Woman Walk the Line: How the Women in Country Music Changed Our Lives

The women of country music have provided pivot points, truths, and doses of courage for women writers, from Maybelle Carter to Dolly Parton. Woman Walk the Line is a collection of essays from some of America's most intriguing women writers that speaks to how music transforms the person making it and the listener.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 05 October 2021
Publisher: University of Texas Press

Country music's women are renowned for their full-tilt, hardcore, down-home, and groundbreaking performances, which speak volumes with every song. These artists, including Maybelle Carter, Dolly Parton, k.d. lang, and Taylor Swift, have provided pivotal moments, truths, and doses of courage for women writers at every stage of their lives. Whether it's Rosanne Cash eulogizing June Carter Cash or a seventeen-year-old Taylor Swift considering the golden glimmer of another precocious superstar, Brenda Lee, it's the humanity beneath the music that resonates.

This collection of essays, titled "Woman Walk the Line," offers a deeply personal and captivating exploration of the women who have made significant contributions to country, Americana, and bluegrass music. The essays are written by award-winning writers who offer insightful perspectives on femme fatales, feminists, groundbreakers, and truth tellers.

Acclaimed historian Holly George Warren delves into the spark of the rockabilly sensation Wanda Jackson, while Entertainment Weekly's Madison Vain considers Loretta Lynn's girl-power anthem, "The Pill." Rocker Grace Potter embraces Linda Ronstadt's unabashed visual and musical influence, and Patty Griffin acts like a balm on a post-9/11 survivor on the run. Emmylou Harris offers a gateway through paralyzing grief, and Lucinda Williams proves that greatness is where you find it.

The essays in "Woman Walk the Line" are part history, part confessional, and part celebration of country, Americana, and bluegrass and the women who make them. They speak to the ways in which artists mark our lives at different ages and in various states of grace and imperfection, and ultimately how music transforms not just the person making it, but also the listener.

This collection is a testament to the power of music and the profound impact it has on our lives, offering a glimpse into the lives and works of these remarkable women and their contributions to the world of music.

Weight: 308g
Dimension: 141 x 216 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781477322581