Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters

Title: Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters Author: Lynnée Denise ISBN: 9781477321188 Publisher: University of Texas Press Published: 2023 Binding: Hardcover Language: English Condition: New New from the publisher Music & Performing Arts 1610545 Publisher Description: Finalist, 2024 Lesbian Memoir/Biography, Lambda Literary Award for Arts and Culture 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 Lynnée 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 Thorn