UT Press to Release “Woman Walk The Line” Book

woman-walk-the-line-bookWith the effort to tell the story of country music from the female perspective, the Texas University Press will release a new book called Woman Walk the Line: Women Writers on the Female Country Artists Who Marked Their Soul in September, 2017. Part of the American Music Series from UT Press, the 236-page book will be the first in the series to not focus on an individual in biography form, and instead will be a collection of essays from multiple artists compiled and edited by country music journalist and critic Holly Gleason.

Contributing essays to the book will be numerous classic and contemporary country artists, including Rosanne Cash, Loretta Lynn, The Judds, Alison Krauss, and Taylor Swift. Woman Walk the Line is country women writing about other women who’ve inspired them. Taylor Swift writes about country music Hall of Famer Brenda Lee. Second-generation performer Aubrie Sellers explores the influence of Alison Krauss. Rosanne Cash pens an essay on June Carter Cash. And Grace Potter writes about Linda Ronstadt among other essays.

“‘Woman Walk the Line’ came about because it feels like we’re not just in danger of losing the story of so many incredible artists, especially the women, but that deeper sense of what music can truly to mean to someone in their life,” says Holly Gleason. “The way this music and these women are written about says so much about the way music marks our lives, shapes our journey or keeps us safe in rugged times. It’s women of varying ages all writing about how music touched and changed their lives — part witness, part love letter, a bit of music criticism, a little history and a whole lot of heart. It’s more than what they wore or who they dated, as today’s reductionist media makes it. And that’s where the marrow of these essays begins.”

The book also includes contributions from Alice Randall, Holly George-Warren, Wendy Pearl, and Cynthia Sanz. Woman Walk the Line: Women Writers on the Female Country Artists Who Marked Their Soul is now available for pre-order.

Contents:

 

  • Maybelle Carter: The Root of It All (Caryn Rose)
  • Lil Hardin: That’s How I Got to Memphis (Alice Randall)
  • Wanda Jackson: When She Starts Eruptin’ (Holly George-Warren )
  • Hazel Dickens: The Plangent Bone (Ronni Lundy)
  • June Carter Cash: Eulogy for a Mother (Rosanne Cash)
  • Brenda Lee: Rare Peer (Taylor Swift)
  • Bobbie Gentry: Let the Mystery Be (Meredith Ochs)
  • Loretta Lynn: The Pill (Madison Vain)
  • Dolly Parton: Long Island Down Home Blues (Nancy Harrison)
  • Emmylou Harris: Common Ground in an Uncommon Love (Ali Berlow)
  • Barbara Mandrell: Lubbock in the Rearview Mirror (Shelby Morrison)
  • Tanya Tucker: Punk Country and Sex Wide Open (Holly Gleason)
  • Rita Coolidge: A Dark-Eyed Cherokee Country Gal (Kandia Crazy Horse)
  • Linda Ronstadt: Canciones di Corazon Salvage (Grace Potter)
  • Rosanne Cash: Expectations and Letting Go (Deborah Sprague)
  • The Judds: Comfort Far from Home (Courtney E. Smith)
  • k.d. lang: Flawless, Fearless (Kelly McCartney)
  • Lucinda Williams, Flesh & Ghosts, Dreams + Marrow (Lady Goodman)
  • Mary Chapin Carpenter: Every Hometown Girl (Cynthia Sanz)
  • Patty Loveless: Beyond What You Know (Wendy Pearl)
  • Shania Twain: But the Little Girls Understand (Emily Yahr)
  • Alison Krauss: Draw Your Own Map (Aubrie Sellers)
  • Terri Clark: Better Things to Do (Amy Elizabeth McCarthy)
  • Taylor Swift: Through the Eyes of a Critic, of a Mom (Elysa Gardner)
  • Kacey Musgraves: Follow Your Arrow (Dacey Orr)
  • Rhiannon Giddens: A Gift Past the Songs (Caroline Randall Williams)
  • Patty Griffin: Remembering to Breathe (Kim Ruehl)

 

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