{"product_id":"why-willie-mae-thornton-matters","title":"Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFinalist, 2024 Lesbian Memoir\/Biography, Lambda Literary Award for Arts and Culture \u003cbr\u003e Winner -- Walter \u0026amp; Lillian Lowenfels Criticism Award, 45th Annual American Book Awards, Before Columbus Foundation\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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 \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","brand":"University of Texas Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67618404139251,"sku":"9781477321188","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0067\/7432\/5312\/files\/imageloader_1b04485a-d941-40be-91d8-5aef0b72bbb5.jpg?v=1790876294","url":"https:\/\/letterpressplay.com\/products\/why-willie-mae-thornton-matters","provider":"Letterpress PLAY","version":"1.0","type":"link"}