Black Women and Music: More than the Blues (review)

In the last twenty years scholarship that addresses the contributions of women musicians (instrumentalists and vocalists) has increased readily. But a new book edited by Eileen Hayes and Linda Williams seeks to expand this discourse by focusing its gaze on black women's music-making and the issues that arise out of the intersection of race and gender in popular and public culture. Black Women and Music: More than the Blues attempts to survey areas that have largely been excluded from previous scholarship on women in music and it does so strongly. Hayes states in her introductory essay that the book is a "corrective to discursive practices that inadvertently make invisible as much as illuminate the heterogeneity of black women's musical experiences" (6-7). This text does this and more through an interdisciplinary approach that balances feminist and cultural theory with musicological analysis. The content of the text is divided into three main divisions with each addressing the issue of self-actualization as an artist, overcoming questions of authenticity within largely male milieus, the agency of "voice" and its relationship to the construction of dominant cultural and social themes and the black women's construction of historical narratives within Western European music.

The first section of the book focuses primarily on the agency of power in the construction of alternative narratives of identity and authenticity in hip hop, blues and musical theater. Through an analysis of black love, Gwendolyn Pough's essay discusses how the hip hop generation's use of music as a conduit for understanding the issues of gender identity and male/female relationships even while creating overtly oppressive images such as "bitches" and "niggas". Maria Johnson considers how female guitarists navigate the standards of beauty, femininity and authenticity while maintaining careers in the instrumental blues tradition. While Charles Nero situates how the black female gospel voice became the moniker for racial and cultural authenticity in musical theater first through the works of Langston Hughes and later through productions such as "Dreamgirls."

The second section of the book concentrates on the contributions of black women in genres and musical circles where they have traditionally been non-existent. Deborah Pollard Smith chronicles the importance of Gospel announcer Edna Tatum in shaping the performance context of gospel performances through her sermonettes that preceded and followed gospel performances of James Cleveland. Linda Williams and Nanette De Jong explore the intersection of race and gender through the lives and experiences of women jazz instrumentalists. Eileen Hayes' contribution on women's music brings a much-needed discussion of black queer identity, while establishing the role of black female performers in the women's music network.

Essays by Teresa Reed, Elizabeth Amelia Hadley and Sarah Schmalenberger, which concentrate primarily on the historic contributions of black women to our understanding of Western Art music, make up the final section. Thematically the book works well and provides the reader with strong contextual discussions that are supplemented with innovative and thought-provoking analysis. This book would be a strong addition to any course on popular music, women in music or cultural studies.