All Songs Considered : NPR

How Women Made Music, a new book out now from NPR Music, was inspired by our Turning The Tables series.

Courtesy of Harper Collins

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Courtesy of Harper Collins

NPR Music has just put out its first book: How Women Made Music. It collects more than 50 years of essays and interviews from the network, inspired by our series Turning The Tables. Launched in 2017, Turning The Tables considers how the canon of popular music would change if we centered women instead of men. What albums and songs would dominate conversations if women and other marginalized voices were the ones having them?

On this episode, NPR Music’s Ann Powers and contributor Marissa Lorusso talk with host Robin Hilton about the new book and share some of the music that inspired it, from Joni Mitchell’s Blue to Beyoncé’s Lemonade, Big Mama Thornton’s “Hound Dog” and more, including Kate Bush, Tracy Chapman, Against Me!.