Acclaimed novelist and memoirist Bridgett M. Davis talks with music writer and educator Maureen Mahon about Mahon's book Black Diamond Queens: African American Women and Rock and Roll and the challenges of Black female rule breakers and trendsetters. The two explore how thinking differently about genre allows us to think about music and musicians differently, and the fascinating stories and influence of women like Big Mama Thornton, Betty Davis, Marsha Hunt, the Shirelles, and others unfairly ignored in rock history. As Mahon says to her own Black teen rock-loving self, "There are so many different ways to be an African American woman." (Recorded November 11, 2020)
The Greenlight Bookstore Podcast