The “w” part of musician/writer/teacher/parking lot attendant

On this blog I blab a lot about being a musician and a teacher. Now it’s time to talk about my writing, especially since I HAVE A BOOK! Besides, I’m blind in one eye so you really don’t want to hand over the keys to your Volvo.

Drive All Night

Have I mentioned the thing about publishing a book? It’s a collection of tour stories, from meeting Melissa Etheridge to sharing housing with a pig. A real one. When you’ve dragged your arse all over doing gigs for twenty-plus years, you’ve got a few stories. 

You can buy it at Bella Books – the fine women who agreed to publish this esteemed tome – and at approximately 4,103.2 online sites as well as great brick and mortar indie bookstores all over the planet. Read a sample chapter here.

It’s my first book, y’all, so I’m just a teeny bit excited. It’s not the first time I’ve written for a book, though. I had a chapter in On My Honor: Lesbians Reflect on their Scouting Experience as well as one in Songwriting and the Guitar (String Letter Press). Sadly, the first one is out of print, but you can find used copies on line. The other one is great for anyone who wants to write music on the guitar. In addition to my chapter, there are pieces by or about the Indigo Girls, Paul Simon, Patty Larkin and many more. They must’ve made a mistake and thought I was Sarah McLachlan. That book is still available, just do a Google search.

The Women’s Music Book

Drive All Night is about my personal experiences in women’s music. I’m also writing a book about women’s music in general, with an emphasis on artists of the 70’s and 80’s – the women who helped to build this important network. There’s a lot of research to be done. I’ve completed a dozen or so interviews and collected a great library of periodicals and books. I’m guessing this one will take a couple more years, goddess willin’ and the chocolate don’t run out. I don’t want to let this one go too long because our musicians are passing away. Sadly, we recently lost Gwen Avery and I’ll never be able to interview Therese Edell, Kay Gardner or Ginni Clemmens.

I want the book to be accurate enough for use in women’s studies and music classes, but it’ll also be a collection of good stories that anyone will enjoy reading. While the focus is on musicians, I’ll also cover other aspects of this great network. Really, I could write a set of encyclopedia (Do they make those anymore?), but I’m trying to keep down the page count. 

I’m interested in hearing from lesbian and feminist musicians, especially if you performed in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. I’d also like to talk with you if you were involved in putting on women’s music concerts in the early years.

By the way – that great graphic above comes from Queer Music Heritage, the most comprehensive site on the web about LGBT music. JD Doyle is the grand pooh-bah and frankly, I don’t know when he has time to eat or sleep. I could spend days at his site.

Magazine articles/CD reviews

My work has been published in many places, including Acoustic Guitar, AfterEllen.com, Curve, Indie-Music.com, Minor7th.com and more. There are some samples here, in case your boss is gone for the morning and you’re avoiding work. 

Please don’t send me your new CD. I can only review music that comes from my editors. If you want a review, go to the appropriate website and submit your work. You can request me, however, there’s no guarantee it’ll get assigned to me.

Musician bios and more for the music industry

In my capacity as a CD reviewer, I’ve seen my share of bios packed with empty superlatives. Don’t be that musician. Hire me. I’ve written a ton of bios for solo artists and bands, from alt rockers to folk musicians. I’m fast, affordable and I’ll write something that won’t just lay there and stink up the place.  There are samples here. (Look under “musician bios” about halfway down the page.) Contact me here.

I’ll even tell you how to write your own bio here. I’m nice that way.

I’ve also written web content, one sheets and press releases for musicians. Contact me to find out more.

Songwriting

It’s a special category, words with a soundtrack. I’ve released ten albums — here’s a list. Find music samples and links to buy here.

This blog

And of course, I write here — 124 posts so far. I average 300 – 400 hits a day, most of them for the posts about beginning guitar. The second most favorite are about women’s music. The most hits ever received in one day was 966, a day when there must’ve been a lot of beginning guitarists roaming the web, plus there was interest in posts about women’s music performers and where they are today. (Find the first one here.)  Browse the categories to the right and find how-to articles, road stories, articles about musicians, and whatever I feel like blabbing about. If it’s even vaguely connected to music, I’ve got something to say. I’ve always got something to say. 

Here I am with a guitar, playing an actual chord, in case you wonder about me being a Real Musician.