FEATURE:
Turning the Tables
Inside the Incredible New Book, How Women Made Music: A Revolutionary History from NPR Music
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I am always looking out…
IN THIS PHOTO: Odetta/PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images via The New Yorker
for books, documentaries and podcasts that celebrate women in music. Shining a light on their invaluable role and incredible history. Sometimes facts and history that is forgotten or overlooked. Think about the modern music scene and how it shaped and defined by women. Nobody can objectively argue against that. The modern scene is as rich as it is because of women. Look through history and around the globe and that is definitely the case. Many might consider how vital and important women are to the development of music. They have had to fight for generations for respect and equality. Often, people consider music to be owned by men. That their contributions are the only ones. That is definitely not the case. This brings me to a brilliant new book that is out on 24th October I would recommend everyone seeks out. Titled How Women Made Music: A Revolutionary History from NPR Music it is from Inc National Public Radio (author), Alison Fensterstock (author) and Ann Powers (author of introduction), it will reframe and redefine women’s role in music history. From innovators to we know to pioneers from around the globe that people might not be familiar with. A fascinating insight into the brilliant women who we need to salute. Here are some more details:
“Drawn from NPR Music’s acclaimed, groundbreaking series Turning the Tables, the definitive book on the vital role of Women in Music—from Beyoncé to Odetta, Taylor Swift to Joan Baez, Joan Jett to Dolly Parton—featuring archival interviews, essays, photographs, and illustrations.
Turning the Tables, launched in 2017, has revolutionized recognition of female artists, whether it be in best album lists or in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
How Women Made Music: A Revolutionary History from NPR Music brings this impressive reshaping to the page and includes material from more than fifty years of NPR’s coverage plus newly commissioned work. A must-have for music fans, songwriters, feminist historians, and those interested in how artists think and work, including:
• Joan Baez talking about nonviolence as a musical principle in 1971
• Dolly Parton’s favorite song and the story behind it
• Patti Smith describing art as her “jealous mistress” in 1974
• Nina Simone, in 2001, explaining how she developed the edge in her voice as a tool against racism.
• Taylor Swift talking about when she had no idea if her musical career might work
• Odetta on how shifting from classical music to folk allowed her to express her fury over Jim Crow
This incomparable hardcover volume is a vital record of history destined to become a classic and a great gift for any music fan or creative thinker”
“Spanning from Joan Baez to Rihanna, the collection captures the varied ways women have innovated the American musical landscape, in the process powerfully giving due to music as a cultural artifact, a public artistic expression, and a site of personal meaning. It’s a buoyant, welcome ode to some of the most influential songstresses of the 20th and 21st centuries.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Almost every reader is likely to find a host of new names to check out... An indispensable survey of the too-often neglected role of women in creating the music we all listen to." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "The project endeavors to correct the persistent marginalization of women and nonbinary artists in the music world... Full of photographs and other visuals, this is not a book on women in music; it is the book on women in music." — Booklist (starred review) "Essential, definitive reading for anyone who listens to music or cares about women -- which is, in short, everyone. Simply put, I wanted this book not to end." — Sheila Weller, bestselling author of Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon and the Journey of a Generation. “If what neuroscientists tell us is true, that music is a social/emotion-delivery device…truly a woman's voice, words, rhythms, and melodies are best adapted to express what it feels like to be a human. This welcome book taps us on the back to remind us of the many underappreciated musicians whose work found its way into our own self images.” — Susan Rogers, legendary producer, neuroscientist, and author of This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You "HOW WOMEN MADE MUSIC: A REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY is a rich harmony of different writers paying homage to some of the greatest musicians of our time....It will change the way you experience their music forever." — Liz Garbus, documentary film director and producer of What Happened, Miss Simone? and Harry & Meghan”.
I only recently found out about this book. If you want to know more about this book, then check out the mix above. I have dropped in a five-minute sample (from the introduction of the book). How Women Made Music is a phenomenal and essential book that, one hopes, will help open up the conversation regarding women in music and how they have shaped it. The question of how music would be different if women were at the centre. This feature from NPR includes an episode that takes us deeper into the book:
“NPR Music has just put out its first book: How Women Made Music. It collects more than 50 years of essays and interviews from the network, inspired by our series Turning The Tables. Launched in 2017, Turning The Tables considers how the canon of popular music would change if we centered women instead of men. What albums and songs would dominate conversations if women and other marginalized voices were the ones having them?
On this episode, NPR Music's Ann Powers and contributor Marissa Lorusso talk with host Robin Hilton about the new book and share some of the music that inspired it, from Joni Mitchell's Blue to Beyoncé's Lemonade, Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog" and more, including Kate Bush, Tracy Chapman, Against Me!”.
Before finishing up, I want to bring in a review from Kirkus Reviews. This is not only a book for those who are unaware of the pivotal role and worth of women in music. If they shape and are at the forefront today, that has not always been the case. How there has been this struggle when it comes to proper credit. I think it is the names in the book that many might not know about that are going to be most illuminating. Those new discoveries that will compel you to check out music from amazing women who are truly inspirational:
“A wide-ranging exploration of the role of women in popular music over the last century.
The book draws on the NPR project “Turning the Tables,” created by Ann Powers, Jill Sternheimer, and Alison Fensterstock, to document how women have been “musical pathfinders, innovators, and standard-bearers.” The text of the book consists mainly of segments from that show, along with bits from other NPR shows like “All Things Considered,” some only a few sentences long. They cover female artists from 1920s pioneers like Bessie Smith and Mother Maybelle Carter to midcentury icons including Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Barbra Streisand, rock stars Janis Joplin and Diana Ross, right up to modern-day chartbusters Beyonce and Taylor Swift, with lots of others from every school of music.
And there is a fair bit of attention paid to non-U.S. performers such as South Africa’s Miriam Makeba, Iceland’s Björk, and Brazil’s Gal Costa. Of the longer essays, some are largely biographical, while others record the artist’s impact on the writer’s own life. The shorter ones vary between interview snippets and comments on specific records, the latter drawn from two lists created for the radio show (and included in the book) of “greatest albums” by women—one covering the whole history of recording, the other from the 21st century. Omissions are inevitable in such an ambitious project, but almost every reader is likely to find a host of new names to check out. Recommended for anyone who takes music—especially women’s music—seriously.
An indispensable survey of the too-often neglected role of women in creating the music we all listen to”.
Out through HarperCollins Publishers Inc on 24th October, you can pre-order this book. I think this should sit on every music lover’s book! For me and so many others who are compelled by women in music and their stories and phenomenal gifts, it is a wonderful read that will educate, illuminate and drive conversations and debates. I also hope it leads to other books being published around women in music. Whether modern-day icons or those from history who have helped defined the present, we need to continue to talk about these vital voices. I am really excited about getting the book and reading and seeing archival interviews, essays, photographs, and illustrations. I think that How Women Made Music: A Revolutionary History from NPR Music can easily stand alongside the best…
BOOKS of the year.