The Motherlode
The women we have chosen to honor in this season of Turning the Tables can rightly be called fundamental to the sound and meaning of American popular music. As we chose our eight — Bessie Smith, Maybelle Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Marian Anderson, Ella Fitzgerald, Mary Lou Williams, Celia Cruz and Rosetta Tharpe — we invited a spirited debate about what that means. How do we decide what makes an artist great? Or makes her the greatest? What constitutes a meaningful legacy — and who gets to decide which legacies matter most?
One image these conversations inspired was of a musical, feminist Mt. Rushmore: Bessie Smith carved in stone next to Maybelle Carter (or Ma Rainey or Mahalia Jackson or Ruth Brown, or any of the other groundbreaking women whose names came up in our discussions). What would it mean to say these artists are monumental American figures at this scale: founders and originators whose work in the world forever changed history? Some answers might sound like this: "In all probability there is not another artist on the stage who has more admirers than Bessie Smith, the crowned queen of blues, the greatest of them all," as the Chicago Defender published on Dec. 22, 1928. Or, "She has become in her time the standard by which all of the rest of us are measured," as Peggy Lee said of Ella Fitzgerald at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1979, "and that's as it should be."
Of course, as some on our panel were quick to point out, the imagery of monuments is inherently hierarchical; it lifts up individual figures for their achievements as if they are lone actors whose greatness places them above their peers, foremothers and inheritors. But the importance of these artists can also be found in the connections they made. To build a bridge between genres (as Rosetta Tharpe did between the world of gospel and the emerging sound of rock and roll); between eras (as Mary Lou Williams did, effortlessly transitioning from stride to swing to bebop); between continents (like Celia Cruz combining African rhythms and American influences): This, too, illustrates their greatness. These artists' work resonates across time, embraced by each generation of artists that has come after them. At his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1992, Johnny Cash said some of his earliest songs "were influenced by people like Sister Rosetta Tharpe." "Ella was the first singer I heard growing up that made me realize what greatness is," jazz and soul singer Kandace Springs told us. "I still listen to her versions of songs to know what to aim for." Our image changed then, to a mother lode: a central vein that uncovers an overwhelming inheritance.
The collection of quotations below proves how the greatness of these artists cannot be contained within a single definition. To create it, we read historical accounts of these artists' lives, looked to their influence across popular culture and reached out to contemporary artists who feel a connection to our eight. Through glowing reviews of these artist's early performances and contemporary testimonies about their lasting impact, from heartfelt remembrances to poetry in their honor to video footage of musical tributes, we invite you to celebrate, re-examine and redefine the legacies of these eight women who invented American popular music. —Marissa Lorusso
