{"product_id":"why-willie-mae-thornton-matters-9781477321188","title":"Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA 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.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhy Willie Mae Thornton Matters\u003c\/i\u003e \"samples\" elements of Thornton's art--and, occasionally, the author's own story--to create \"a biography in essays\" that explores the life of its subject as a DJ might dig through a crate of records. Denise connects Thornton's vaudevillesque performances in Sammy Green's Hot Harlem Revue to the vocal improvisations that made \"Hound Dog\" a hit for Peacock Records (and later for Elvis Presley), injecting music criticism into what's often framed as a cautionary tale of record-industry racism. She interprets Thornton's performing in men's suits as both a sly, Little Richard-like queering of the Chitlin Circuit and a simple preference for pants over dresses that didn't have a pocket for her harmonica. Most radical of all, she refers to her subject by her given name rather than \"Big Mama,\" a nickname bestowed upon her by a white man. It's a deliberate and crucial act of reclamation, because in the name of Willie Mae Thornton is the sound of Black musical resilience. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Texas Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/12\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781477321188\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 240","brand":"Lynn\u0026#233;e Denise","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43049570205877,"sku":"9781477321188","price":21.21,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_2c0e4eee-6843-471a-9906-3e285a20f8d1.jpg?v=1689691281","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/why-willie-mae-thornton-matters-9781477321188","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}