'Deadly Woman Blues, stunning, original and brimming with life, is the first of its kind. Part art book, part comic book, part biography and fully deadly, it is a unique graphic history of the black women who made Australian music. Traditional Indigenous music, spirituals, vaudeville, post-war jazz, country, gospel, soul, R&B and hip-hop have been made and re-made by these legendary women, some household names, some forgotten, some totally unknown until now. In this album of portraits, the long-awaited follow-on from Clinton Walker’s classic Buried Country, more than one hundred amazing artists are reborn. It’s as if a long-lost set of bubblegum cards has been found and remade for us, now.
'Starring Georgia Lee, Nellie Small, Candy Devine, Wilma Reading, Sibby Doolan, Ruby Hunter, Marlene Cummins, Tiddas, Carole Fraser, Christine Anu, Jessica Mauboy, Emma Donovan, Shellie Morris, Leah Flanagan, Crystal Mercy and many, many more singers and musicians, Deadly Woman Blues is a story full of tears and joy, always beautiful and heroic. ' (Publication summary)
This volume was withdrawn from publication in March 2018: see works about for detailed critiques.
'Editors are almost always unseen and unheard – until something goes wrong. That might be a relatively minor mistake, such as a typo – as in a cookbook that mistakenly listed “people” instead of “pepper” in a recipe. Or it could be more substantial questions about the integrity of a book’s contents.' (Introduction)
'A history of black women in Australian music has been withdrawn from sale, with the publisher promising to pulp any unsold copies and never reprint it, following an angry backlash from several of the artists who feature in it. Deadly Woman Blues, an illustrated "encyclopaedia" from established music writer Clinton Walker, was released by NewSouth Books, a division of academic publisher UNSW Press, last month to favourable reviews. Each of its 99 biographical entries is accompanied by a hand-drawn illustration by Walker, who was an art school student in the 1970s before dropping out to pursue a career as a music journalist. Walker claims he based the illustrations on the style of the collectible bubblegum cards of the '70s. Many of the women in the book contacted Walker directly to let him know their displeasure at being included without being spoken to.' (Introduction)
'Black women have been belting out their songs since the Dreamtime but European Australia has been woefully slow to recognise them. This vibrant graphic history of black women singers, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, salvages and celebrates the many talented singers who have been largely overlooked by those who document mainstream music. Among the first Australians recorded was one of the last Tasmanian Aborigines, singer Fanny Cochrane Smith. Many black singers came out of missions, imbibing sacred songs and country music, while others such as West Indian-Australian, cross-dressing vaudevillian Nellie Small burst onto the scene singing traditional jazz tunes. From the first classical Indigenous sopranos, Lorna Beulah and Nancy Ellis, to rising pop stars such as Jessica Mauboy, this marvellous book is bursting with gutsy, black voices that demand to be heard.' (Introduction)
'Recent scandals in Australian non-fiction have highlighted publishers’ responsibilities not only to their readers but to their authors’ subjects. But is a failure of fact-checking solely to blame? Or are there further hidden risks in the way these revelations are reported?' (Introduction)
'Black women have been belting out their songs since the Dreamtime but European Australia has been woefully slow to recognise them. This vibrant graphic history of black women singers, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, salvages and celebrates the many talented singers who have been largely overlooked by those who document mainstream music. Among the first Australians recorded was one of the last Tasmanian Aborigines, singer Fanny Cochrane Smith. Many black singers came out of missions, imbibing sacred songs and country music, while others such as West Indian-Australian, cross-dressing vaudevillian Nellie Small burst onto the scene singing traditional jazz tunes. From the first classical Indigenous sopranos, Lorna Beulah and Nancy Ellis, to rising pop stars such as Jessica Mauboy, this marvellous book is bursting with gutsy, black voices that demand to be heard.' (Introduction)
'Recent scandals in Australian non-fiction have highlighted publishers’ responsibilities not only to their readers but to their authors’ subjects. But is a failure of fact-checking solely to blame? Or are there further hidden risks in the way these revelations are reported?' (Introduction)
'Editors are almost always unseen and unheard – until something goes wrong. That might be a relatively minor mistake, such as a typo – as in a cookbook that mistakenly listed “people” instead of “pepper” in a recipe. Or it could be more substantial questions about the integrity of a book’s contents.' (Introduction)
'A history of black women in Australian music has been withdrawn from sale, with the publisher promising to pulp any unsold copies and never reprint it, following an angry backlash from several of the artists who feature in it. Deadly Woman Blues, an illustrated "encyclopaedia" from established music writer Clinton Walker, was released by NewSouth Books, a division of academic publisher UNSW Press, last month to favourable reviews. Each of its 99 biographical entries is accompanied by a hand-drawn illustration by Walker, who was an art school student in the 1970s before dropping out to pursue a career as a music journalist. Walker claims he based the illustrations on the style of the collectible bubblegum cards of the '70s. Many of the women in the book contacted Walker directly to let him know their displeasure at being included without being spoken to.' (Introduction)
