UI Press | Murphy Hicks Henry | Pretty Good for a Girl: Women in Bluegrass

Pretty Good for a Girl

Women in Bluegrass

Untold and unsung stories of women in bluegrass

The first book devoted entirely to women in bluegrass, Pretty Good for a Girl documents the lives of more than seventy women whose vibrant contributions to the development of bluegrass have been, for the most part, overlooked. Accessibly written and organized by decade, the book begins with Sally Ann Forrester, who played accordion and sang with Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys from 1943 to 1946, and continues into the present with artists such as Alison Krauss, Rhonda Vincent, and the Dixie Chicks. Drawing from extensive interviews, well-known banjoist Murphy Hicks Henry gives voice to women performers and innovators throughout bluegrass's history, including such pioneers as Bessie Lee Mauldin, Wilma Lee Cooper, and Roni and Donna Stoneman; family bands including the Lewises, Whites, and McLains; and later pathbreaking performers such as the Buffalo Gals and other all-girl bands, Laurie Lewis, Lynn Morris, Missy Raines, and many others.

Watch Murphy Hicks Henry's trailer for her book.

"Murphy Hicks Henry gives voice to women performers and innovators throughout bluegrass's history."--Bluegrass Today

"The humor and passion within Pretty Good for a Girl is evident. . . . [the] purpose is not only to show historical documentation of how bluegrass is not, in fact, a man's music; it's also to give young and current female musicians the determination and stories of women who have all bucked cultural resistance to follow their passions."--Boxx Magazine

"This terrific book adds significantly to our knowledge of bluegrass music. Part reference and part impassioned argument, Pretty Good for a Girl is filled with extremely interesting narratives and has the firepower to become a great inspiration for a new generation of young women musicians."--Ellen Wright, coauthor (with Roni Stoneman) of Pressing On: The Roni Stoneman Story

"A fascinating history of bluegrass music from a female musician's perspective. Wonderfully readable, brisk in its sweeping chronology of a huge topic, and filled with anecdotal gems that bring history to life, this is an enthralling and important book."--Thomas A. Adler, author of Bean Blossom: The Brown County Jamboree and Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Festivals

Murphy Hicks Henry is a professional banjo player, teacher, and writer living in Virginia. She founded the Women in Bluegrass newsletter and has written regularly for Bluegrass Unlimited and Banjo Newsletter. She is also the co-creator of The Murphy Method, a series of instructional videos on playing the banjo and other bluegrass instruments.

To order online:
http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/67khm6st9780252032868.html

To order by phone:
(800) 621-2736 (USA/Canada)
(773) 702-7000 (International)