Shout, Sister, Shout!: Ten Girl Singers Who Shaped a Century

Ten Girl Singers Who Shaped a Century by Roxane Orgill selects one female singer per decade to characterize a musical era, beginning in vaudeville in the 1900s with Sophie Tucker and closing in the 1990s with Lucinda Williams. The volume includes such luminaries as Ma Rainey, Judy Garland, Joan Baez, Bette Midler and Madonna. Some of the author's choices may encourage lively debate among musicians (""What Anita did with her little voice was more interesting to me than what Sarah did with her magnificent one,"" writes Orgill of Anita O'Day and her peer, Sarah Vaughan), as she handily describes the progression of music and its different faces. ""What's N ew?"" and ""What [she] wore"" boxes put each singer's music and fashion in context. ( Feb.)