many were abused by people they trusted. Musicians as diverse as Jewel and Rhianna, Stevie Nicks and Beyonce, describe a singular obsessive focus on music. Some like Gwen Stefani and Sheryl Crow started off as background singers. Robinson has been interviewing the stars for a long time, and she offers satisfying context. For instance, in 1995 Sheryl Crow told her that if she ever made real money, she would buy her manager “a big house, because he has really stuck with me.” Robinson reports that 25 years later, “Scooter Weintraub is still Sheryl’s manager and she did buy him that house.”

As this anecdote suggests, Robinson is uniquely situated to write this book. She toured with the Rolling Stones in the 1970s. (They jokingly called her “Hot Pants” because they considered her such a prude.) She’s been with musicians as they wrote, recorded and performed. Robinson herself, like the best critics, emerges as a strong and likable figure with a clear point of view. Madonna, she opines, would have never gotten so big without MTV. Hearing Robinson’s sidebar commentary on the music industry, as well as her “war stories” with the rockers of the past, is one of the major delights of this book.

Whether you are tuned in to the history of rock or a casual fan, this book has something to offer. The quotes Robinson has gathered over the years are surprising and intimate, bringing figures like Lady Gaga, Alanis Morrisette and Bette Midler to life. Though no one may have asked Robinson about “the girls,” this reader is glad she found space to write about them anyway.

Lisa Robinson offers a panoramic view of women rockers, whom she collectively refers to as “the girls,” in Nobody Ever Asked Me About the Girls: Women, Music and Fame.
NonfictionMusicEssays

She Come by It Natural

Review by Carla Jean Whitley

Dolly Parton doesn’t call herself a feminist. She’s made that clear in interviews over her six-decade career. But it doesn’t matter what label she embraces: Parton is an icon, and she’s a hero to many women who hear their lives reflected in her extensive song catalog.

Sarah Smarsh knows Parton’s influence well. Smarsh is the author of the bestselling Heartland, a National Book Award finalist that details her Kansas family’s life in poverty. She was raised by passionate, hardworking women who stood up against the men and systems that often held them down. These women paved the way for Smarsh to pursue her education and then a renowned writing career, though not without challenges.

Along the way, the soundtrack of her life has been populated with songs by Dolly Parton and other female country singers. Smarsh’s mother urged her daughter to listen to the words, and in those lyrics Smarsh heard women speak about survival and making their own way.

She Come by It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs is a feminist analysis of not just Parton’s words but also her physicality and business decisions. The essays were originally published in 2017 as a four-part series in No Depression magazine. It was the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency, just before the #MeToo movement took hold on a national scale. But the essays still retain their relevance, as this book enters the world in a tumultuous year just before another presidential election.

Smarsh seamlessly weaves her family’s experiences with Parton’s biography—triumphs and shortcomings alike—and cultural context. She Come by It Natural is, as a result, a relatable examination of one of country music’s brightest stars and an inspiring tale of what women can learn from one another.

Dolly Parton doesn’t call herself a feminist. She’s made that clear in interviews over her six-decade career. But it doesn’t matter what label she embraces: Parton is an icon, and she’s a hero to many women who hear their lives reflected in her extensive song catalog. Sarah Smarsh knows Parton’s influence well. Smarsh is the […]
NonfictionMusic

God Save the Queens

Review by Carly Nations

Growing up in a conservative Christian household meant I often had to sneak around just to listen to music. But one day of adventuring stands out in particular—the day I first heard the intoxicating opening beat of Missy Elliott’s “Get Ur Freak On.” An obsession with the female rapper’s voice is something I have in common with Kathy Iandoli, critically acclaimed music journalist and author of God Save the Queens: The Essential History of Women in Hip-Hop.

Iandoli’s book details the rise of familiar figures like Missy Elliott, Nicki Minaj and Cardi B but also takes readers back to the origins of women in hip-hop. Asserting that women have always been an essential part of the rap scene, Iandoli recounts the contributions of every female rapper, charting the challenges that women encountered as hip-hop gained popularity.

After detailing over a decade of rap history, Iandoli finallys asks: “Really, though, what is it like to be a female rapper? To be told you’re not pretty enough or sexy enough, then too sexy to the point of slutty? If your lyrics are too hard, you’re trying to be a man. . . . If your looks are too light, then you’re pandering to the mainstream and out to kill the last pure drops of hip-hop left. Do you band together and love each other, or do you disband and wage a war?”

Though much of God Save the Queens covers the beefs between female hip-hop stars, Iandoli also connects these women through their shared struggle for success. Moreover, Iandoli’s own career as a music journalist and D.J., grappling for respect as a woman in the world of hip-hop, mirrors those of the rappers she profiles, making her writing informed as well as empathetic.

Given the recent rise of Lizzo, it’s clear that the influence of women in hip-hop is far from over. Yet the history of the women who opened the door for artists like Lizzo has remained largely unacknowledged. God Save the Queens fills an empty space in music history, bringing the influence of some of the world’s most talented rappers to the forefront, giving them the platform they’ve always deserved.

Growing up in a conservative Christian household meant I often had to sneak around just to listen to music. But one day of adventuring stands out in particular—the day I first heard the intoxicating opening beat of Missy Elliott’s “Get Ur Freak On.” An obsession with the female rapper’s voice is something I have in […]
NonfictionMusic

Wasn’t That a Time

Review by Edward Morris

So much has been written about the folk band the Weavers being blacklisted from performing in the 1950s that it obscures the far more important fact that they still became one of America’s most influential music groups. The Weavers launched in 1949 with Pete Seeger on banjo, Fred Hellerman on guitar and Lee Hays and Ronnie Gilbert on vocals. Each of the band members had deep political roots and regarded music as a benign form of propaganda for progressive causes. Seeger had joined the Young Communist League in 1937, when he was 18, and by the onset of World War II, he was already being shadowed by the FBI. Of all the left-leaning Weavers, he would be the most hounded.

The Weavers’ first steady gig was at the Village Vanguard in New York, where they were discovered by the noted bandleader Gordon Jenkins. Enthralled by their harmonies and exuberance, he signed them to Decca Records. From 1950 to 1952, the group scored a series of high-ranking pop singles, including “Tzena, Tzena, Tzena,” “Goodnight Irene,” “On Top of Old Smokey” and “Wimoweh.” These songs led to more bookings at major nightclubs around the country. However, as their fame increased, so did the hue and cry of both the conservative government and self-appointed blacklisters.

In Wasn’t That a Time, author Jesse Jarnow astutely chronicles how the Weavers lost gigs, quit working as a group, and dealt with internal dissension and government persecution. However, these musicians continued to bounce back into the spotlight at regular intervals up until the 1980s. Denied access to airtime on both radio and television, the Weavers became one of the first groups to deliver their music directly to the masses via live recordings on the then-new long-play vinyl albums. As to the many acts they influenced, Jarnow cites Harry Belafonte; the Byrds; the Beach Boys; Peter, Paul and Mary; Judy Collins; Jerry Garcia; Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. All of the members of the Weavers are gone now, but their music survives in virtually every political sing-along.

So much has been written about the Weavers being blacklisted from performing in the 1950s that it obscures the far more important fact that they still became one of America’s most influential pop music groups.

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