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Overview"A queer, Black ""biography in essays"" about the performer who gave us ""Hound Dog,"" ""Ball and Chain,"" and other songs that changed the course of American music. Born in Alabama in 1926, raised in the church, appropriated by white performers, buried in an indigent's grave-Willie Mae ""Big Mama"" Thornton's life events epitomize the blues-but Lynnee Denise pushes past the stereotypes to read Thornton's life through a Black, queer, feminist lens and reveal an artist who was an innovator across her four-decade-long career. Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters ""samples"" elements of Thornton's art-and, occasionally, the author's own story-to create ""a biography in essays"" that explores the life of its subject as a DJ might dig through a crate of records. Denise connects Thornton's vaudevillesque performances in Sammy Green's Hot Harlem Revue to the vocal improvisations that made ""Hound Dog"" a hit for Peacock Records (and later for Elvis Presley), injecting music criticism into what's often framed as a cautionary tale of record-industry racism. She interprets Thornton's performing in men's suits as both a sly, Little Richard-like queering of the Chitlin Circuit and a simple preference for pants over dresses that didn't have a pocket for her harmonica. Most radical of all, she refers to her subject by her given name rather than ""Big Mama,"" a nickname bestowed upon her by a white man. It's a deliberate and crucial act of reclamation, because in the name of Willie Mae Thornton is the sound of Black musical resilience." Full Product DetailsAuthor: Lynnée DenisePublisher: University of Texas Press Imprint: University of Texas Press Dimensions: Width: 12.70cm , Height: 3.80cm , Length: 20.30cm Weight: 0.367kg ISBN: 9781477321188ISBN 10: 1477321187 Pages: 240 Publication Date: 12 September 2023 Audience: General/trade , General Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: To order  Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us. Table of ContentsIntroduction Mothering the Blues The Black South Matters Sisters of the Dirty Blues White Boy Magic and the Making of Genre Grown Little Girls, Tomboy Women, and Black Radio Don’t Ask Me No More about Elvis California Love / California Dreamin’ Willie Mae inna England Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine Mixtapes, White Biographers, and Black Blues People Saved by the Amazing Grace of Mahalia Jackson A Jailed Sassy Mama The ’80s Blackness of Willie Mae’s Blues Epilogue Acknowledgments Sources and ReferencesReviewsDenise offers a desperately-needed corrective in this volume about the art, life, and legacy of Thornton, whose song “Hound Dog” (later recorded by Elvis) changed the course of American music. A standout installment in the University of Texas Press’s always great Music Matters series. * The Millions * Author InformationLynnée Denise is an artist, writer, and DJ. She was the Sterling Brown ’22 Distinguished Visiting Professor of Africana Studies at Williams College, and she is currently a doctoral student in the Department of Visual Culture at Goldsmiths, University of London. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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