By Erin Wood
Arkansongs, the award-winning syndicated radio program examining Arkansas people, places, and especially its music, celebrated its 25th year on February 18 at The University of Central Arkansas’s Windgate Center for Fine and Performing Arts.
With storytelling and musical entertainment by Arkansongs writer-host Stephen Koch, the program featured Arkansas musicians Almeda (aka “Granny”) Riddle, Jimmy Driftwood, Sippie Wallace, Levon Helm, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Black Oak Arkansas, and many others.
An extension of Koch’s deep knowledge of Arkansas music history, his new book, forthcoming May 2024, will feature 30 Arkansas women who have impacted music across the genres and influenced American culture in ways we’re still discovering. From Almeda To Zilphia: Arkansas Women Who Transformed American Popular Song will feature illustrations by artist Katherine Strause, an introduction by historian and author Dr. Cherisse Jones-Branch, and an afterword by acclaimed country music songwriter Erin Enderlin.
In From Almeda To Zilphia, readers will encounter a wide variety of women and musical styles, including gospel (Rosetta Tharpe), opera (Marjorie Lawrence), blues (Sippie Wallace), folk ballads (Almeda Riddle), dance pop (Beth Ditto), classical (Florence Price), and country (K.T. Oslin).
There are surprises too, like Maya Angelou’s side career as a Calypso singer; Eva Ware Barnett, who wrote the official state song in 1917; and Carrie Rivers Cash, who fueled the musical career of her son, Johnny.
Preorder your signed copies now at etaliapress.com, and receive a preorder discount that increases with the number of books ordered. Hot Springs native, Erin Wood is a writer, editor, and publisher in Little Rock. She owns and runs www.etaliapress.com. Wood is author of “Women Make Arkansas: Conversations With 50 Creatives” (April 2019) and editor of and a contributor to “Scars: An Anthology” (2015).
