A Bad Woman Feeling GoodA Bad Woman Feeling Good

An exciting lineage of women singers—originating with Ma Rainey and her protégée Bessie Smith—shaped the blues, launching it as a powerful, expressive vehicle of emotional liberation. Along with their successors Billie Holiday, Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, and Janis Joplin, they injected a dose of reality into the often trivial world of popular song, bringing their message of higher expectations and broader horizons to their audiences. These women passed their image, their rhythms, and their toughness on to the next generation of blues women, which has its contemporary incarnation in singers like Bonnie Raitt and Lucinda Williams (with whom the author has done an in-depth interview). Buzzy Jackson combines biography, an appreciation of music, and a sweeping view of American history to illuminate the pivotal role of blues women in a powerful musical tradition. Musician Thomas Dorsey said, "The blues is a good woman feeling bad." But these women show by their style that he had it backward: The blues is a bad woman feeling good.
Jackson presents a history of American women blues singers from the earliest days of the music to the present. She describes how Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith launched the blues as an expressive vehicle of emotional liberation. She then traces their legacy through the lives and careers of singers such as Billie Holliday, Aretha Franklin, and Janis Joplin. The final chapter focuses on contemporary artists Lucinda Williams and Courtney Love. The text is based upon the author's doctoral dissertation (history) at the U. of California, Berkeley. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Traces the artistic heritage of numerous women blues singers, from Ma Rainey and Billie Holiday to Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner, exploring the messages within their songs and images while discussing their contributions to music and American history. 15,000 first printing.
Traces the heritage of several women blues singers, including Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, and Tina Turner, and discusses their contributions to music and American history.
The women who broke the rules, creating their own legacy of how to live and sing the blues.