By Erin Wood
A new illustrated book about the musical and cultural impact of Arkansas women launched on September 17. “Women’s stories were underrepresented in Arkansas music history,” said author Stephen Koch about From Almeda To Zilphia: Arkansas Women Who Transformed American Popular Song.
“Despite their collective cultural impact, these women’s stories have too often been overlooked, forgotten, or never told.” Koch’s book profiles 30 artists with Arkansas connections who’ve influenced music around the world.
With surprises like Maya Angelou’s side career as a calypso singer and Carrie Cash, who recognized that her son, Johnny, had “the gift,” the book covers a wide variety of musical styles, including Opera (longtime Hot Springs resident Marjorie Lawrence), Gospel (Rosetta Tharpe), Blues (Sippie Wallace), Folk Ballads (Almeda Riddle), Dance-Pop (Beth Ditto), Classical (Florence Price), and Country (K.T. Oslin).
From Almeda to Zilphia is illustrated by Little Rock artist and former Henderson State University Art Department Chair Katherine Strause. “I look for liberty in the attitude of the subject,” shares Strause, whose larger body of work is based on vintage photographs of women. “I want to show them shaking off constraints. These women are in charge, and through their music, they are taking control in subversive and playful ways.”
Koch, a Stuttgart native and Little Rock resident, has for more than a quarter century shared the music history of Arkansas and the Midsouth as host of the award-winning syndicated public radio program, “Arkansongs.”
For copies signed by Koch and Strause, visit etaliapress.com, or purchase from Black Ribbon Books in Hot Springs.
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).
