2025 ASSOCIATION FOR RECORDED SOUND COLLECTIONS AWARDS CERTIFICATE OF MERIT * AUDIOFILE MAGAZINE EARPHONES AWARD

The audiobook edition of How Women Made Music: A Revolutionary History brings listeners closer than ever to their creative heroes. Featuring rare interview excerpts with Nina Simone, Sinead O’Connor, Lucinda Williams, Joni Mitchell, Taylor Swift, Solange, and many more.

NPR’s launch of the multi-platform series Turning the Tables in 2017, suddenly pushed more women onto “Best of” lists and into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame. With How Women Made Music, acclaimed critic and TtT co-founder Ann Powers and contributor Alison Fensterstock draw from every Turning the Tables season and the full 50-years of NPR archives, to bring a vibrant, entertaining history of women in folk, rock, rap, hip hop, salsa, bubblegum pop, and much more.

The audiobook version features:

Joan Baez discussing nonviolence as a musical principle in 1971
Nina Simone, in 2001, reflecting on how she developed the edge in her voice as a tool against racism
Patti Smith describing art as her “jealous mistress” in 1976
Taylor Swift, in 2012, talking about early uncertainty in her music career
Odetta, in 2005, explaining how shifting from classical to folk music allowed her to express her fury over Jim Crow

Destined to become a classic, this audiobook is not only a vital record of history, it will spark creativity, inspiration, and awe in hearing how musical lives are maintained and favorite songs are born.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.