Here She Comes Now: Essays on Women in Music

by Jeff Gordinier (Editor), Elissa Schappell (Contributor), Susan Choi (Contributor)

Whether it was Patti Smith's angry moan, Nina Simone's guttural growl, or Dolly Parton's towering hair and sweet voice, women have been a musical force to be reckoned with, inspired by, and paid attention to. In Small Flowers Crack Concrete, today's biggest and brightest writers tackle their favorite female musicians and the effect they've had on their own lives. From Rosie Schaap writing about Sandy Denny to Susan Choi writing about Stevie Nicks to Elissa Schappell writing about Kim Gordon, Small Flowers Crack Concrete thoughtfully and lovingly discusses the extreme badassery of the women who break through all the barriers to truly rock.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Essays, Anthologies, History

280 pages, Hardcover

First published May 12, 2015

About the author

Jeff Gordinier is the food and drinks editor of Esquire and a frequent contributor to the New York Times. A product of Southern California and a graduate of Princeton University, he wrote 2008’s X Saves the World and co-edited the 2015 essay collection Here She Comes Now. He lives north of New York City with his wife, Lauren Fonda, and his four children.

Reviews

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The only good thing about music, as far as I can see, is its ability to crumple you."

Here She Comes Now is a collection of essays about a varied selection of women in music - artists like Dolly Parton, Nina Simone, Kate Bush, Taylor Swift, to name a few.

Most of the contributing authors are women, with a couple of men getting in too.

As you might expect, the quality of essays vary. A recurring motive is that each essayist gives a bit of biographical background to their chosen artist, and it gets a bit dull, if only because the essay structures get too repetitive. And in most cases those biographies don't really account for the connection the author feels to that artist.

That said, there are quite few interesting perspectives on the role of music in people's lives, and music made by women specifically.

"It turns out, if you have any kind of music in you, the harder you try to mute or contain it, the stronger it will fight to get out."

(Thanks to Rare Bird Books for providing me with an ARC through Edelweiss)

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A birthday gift from my daughter… she knows me so well! I really enjoyed this collection of essays written by different artists on female musicians/singers influenced their lives. Some made me feel nostalgic and took me back to my teenage years, you know the days when you would just hang out in your room, listen to the radio or put on your Walkman and listen to those tapes over and over again. I also read about artists I missed along the way, mostly from the 90s (PJ Harvey, Kim Gordon).

Needless to say Spotify and Youtube were my companions while I read this as I re-listened to artists I love Patti Smith, Dolly Parton (Yes, I am a secret DP fan), Tina Turner. I also listened to the ones I hadn’t heard of before and became a fan of some of them.

[K · Rating 2 out of 5]

as I’ve found with most collections of essays by multiple people around half of these are great (Dael Orlandersmith on Patti smith stands out as particularly brilliant) the other half however, are not so great. I don’t know? Maybe if there were some female editors there’d be less essays about men wanking possibly!!?? Would have loved to see this book but done by all women.

[Leah Weyandt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gifted to me by my son, I was anticipating this book, which features close to two dozen authors' personal stories about the female musicians who transformed their lives. What could possibly be a better read for a bookworm and a melophile? The featured artists diversely range from the soulful Nina Simone to the low-fi powerhouse Kim Gordon to country's darling June Carter Cash. However, each story, one following the next, were consistently more about the authors' gloomy teenage lives than the artists themselves.

A few shoutouts include Allison Glock's "Diamond in a Rhinestone World," begging a re-visit of Dolly's catalog and Dael Orlandersmith's "Not a Rock N Roll Nigger," that raises some provocative questions about one of my all-time favorites, Patti Smith.

[Sharon Wishnow · Rating 4 out of 5]

This exceptional collection of essays is a palm slap to the face frenzied collection of music celebrating women artists who have shaped our cultural sound from country to grunge bands. A fun ride for culture lovers and music fans alike.

[Audrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book lack a female touch for a book about women. Some of the takes are giving Hannah from hbo’s girls in the worst way possible. The essay about Tori Amos changed my life for introducing me to Tori Amos but still felt icky to read at some points. Whatever.

[Julia Concepcion · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sonic Youth's Lee Renaldo's blurb on the cover describes these stories as "riveting" but there is hardly enough evidence to corroborate this claim. While the majority of these stories are full of heart and emotion, they are even more packed with bloated word choice that is frequently distracting to the stories themselves, mucking the depth. Even with two editors on board, the collection is disjointed and pretty disappointing. An ode to the impact of female musicians deserves better prose than this.

[Elliot Chalom · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best thing I can say about an essay in book like this one - a collection of writers writing essays about musicians - is that it got me interested in the work of the musician even if before I had no interest whatsoever. For the most part, that is true of the essays in "Here She Comes Now", which is why I feel that this is a very strong book among its kind. While not necessarily a must-read, I think any fan of music, regardless of genre, would be very happy to read this. After all, this fan of punk/alt/indie who knows more than my share about a few of the subjects of the book (Kim Gordon, Liz Phair) got the most out of essays on such diverse subjects as Dolly Parton, Stevie Nicks, Tina Turner, and Sinead O'Connor. That's saying something. I can't imagine a world where I read an entire book about Dolly Parton, but a 10 minute essay extolling her virtues on the musical landscape, showing what a smart and shrewd woman she was, and demonstrating the lasting cultural effect that she had (and why she had it) - that is well worth my time and has altered the way I think about Dolly. Which ultimately is the purpose of the book. For someone else, it probably did the same regarding Kim Gordon. Not every essay hits, with the ones that miss straying too far into the autobiographical. Most of the essays tie the writers' life to the subjects, but a few go a little too far. It's only a few though. By and large "Here She Comes Now" is an enjoyable and educational read.

[Snoakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I shamelessly blagged an ARC of this as I thought it would be right up my (Tin Pan) Alley.

I must confess that I hadn't heard of any of the writers in this collection, although I am familiar with a couple by their work. In contrast though I've heard of all the musicians featured. Obviously I know some better than others and indeed like some considerably more than others, but no matter - the pieces in this book aren't about my taste. Each writer has taken a female musician and written a piece about why this person's music matters so much to them. The result is fascinating - some of the writing is deeply personal and most of it transports you back to those teenage years when the music you liked defined you and your gang in an almost tribal fashion. Excellent stuff - highly recommended for any book-reading music lover.

[Colleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short essays about different women musicians, but mostly about what the women mean to each writer. I skimmed quite a bit, each section being a bit too short to really connect for me.

Anthologies like this are always interesting, because they take a broad topic and let each individual author focus on what they consider most important about their musician of choice. I think it can be quite revealing.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong, varied, essay collection that will make you love music and the women who make it all the more. Pay particular attention to Elissa Schappal on Kim Gordon, Kate Christenson on Tina Turner and Taffy Akner on Taylor Swift and passive aggressiveness.

[Fred · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. I really don't need to know how Dolly Parton or Taylor Swift "changed someone's life", so I ignored all but a few essays. The Patti Smith one was rather eye opening, though. And Nina Simone's tribute was beautiful.

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a Goodreads win review. I really loved this book about the women in music who have changed our lives. I have always loved music and have to many concerts in my life. I read only certain ladies I was interested in though because I have never heard of some of them.

[KarnagesMistress]

I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.