Hired Guns: Portraits of Women in Alternative Music is a look across several decades of the music industry through the experiences and careers of a selection of professional female musicians.
Hired Guns is a look across several decades of the music industry through the experiences and careers of a selection of professional female musicians. Those women profiled are members of influential, acclaimed bands and touring musicians with major acts; they each represent important music scenes and movements, having respectively emerged from and thrived in seminal moments of music such as the California hardcore punk scene, the Minneapolis alternative boom, and much more. This book presents a frank and unique female perspective on the music business, charting their professional challenges and triumphs, providing an insight into the machinations of the industry, and offering a glimpse into the education, work, and lifestyle required of such professionals. The authors conduct candid interviews with their subjects and compose an insightful cultural and historical discourse, drawing readers into the artistic, social, and industrial contexts of several seminal musical movements as they give voice to these female road warriors who have enthralled millions of fans across the world while remaining largely anonymous to the public. Kramer and Byrne now bring them center-stage to tell their story. This book features comprehensive chapters on: Gail Ann Dorsey (David Bowie, Tears for Fears, Indigo Girls) Sue Hadjopoulos (Joe Jackson, Simple Minds, Cyndi Lauper) Clare Kenny (Sinead O'Connor, Orange Juice, Shakespeare's Sister) Susan Miller (Frightwig, Bad Posture) Tracy Wormworth (The Waitresses, Sting, B-52's) Joy Askew (Joe Jackson, Laurie Anderson, Peter Gabriel) Sara Lee (Gang of Four, Robyn Hitchcock, Thompson Twins) Lori Barbero (Babes in Toyland) Caroline Dale (David Gilmour, U2, David Gray, Page and Plant) Angie Pollock (The Lightning Seeds, Goldfrapp, Peter Gabriel)
PrePub Reviews
The approach of Hired Guns: Portraits of Women in Alternative Music offers a distinct view of these ten musicians' lives. Instead of the usual hype one expects, Kramer and Byrne encourage their subjects to tell their stories from lived experiences so that we may better understand how they navigated the world without the added self-promotion or publicity machines that we all court for our commercial success.
To read this collection is not simply to read about ten random lives of recording and touring musicians but ten impactful lives of dedicated souls who beat the odds through their unique blending of resilience and effort.
From the Foreword by Jennifer Finch
Amanda Kramer is an American musician whose prolific career spans four decades. She is a member of The Psychedelic Furs and has been keyboardist/vocalist for lauded bands such as The Golden Palominos, 10,000 Maniacs, World Party, and Information Society. She has performed with such acts as Siouxsie Sioux, Lloyd Cole, and Eurythmics; as well as having collaborated with celebrated sound designer/composer Blake Leyh on various projects - including an album titled Wintermass. Amanda has also recorded and produced three solo albums independently. Wayne Byrne is an acclaimed author. He has written five books which have been published by the likes of Columbia University Press, Wallflower Press, and McFarland. He was music and literature critic for Ireland's iconic Hot Press Magazine and has written for a variety of newspapers and publications including The Irish Times, Books Ireland, The Dark Side, and Film Ireland. Amanda Kramer is an American musician whose prolific career spans four decades. She is a member of The Psychedelic Furs and has been keyboardist/vocalist for lauded bands such as The Golden Palominos, 10,000 Maniacs, World Party, and Information Society. She has performed with such acts as Siouxsie Sioux, Lloyd Cole, and Eurythmics; as well as having collaborated with celebrated sound designer/composer Blake Leyh on various projects - including an album titled Wintermass. Amanda has also recorded and produced three solo albums independently. Wayne Byrne is an acclaimed author. He has written five books which have been published by the likes of Columbia University Press, Wallflower Press, and McFarland. He was music and literature critic for Ireland's iconic Hot Press Magazine and has written for a variety of newspapers and publications including The Irish Times, Books Ireland, The Dark Side, and Film Ireland.
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