James L. Dickerson – Go, Girl, Go! – The Women’s Revolution in Music

James L. Dickerson is no stranger to music, haven written books about Elvis, Colonel Tom Parker and the Vaughan brothers. Nor is he unfamiliar with the myriad roles, trials and triumphs women have had in the music industry, as evidenced with his books on Faith Hill, Lil Hardin Armstrong and the Dixie Chicks.

Go, Girl, Go! focuses on women who have broken into the Billboard Top Twenty Album Charts. The introduction highlights the year 1996, when women artists outnumbered men in the Top Twenty for the first time in the history of the charts.

Dickerson goes on to breakdown the history of women as hit makers, starting at the turn of the century. Chapter One covers the period from 1900 until 1953, Chapter Two takes us through 1959, and then each chapter covers one specific decade. Wisely, he not only profiles the artists themselves, but also a number of the women who worked behind the scenes as songwriters, managers, producers and label executives. Frances Preston’s career from receptionist at WSM radio in Nashville to president of BMI (one of the three licensing organizations) is one of the many highlights in the early part of this book.

Perhaps it is because there were fewer women to highlight or maybe because we have already heard a lot about the women whose music we’ve grown up listening to, but the profiles of the women in the first two chapters (Lil Hardin Armstrong, Memphis Minnie, Billie Holliday and more) seem more immediate, more compelling than many of the profiles that follow.

And many of the more interesting stories are those of the women behind the scenes, such as Frances Preston or producer Tena Clark. Dickerson does a wonderful job of exploring as many stories and angles as he can. While it’s obvious that his heart has a soft spot for country and old blues music, he doesn’t miss a trick. Fiona Apple gets appropriate attention as does Melanie Safka. And he deftly weaves his artists into the fabric of his writing. Pat Benatar, whose profile kicks off Chapter Five (the 1980’s), gets the final say on Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair. His last three profiles, Diana Krall, Alicia Keys and Norah Jones, literally call up the ghosts of Armstrong and Holiday.

By using the Top Twenty Charts as a measuring stick, Go, Girl, Go! obviously doesn’t profile every female artist who has ever hit the charts. Given how relatively short a book it is, it’s amazing that he gives you as much detailed information as he does. Everyone who reads this book will probably wish that Dickerson had included this artist or not spent so much time on that one, but he does a great job of whetting your appetite to learn more about these people, whether learning more entails doing more research or simply listening to some of their music.