How Women Made Music: A Revolutionary History from NPR Music

by Inc National Public Radio, Alison Fensterstock, Ann Powers (Introduction)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063270343
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/01/2024
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352

About the Author

In July 2017, NPR Music launched Turning the Tables—a groundbreaking, celebratory, and provocative multi-platform series examining the important and equal role women play in popular music. Now in its fifth season, Turning the Tables has reached millions of listeners and is considered one of NPR Music’s most successful, critically acclaimed programs. How Women Made Music is the book that continues this vibrant conversation and finally presents women at the center of the discussion about popular music.

ANN POWERS has been a music critic for more than thirty years, working for NPR, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and other publications. In the decade she has worked with NPR, she has written extensively on music and culture and appeared regularly on the All Songs Considered podcast and on news shows including All Things Considered and Morning Edition. Her books include a memoir, Weird Like Us: My Bohemian America; Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black and White, Body and Soul in American Music; and Piece by Piece with Tori Amos. Powers lives in Nashville.

Editorial Reviews

"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

From the Publisher