The Greatest Female Guitarists of All Time, H–M
Issue #35
By Venus Zine Staff
Published: March 1st, 2008 | 12:26pm
SUE ANN HARKEY
Jane of all trades: Sue Ann Harkey is perhaps best known for playing the 12-string guitar, but her musical résumé also includes singing, songwriting, and playing an assortment of instruments such as percussion and harp guitar. She’s been a part of New York’s and Seattle’s underground music scenes for more than two decades.
March to your own beat: Harkey discovered the ways of improvised music in the late ’70s when she first began to experiment with the 12-string guitar by playing it with mallets, plectrums, and rods to create unique sounds. Her music falls tends to fall under the category of “new age” but has even been described as “futurist folk.” The majority of her work is a combination of politically infused lyrics with said improvised music that is often inspired by electronic, folk, and Middle Eastern and African sounds and beats.
Underground roots: Harkey, along with violinist-songwriter Sharon Gannon, co-founded the cassette label and political pamphlet distributor Cityzens for Non-Linear Futures as well as the improv group Audio Letter. The group released an impressive amount of tapes and one album, 1988’s It Is This It Is Not This. Harkey has also collaborated with other New York artists such as Sue Garner, Chris Cochrane, and Guy Yarden, some of whom are on her first solo album, The Ancient Past and the Ancient Future Are Both Seconds Away.
Audio and visual: Harkey moved back to Seattle in 1992, where she now runs her own design and illustration firm, Cactus Bones Studio. She’s still in music, though, having released an album in 1997 called Fulcrum, which included free jazz musicians and underground DJs. — Daniela Garcia
Stream full tracks from Sue Ann Harkey
POLLY JEAN HARVEY
The start: Growing up on an English sheep farm, Harvey’s parents played Howlin’ Wolf, Jimi Hendrix, Captain Beefheart, and John Lee Hooker — whom she deems major influences. She played saxophone for eight years before switching to, and ultimately mastering, the guitar, and in early 1991, formed a trio with herself on vocals and guitar. The band’s first gig was curtailed midway through because the owner of the hotel in which they played asked them to stop — he feared the band was scaring away customers. Undeterred by the experience, Harvey released her first single, “Dress” on the independent label Too Pure in late 1991, and John Peel voted it “Single of the Week” in Melody Maker. In 1992, she released the “wash that man right out of my hair” anthem, “Sheela Na Gig,” followed quickly by her first full-length, the laying-out-her-soul-to-the-world Dry, in 1992. At age 22, Rolling Stone named her the year’s Best Songwriter and Best New Female Singer.
A gift for riffs: To date, Harvey has released seven ambitious full-lengths, including the raw-guitared Rid of Me, 1995’s cryptic, power-guitared and blues-fueled To Bring You My Love, and 2000’s Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, on which she duets with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke on “This Mess We’re In.” Though Harvey is a gifted guitarist, music writer Evelyn McDonnell says she downplays her skills. “We admire stars because they seem to be antidotes to our own self-esteem issues,” McDonnell says. “Then they prove as insecure as any mere mortal. Chrissie Hynde has complained about her voice. And PJ Harvey, she of the gnarled blues-punk electric growl, has been wont to disavow her own playing, to let others — guys — sling the feedback for her, so she can be a chanteuse. Disbelief in one’s self can be contagious.” — Amy Schroeder
"Down by the Water" by PJ Harvey
"Rid of Me" live in 2003
JESSIE MAE HEMPHILL
Grass roots: Growing up on the remote skirts of the Mississippi Delta might sound romantic, but for many of its residents, it meant poverty and the opposite of romance — the blues. In 1934, blues singer-guitarist Hemphill was born along this region in Senatobia, Mississippi. As a young girl, Hemphill’s playthings were a mass of found and homemade instruments that belonged to her family — notable blues and folk musicians themselves. While she could play an array of instruments — such as the fife, diddley bow, and drums — nothing struck her quite as much as the electric guitar.
A long time coming: Hemphill moved to Memphis in the ’50s and played with various blues bands along the Delta. When she wasn’t playing a gig, she maintained odd jobs at grocery stores, cleaners, and cafeterias. In 1979, after nearly 40 years of playing the guitar, Hemphill caught the attention of Dr. David Evans, an ethnomusicologist promoting indigenous southern music at the University of Memphis. Evans produced Hemphill’s first high-quality recording on the university’s label, High Water Recording Company.
The Queen of Boogie: In 1981, Evans went on to produce Hemphill’s debut album, She-Wolf. The album’s cover features the familiar image of Hemphill in a Stetson cowboy hat, grinning widely. In recent years, there has been renewed interest in She-Wolf since the single, "Standing In My Doorway and Crying," appeared in the film Black Snake Moan. The 1990 release Feelin' Good, her second and most acclaimed album, won a W.C. Hardy Award for best acoustic album. In 1987 and 1988, Hemphill also received the W.C. Handy Award for best traditional female blues singer.
Evans on Hemphill: "She plays an electric guitar, the chosen instrument of her generation," he says. And yet, Evans says in Feelin’ Good’s liner notes, "her rhythmic ideas, which sound so fresh and contemporary, also draw from some of the oldest root forms of African-American folk music."
How ever she likes: Forgoing the standard 12-bar blues, Hemphill turned Delta blues traditionalists on their heels. With the aid of an open-tuned electric guitar, a tambourine at her foot, and Choctaw leg bells (suggestive of her Native American heritage), Hemphill created a peculiar blues sound. Most notable was her technique of playing notes over and over, which produced a hypnotic narrative.
Insult to injury: In 1993, after Hemphill returned to the Delta, she suffered a stroke of heartbreaking proportions. Her left side became paralyzed and she was forced to quit playing the guitar. Hemphill’s standard of living in the Delta continued to decline up until her death in July 22, 2006. After experiencing complications from an ulcer, Hemphill died in a Memphis hospital.
Paying respect: In 2003, Olga Wilhelmine founded the Jessie Mae Hemphill Foundation in an effort to preserve, achieve, and assist musicians indigenous to the Mississippi Delta region. Inspired by Hemphill, Wilhelmine hopes to improve the lives of Delta musicians who are forced to live off meager publishing royalties, spending most their lives in obscurity. The same year, the Foundation released Hemphill’s final recording of religious songs, Dare You to Do It Again.
The Hemphill mantra: "You can play anything you want to play in the blues and it don't change the tune." — Katie Heath
Jessie Mae Hemphill Foundation
“You Can Talk About Me”
Jessie Mae Hemphill & Friends DVD preview
KRISTIN HERSH
Get to know her: In 1983, Hersh banded together with her half-sister, Tanya Donelly, and a few friends from high school to form the ’90s alternative rock group, Throwing Muses. Their sound was based around the Hersh’s creative song structures, hard-hitting guitar licks, and hallucinatory lyrics. While Throwing Muses goes through spurts of hiatus, Hersh continues to share her distinct musical perspective through her other band, 50FOOTWAVE, solo work, and a multitude of projects concerning her artistry first, and the record industry last.
Finding her sound: Describing her dad as a “sort of hippie,” Hersh says that when he taught her to play guitar, the chords often mimicked those of Neil Young’s and Bob Dylan’s. “They were flat and bland. In other words, I thought they were really boring,” Hersh says in a phone interview. She took classical guitar lessons for many years and wasn’t fond of being scolded for intuitive playing. “I naturally played what I would have had I grown up on a desert island and never heard the radio. It took me years to unlearn all those rules and get back to the sound I would have made on my desert island.”
On sexism in the music industry: Hersh says she never felt any repercussions as a female musician because she never let anyone treat Throwing Muses differently. “Maybe it’s because we didn’t feel particularly one gender or another. I still don’t,” she says. “I think that’s a healthier way to be, and I hate to see women aligned as a gender when men don’t have to be a gender. I am a feminist and yet I don’t acknowledge any sexism in my life. And I don’t get much — I never have.”
Making a difference: Wisdom is not the only thing Hersh has acquired after 20-plus years in the biz. After witnessing countless cases of unjust practices against artists by major record labels, she came up with a strategy to combat them.
In 2007, Hersh started CASH (Coalition of Artists & Stake Holders) as a strictly independent venture that exists to eliminate the middleman, meaning, no record label and distributor. The music exists simply for the artist and the audience and is sustained by donations and mutual collaborations. Their catalogue thus far includes just Hersh, but Donita Sparks & the Stellar Movements, and Xiu Xiu have joined the roster.
Fighting words: Of major labels, Hersh feels that anything that simplifies artists instead of making them multi-dimensional beings has a “bimbo-izing” effect. “Music is not simplistic, humans are not simplistic, and yet they market the crap as if it were valuable,” Hersh says. “It’s fruitless because, ultimately, no one is truly going to buy what they’re saying. It’s as if they’re saying, ‘McDonalds must be the best food because billions have been served.’ And we all know that’s not true.”
A lot on her plate: In March, Hersh is bringing the United Kingdom “Paradoxical Undressing,” a live spoken word project that incorporates film, music, performance art, collaborations, and memoirs based on Hersh’s life. When a pipe burst in her home in 2005, the restoration process destroyed her finances and resulted in an unwanted move. The memoirs are based on Hersh’s experience recreating her lost, waterlogged diaries. — Katie Heath
Throwing Muses Web site
Kristin Hersh performs “Your Ghost” with Michael Stipe
Throwing Muses perform “Hate My Way”
CHRISSIE HYNDE
Wayfaring stranger: In 1974, after three years of studying art at Kent State University, Hynde moved to England and wrote for NME. She decided she wanted to form a band and relocated to France, then back to her hometown of Akron, Ohio, then back to France, and finally back to England by 1976. There, she worked at Sex Pistols’ manager Malcolm McLaren’s fetish-wear boutique SEX and formed the Pretenders.
A serendipitous start: Before she had even formed the Pretenders, one of Hynde’s mix tapes found its way to Dave Hill, the owner of Real Records, who then became her manager. Following his advice, she rounded up a band, named the Pretenders after a song by ’50s rocknroll group the Platters. Only a few gigs later, the Pretenders’ 1979 single “Stop Your Sobbing” became a Top Thirty hit in the U.K.
A woman in charge: Hynde had already broken a punk gender convention when she assumed the role of the band’s frontperson, but she broke a broader gender convention when she used her status as her band’s songwriter to pen forthright, sexual lyrics. A sample from “Tattooed Love Boys,” off 1980’s Pretenders: “I went apewire / Cause I thought / Like I liked it / Little tease / But I didn’t mean it / But you mess with the goods doll, honey you gotta pay.”
Built to last: The Pretenders formed and rose to stardom in the ’70s, remained active in the '80s, and released the Top 40 hit in 1994, “I’ll Stand By You.” — Arianna Stern
"I Shall Be Released" performed live
"I'll Stand By You" by the Pretenders
SHARON ISBIN
A classic start: Grammy-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin began to play at age 9. Born in Minneapolis in 1956, Isbin’s training began in Italy. She was later a student of classical guitarist greats Andres Segovia and Oscar Ghigila.
A little bit of everything: Isbin has dabbled in a number of genres, with more than 25 recordings ranging from classical to Latin/Spanish to jazz fusion. She’s appeared as a soloist in more than 160 orchestras, including the New York Phillharmonic and the London Symphony. Isbin tours Europe annually and has participated in festivals all over the world. She’s been part of a Guitar Summit tour with jazz artists Herb Ellis, Stanley Jordan, and Michael Hedges and has shared the stage with the likes of Aretha Franklin.
Got Grammys?: Isbin’s album, Dreams of a World: Folk-Inspired Music for Guitar, won a 2001 Grammy for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance, making her the first classical guitarist to receive the award in 28 years. Her second Grammy came in 2002 for Best Instrumental Soloist with Orchestra. Isbin also has been nominated for a few other Grammys, including a 2005 Latin Grammy nomination for Best Classical Album.
Guitar smarts: Isbin received her bachelor’s from Yale University and her master’s from the Yale School of Music. In 1989, she became the founder of the guitar department at the Julliard School, becoming the first guitar director in the school’s history. Still the current director, Isbin originally created the master of music degree, graduate diploma, and artist diploma. In 2007, she added the bachelor of music degree and undergraduate diploma. “When I was a student, Julliard had no program for guitar, a relative newcomer to classical music and it’s pedagogy,” says Abigail Zocher, associate guitar professor at Berklee College of Music. “[Her] contribution is historic.” — Daniela Garcia
Sharon Isbin plays Barrios
CORDELL JACKSON
In a nutshell: Jackson’s mantra is: “If I want to wang dang rocknroll at 69 years old, dressed up in an antebellum dress, it ain't nobody's business but mine."
Guitar granny: Pop culture knows Jackson best as the rocknroll grandma who schooled Brian Setzer in the cheesy '90s Budweiser advertisement. What you may not know is that this fast-fingered guitarist was the first woman to ever produce, engineer, arrange, and promote music on her own rocknroll label, Moon Records, which she started in 1956.
Starting up: Cordell Jackson (née Cordell Miller), was born in Pontotoc, Mississippi, in 1923. With the encouragement of her father, a fiddle player, Jackson learned to play an assortment of instruments, including the mandolin, upright bass, and, of course, the electric guitar. At just 12, Jackson performed alongside her father's string band, the Pontotoc Ridge Runners, in Tupelo, Mississippi.
Doing it herself: In 1943, Jackson moved to Memphis, married, and joined her first band, the Fisher Air Craft Band. Wielding her favorite Hagstrom guitar, Jackson was recognized within the scene for her ultra-fast, rockabilly licks, quick quips, and, well, her gender. Unfortunately, a female slaying on guitar was an oddity at the time.
When Sun Records "couldn't find time" to audition Jackson, she decided to take matters into her own hands. In 1956, Jackson purchased her own recording equipment and set up a studio in her living room, the birthplace of Moon Records.
The Moon Record catalogue: In addition to issuing her own tracks such as "Beboppers Christmas," "Rock and Roll Christmas," and "Dateless Night," Jackson released 45s for famed rockabilly groups like Allen Page, Earl Patterson, and the Big Four. At the time of Jackson’s death in 2004, Moon Records was the oldest continuously operating label in Memphis.
A second wind: In the '80s, a renewed interest in rockabilly and Moon Record singles allowed Jackson to quit her day job in real-estate. When Jackson’s singles "Dateless Night" and "She's the One That's Got It" were covered by Tav Falco's Panther Burns and Alex Chilton, heads turned back toward the originator. After the Moon singles became collector's items, Jackson revived the label and released The 50's Rock on the Moon of Memphis Tennessee: an Oddity.
Cordell Jackson — Live in Chicago was released in 1997 and is Jackson's only solo album to date. Recorded two years prior at Schubas Tavern in Chicago, the album showcases Jackson's fast, idiosyncratic ditties and quick wit between tracks. — Katie Heath
Cordell Jackson performing at Brooklyn's Coyote Studios
Cordell Jackson's “The Split” music video
Cordell Jackson appears in Budweiser commercial
JOAN JETT
An early start: Born Joan Marie Larkin in Philadelphia and raised in Maryland and Southern California, after seeing her first concerts — Black Sabbath and the New York Dolls — Jett taught herself how to play guitar at age 13.
Her first band, the Runaways, was a 1970s anomaly: five teenage girls with a screw-you attitude who played their own instruments, wrote their own songs, and blew minds with intense, guitar-driven rocknroll. The band was more widely accepted in Japan than in the U.S. and, unfortunately, disbanded in 1979.
Moving on, Jett recorded her own album and shopped around for a record deal only to be rejected by 28 labels. Determined to build a solo career, Jett and producer Kenny Laguna decided to release the album themselves.
Talk about DIY: With personal savings in tow, the duo pressed the records themselves and sold copies out of the trunk of Jett’s Cadillac. It wasn’t long after that the album was picked up by Boardwalk and released as Bad Reputation in 1981. The album was a mediocre success, but after forming her band the Blackhearts and releasing the follow-up album, I Love Rock and Roll, the title track charted at number one for nearly a month and a half in 1982, and Jett became a bona fide solo artist.
The hit maker: In addition to “I Love Rock and Roll,” Jett has scored eight other Top-40 singles (including “I Hate Myself For Loving You”) and eight platinum and gold LPs.
Paving the way for women in rock: When asked about the environment for women in rock now, Jett says there’s a general attitude that there’s now equality for women and girls in most avenues and career choices. “On one hand, this is true, on the other, not so much,” she says. “If you go to the streets, I think a girl playing an instrument in a rock band is not thought of as being extreme or out of the ordinary anymore. It’s easier to get support from your peers, but if we’re talking about the music industry, well, that’s a whole other deal.”
For the most part, Jett feels that major record labels, radio stations, and the music industry as a whole are stuck in the past. “It gets boring to keep repeating this, but you still do not hear two girls in a row on rock radio, alternative radio, and sometimes even college radio,” she says. “On one level you have very fertile ground for women and girls to make great music. On another level, you have an unreceptive music business. With technology advances, artists now have the capacity to make and distribute their music more easily than when I started out.”
Talk about stamina: The 49-year-old who says she often feels like a 25-year-old released Sinner, her 11th studio album, on her own Blackheart Records label, in 2006.
Favorite guitars: While in the Runaways, Jett played a blond Gibson Les Paul Deluxe. For her early Blackhearts days, she played a white Gibson double cutaway Melody Maker that she purchased from Eric Carmen of the ’70s band, the Raspberries. “I had to replace these guitars for the road, as I was concerned they would get broken or stolen, and the Les Paul was too heavy to be consistently comfortable,” she says. These days, she still uses a Gibson double cutaway Melody Maker; in fact, Gibson is marketing special signature Joan Jett and Blackhearts models of Melody Makers, which are slated to be available in the spring. “They’re made to my specs and settings, plus an on/off toggle switch for easy control onstage,” Jett says.
Sound advice for aspiring guitarists: “Work through your calluses,” Jett says. “Practice to your favorite records. Find some friends to play with, just for fun. Practice, practice, practice! Even if it’s just mindless strumming, I do that all the time. Just keep your hands working!”
The saying is true: Joan Jett is an institution. — Amy Schroeder
"I Love Rock and Roll" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
"Bad Reputation" music video
A Look at Joan Jett's journey
PEGGY ‘LADY BO’ JONES
“Queen Mother of Guitar”: The title is well deserved. When Peggy Jones played guitar alongside rhythm & blues legend Bo Diddley in the ’50s and ’60s, she dropped audiences’ jaws as she kept pace with the master and held her own. As one of the first female guitarists to be taken seriously by major labels, Jones altered the shape of the male-dominated music industry for good.
A sweet start: Born in 1940 and raised in the blues–doo wop–infused Sugar Hill district of Uptown Manhattan in the ’40s, it may be no wonder where Peggy Jones' musical ear came from. Before age 6, Jones had taken to singing and dancing, nurturing her instinctual call for rhythm and movement. At 15, she got her first electric guitar and went on to attend the famed New York High School of Performing Arts in 1955. Although she was there on a dance scholarship, Jones studied music and song arrangements on the side.
The incarnation of “Lady Bo”: In 1956, 16-year-old Jones won Amateur Night for her singing at the legendary New York Apollo Theater. On the same night outside the Apollo, Jones (who happened to have a guitar on hand) had the fortuitous encounter with Bo Diddley.
According to legend, Diddley took Jones under his wing and affectionately designated her “Lady Bo.” He schooled Lady Bo in the way of open-tuned guitars and owning the stage as a musician, not as a backup dancer. Jones heeded Diddley’s advice and taught herself how to play guitar accordingly, and in unison, on her Gibson L6S. Between 1957 and 1963, Jones and Diddley recorded classic singles like, “Hey, Bo Diddley,” “Road Runner,” “Say Man,” and “Bo Diddley’s a Gunslinger.”
The reinvention of Lady Bo: After Diddley, Jones went on to work as a session musician, a nightclub singer, and lent her vocals to several bands. In 1961, she reinstated her first band, the Fabulous Jewels, who later came to be, Lady Bo & the Family Jewels. Serving as their lead vocalist, guitarist, and composer, Jones and her Family Jewels earned a reputation as one of the top R&B east coast bands during the ’60s and ’70s.
Legend material: In 1993, Jones was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Third Annual South Bay Blues Awards Show for her musical contributions to the blues community. In the present, Jones performs on the horn section of her band, the BC Horns, as well as on the occasional gig with Diddley, to the delight of audiences. — Katie Heath
Bo Diddley meets Lady Bo
CAROL KAYE
Claim to fame: Carol Kaye is a Los Angeles-based background guitar and bass musician who has performed on hit records for Phil Spector, David Axelrod, and Brian Wilson throughout the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s. Along with playing guitar on Ritchi Valens' “La Bamba,” Kaye is also credited with supporting the classic Beach Boys album Pet Sounds. Some of the most well-known songs she has worked on include "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys, "Homeward Bound" by Simon and Garfunkel, and "Someday We'll Be Together" by the Supremes. Kaye also has worked with Ray Charles, Nancy Sinatra, and Tina Turner. Her television credits include MASH, Mission Impossible, and the Brady Bunch. In an e-mail interview, Kaye says she never wanted to do studio work, “but decided on it as it paid so much better and I didn’t want my three kids to grow up very poor like I did.”
An early start: Kaye was born in Everett, Washington, in 1935, to musically inclined parents. “We were poor, but when music was played, you had a sparkle in your life," she says on her Web site. Kaye has been a jazz professional since she was 14. She often played in bebop jazz clubs with the finest jazz musicians during the late 1950s around the Los Angeles area. According to Kaye, she was not the only female working within the scene. “There were many fine women in the jazz world that worked constantly with the men,” she says. “Rocknroll came along and took over the former successful jazz clubs, and women simply didn’t want to play rocknroll.”
Breaking the scene: In 1963, Kaye spontaneously picked up the Fender bass when a studio musician did not show up for a scheduled recording session with Capitol Records, and took his place. Kaye soon became the go-to gal for record companies, film persona, and commercial ads. Her first instructional bookHow to Play the Bass, was written in 1969. She has since gone on to write 29 tutorials. Kaye first retired from studio work in 1979, but she eventually re-emerged as a session musician.
Signature moves: Kaye is a top authority on jazz education and the forefront link between the earlier ("better," Kaye notes) method of teaching jazz, based on chord patterns, and the now-popular style of teaching note scales and rock styles.
A musician first: “I never thought of myself as a ‘woman’ playing music,” Kaye says. “Do men think of themselves as, ‘I am a man playing music’?” Her instruments include the Ibanez SRX700 Bass, Thomastik Jazz Flats Strings, Ibanez RG321 Electric Guitar w/Custom Neck, Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro II Neck P/U, and George Benson Electric Flatwound Strings. Her musicianship has been recognized from such groups as the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers, who have honored Kaye for her work in music, movies, and television. She also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pittsburgh Jazz Society at Duqyesne University for her "Outstanding Dedication to Bass Performance & Pedagogy."
Career advice: Kaye also worked for Frank Zappa on the album Freak Out!, playing 12-string guitar. For Zappa’s following album, Absolutely Free, Kaye played on a few songs but declined to play in many as she objected to the lyrical content as a mother of three children. Kaye stresses the importance of her personal work ethic and a healthy, productive lifestyle for all female musicians. "It's critical that women stop smoking pot, don't use drugs of any kind, don't drink booze, and stay alert and healthy at all times,” she says. “It's so easy to get lonely on the road, and "fraternize" — don't do it.” — Brittany Julious
Carol Kaye Web site
Official Carol Kaye Library
NPR Interview with Carol Kaye and Bob Edwards
TARA KEY
Claim to fame: Although a Kentucky woman at heart, there is nothing girly about the way Key manhandles her Les Paul. For more than 30 years, Key’s guitar mastery has been an intrinsic feature of her ’80s-based bands: the post-punk Babylon Dance Band and the Southern indie-rock band, Antietam. While Key garnered critical acclaim as a top guitarist in the ’90s, Antietam never quite saw major-label successes like their contemporaries. Regardless, “flying under the radar” gained Key, Tim Harris (bass), and Josh Madell (drums) respect and esteem among music aficionados.
Tough education: As a teen, Key admired ‘60s pop bands, but she never anticipated playing in a band herself. Nevertheless, Key had a change of heart when she found herself going through “a rather draconian type of treatment” for scoliosis at 16. Confined to her room in a body cast, Key spent two years teaching herself how to play the guitar.
“I was a pretty shy person,” Key says in a phone interview. “But with the guitar I had an instrument, both literally and figuratively, that I could talk through." Citing her athletic side, Key found that she could relate to the instrument the same way she would a sports object. “The guitar felt like a powerful object. This [impression] set me on a path to being very physical with my guitar from the beginning.”
On her sound: “I was about being pop,” Key says. “But honestly the sound of jack hammers was as big an influence on my sound as the Monkees or the Raiders were.” While attending arts school in Louisville, Key latched onto a punk aesthetic in her first band, No Fun. “I wasn’t trying to start a band atmosphere [with No Fun] where I had to learn 40 Led Zeppelin covers,” Key says. “I could learn as I went and make up my own rules.”
The name game: In 1980, The Village Voice called Key “the best female guitarist this side of the Atlantic.” Then in 2005, the same writer retracted the gender specifics when he asked, “Did I mention Tara Key is the best guitarist in the world?” Key questioned the label, wondering why the weekly newspaper made a distinction based on gender. “My entry into [the music industry] was as an artist, and as a guitar player, and it wasn’t particularly an issue for me that I was a girl,” Key says. “I’d like to be considered in the same press as Jimmy Page.”
30 years later: On February 12, Antietam released its eighth album, Opus Mixtum, on Carrot Top Records. Key’s solo work, “acoustic, poppy, heart-charging music a bit lighter in fare,” is said to be a huge element of its sound. Key is also in the process of creating a follow-up to Dark Edson Tiger, a collaboration she released with Rick Rizzo on Thrill Jockey Records in 2000. And if that’s not enough, she’s also hunting down a grant that will allow her to release a compilation of Kentuckian female singer-songwriters she admires like Chilton Price and Loretta Lynn.
Spirit in spades: “I figured out a long time ago that if I were looking to sell a billion records or get certain kinds of accolades, then those were the wrong reasons to be doing this. The right reason to be doing this is to literally stay true to my hands being on my Les Paul.” — Katie Heath
Antietam’s MySpace page
Louisville Punks: A Radio History
KAKI KING
An early start: Katherine Elizabeth King was born in 1979 in Atlanta, Georgia. At age 5, her dad gave her a guitar and she took lessons, but she got serious with another instrument before settling down with guitar. “I added drums because in fourth grade I wanted to be in the school concert band as a guitarist or a bassist, but they needed a drummer,” says King, who still frequently plays drums. Though she plays drums on her latest album, Dreaming of Revenge (Velour), her guitar playing is her signature talent.
New York state of mind: While studying at New York University, King considered a career as a musician. With Elvis and Madonna as influences, she finished her undergraduate work in three years and took a year off to figure out what kind of graduate school she wanted to attend. “It provided me the opportunity to live in New York and just work and have a good time.” That year off cemented her desire to become a musician. “I had no delusions of grandeur about being a success. My greatest achievement,” she states with no degree of sarcasm, “was playing on a subway some years back and having a young IT guy in a suit at the end of the business day stop and listen to me for several hours. He told me I healed something in him.”
Everybody loves you: King released her first album, Everybody Loves You, in 2003, and has put out several others, including her latest, Dreaming of Revenge, where she continues to expand her repertoire and push herself musically. In late 2007, King was nominated for a Best Original Score Golden Globe Award for the music she played in Into the Wild, directed by Sean Penn. “My biggest disappointment is not getting to go to the Golden Globe ceremony this year [due to the writer's strike], and being mistaken repeatedly for Ellen Page.”
Up next: Touring, endless touring. “I'm looking forward to seeing the world again,” King says. “I'm going to try and visit all the 826 tutoring centers that Dave Eggers and a lot of interesting people have built up around the country.” — Jonathan Shipley
"Playing with Pink Noise" by Kaki King
Kaki King - Dreaming of Revenge
COURTNEY LOVE
Courtney the rolling stone: Born in San Francisco in 1964, Love spent her early years living in communes in New Zealand and Oregon. She later traveled the world with money from a trust fund and befriended U.K. rockers before heading back to the states to pursue her own career in music.
Finding a band of her own: Eventually, Love made her way back to the Golden State where she spent six months as the front woman for Faith No More. She parted from the group because of creative differences. Between 1987 and 1989, Love went on to join — and be kicked out of — several groups, including Sugar Baby Doll and Babes in Toyland. In 1989 the self-taught guitarist posted an ad to form a new band. Eric Erlandson responded, and together they founded Hole with Love as the lead singer and guitarist.
The Hole era: Hole released its first album, Pretty on the Inside, in 1991 on Caroline Records. In 1994, the quartet released Live Through This, just days after the death of Love’s husband, Kurt Cobain. It took four years for the group to record another album. Of the group’s three studio albums, their last CD, Celebrity Skin was the most commercially successful. The album featured five songs co-written by Billy Corgan and scored to two Grammy nominations.
The clash: Pitchfork Media News Editor Amy Phillips says Love has a simple way of playing that involves basic power-chord pop structures. “It’s the abrasiveness that she layers on top of those simple structures — via production, lyrics, and attitude — that makes her music click,” Phillips says. “The clash between ugliness and beauty is what Courtney Love is all about, and I think that comes through in her playing.”
Phillips adds that she loves how Love described her style in a Guitar World magazine article — “incredibly sloppy rhythmatist.” “But within my weird sloppiness, there’s a real gift, a sort of sexiness,” Love says in the story.
A guitar named Venus: In 1997 she hooked up with Fender to design the Vista Venus. This accomplishment made Love one of two females at the time to have a personal line of guitars.
Flying solo: Hole announced its breakup in 2002. Two years later, Love released her first solo album, America’s Sweetheart, and made headlines for her struggles with drug abuse. Despite the controversy, the actress and Givenchy muse can be found touring with a new band and guitar in hand. — Niema Jordan
"Celebrity Skin" by Hole
Official Web site
LYDIA LUNCH
No Wave in New York: In the 1970s, Lydia Lunch formed Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. It was in this trio that Lunch developed her style: loud, unstructured, and shocking. While many guitarists are known for their form and finesse, she is popular for her passionate disregard of traditional playing techniques. The shrill and pure noise made Lunch a staple in the No Wave scene, a New York–centered ’70s punk offshoot that cared more about dissonant racket than melody.
The Lunch sound: “My aesthetic comes more out of a deliberate noise,” she says from her home in Barcelona. “My guitar either sounds like it’s howling in distress, screaming in agony, or brutally beating out the message like a hammer to one’s head.”
Not really a musician?: “I consider myself a journalist in spite of all of the forms I create in,” says Lunch, who started several other bands, including Beirut Slump in the ’70s and 13.13 in the ’80s, and launched a solo career in the same decade. She also starred in underground films The Right Side of My Brain and Fingered and is a spoken-word artist. Lunch even has a photography book due out this year. “I’m documenting this moment in my history or my hysteria, or history’s hysteria,” she says.
Hating her tool: After devoting more time to spoken word, Lunch recently started playing the guitar again and describes it as an “ugly hunk of wood with six strings.” Suprisingly, Lunch says she despises the instrument. “I think it’s ugly, it’s awkward, and it hides the belly,” she says. “I don’t think women should hide the belly.” But despite her feelings about the guitar, Lunch notes how useful it is to convey the tone and meaning of the songs she records.
Heed this advice: “Whatever instrument you’re going to use and abuse, if you can’t or don’t want to master it, then you really have to invent something that sounds different.” — Niema Jordan
"Dance of the Dead Children" by Lydia Lunch
Official Web site
BARBARA LYNN
From keys to strings: Born in Beaumont, Texas, in 1942, Barbara Lynn (born Barbara Lynn Ozen and dubbed the “Empress of Gulf Coast Soul”) began her career in the early ’60s as an R&B singer and left-handed guitarist. Originally a pianist, Lynn made the jump to guitar at an early age and hasn’t looked back since. "I realized I wanted to play something odd, so I picked up the guitar,” Lynn says in an interview with the Texas Music Group in 1999.
After initial fame in the 1960s, the singer has recently seen resurgence in her career after receiving the Pioneer Achievement Award in 1999 by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.
Starting early: Lynn spent her high school years teaching herself how to play guitar. She soon began writing poems, turning them into songs and performing in blues clubs in southeast Texas. Lynn created the group Bobby Lynn and the Idols after initial inspiration from pop artists such as Elvis Presley and blues artists such as Jimmy Reed, and began winning local talent shows.
A very “Good Thing”: In 1962, Lynn garnered a No. 1 R&B and Top 10 pop hit with the song “You’ll Lose a Good Thing.” Her first single, “You’ll Lose a Good Thing” was first recorded at age 18 after being introduced to local music entrepreneur Huey P. Meaux in Texas. The song became her signature tune and was written — according to an interview with Bluesmusicnow.com — as a personal statement and a response to a breakup with a boyfriend. Aretha Franklin as well as country music singer Freddy Fender has covered the song.
Taking a break: Lynn toured with singers such as Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, and Sam Cooke but took a break from life on the road when she got married at age 28 and had three children. After the death of her husband, Lynn moved from Los Angeles back to Beaumont and began recording again.
Recent Work: Lynn released the album Hot Night Tonight in 1999. Lynn’s “I’m a Good Woman” was sampled on Moby’s album 18 in 2002. Lynn continues to record and perform nationally, with early video clips of her performances popular on YouTube. — Brittany Julious
Samples from Barbara Lynn's Hot Night Tonight
Barbara Lynn performing a cover of Ray Charles’ “What’d I Say” in 1966
Barbara Lynn performing “You’ll Lose a Good Thing”
CHRISTINA MARRS
Going to 11 without the amp: Unlike guitarists who rely on half-stacks and subwoofers to grab the attention of their audience, Christina Marrs prefers to play acoustic.
As one-half of the permanent lineup of the Asylum Street Spankers, Marrs plays guitar, ukelele, and banjo while Wammo sings. Acoustic instrumentation complements the band’s sound, which imbues musical styles from the '20s, '30s, and '40s with the energy of pop.
Asylum Street: Formed in Austin in the mid-'90s, the Asylum Street Spankers named themselves after Guadalupe Street in Austin, nicknamed Asylum Street because it led to the state hospital. According to the Spankers’ Web site, a “spanker” is someone who plays his or her instrument proficiently and vigorously, though UrbanDictionary.com disagrees.
Stick Magnetic Ribbons on Your SUV: In early 2007, the video for the song “Stick Magnetic Ribbons on Your SUV” hit YouTube, garnering almost 900,000 views to date. The melody mimics the 1970’s song “Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round The Ole Oak Tree” and integrates the melody into a double entendre and pun-heavy showtune. Asylum Street Spankers use humor to deliver a political message: an SUV’s oil-dependence might not be the best way to support our troops, and spending $1.93 on a magnet can’t compensate for political apathy. — Arianna Stern
“Stick Magnetic Ribbons on Your SUV” video
SATOMI MATSUMOTO
The fount from which creativity flows: Satomi Matsumoto has spent an exceptional amount of time delving into the arts both as a musician and as a painter; at one point, she's even developed 8 mm animation.
As the vocalist and guitarist of Japan’s Saboten (which means “cactus” in Japanese), Matsumoto isn’t just a rocker — she considers herself a “rock painter.” Calvin Johnson, musician and owner of K Records, has been a fan of Matsumoto and Saboten since 1984, saying that he’s “always liked the band's subdued yet challenging style.”
In November 2007, Matsumoto released a solo album and book of paintings called Bronze and Willow. The CD includes a disc with music, but it also includes her paintings to visually illustrate the story behind the music. You can synchronize the images with the 14 tracks on the album. — Christy Mannering
Saboten official Web site
MEMPHIS MINNIE
Before she was Minnie: Memphis Minnie was born in 1897 and raised 20 miles from Memphis in Walls, Mississippi. The self-taught guitarist left home in her early teens to pursue her passion for music. Originally known as “Kid” Douglas, she performed in many venues and traveled with the Ringling Brothers Circus during the formative years of her career.
Southern roots, Midwest blues: In the 1930s, Minnie moved to Chicago where she became a staple on the blues scene. During a time when most females of the genre were solely vocalists, Minnie was known and respected as a singer and guitarist. In a male-dominated tradition, Memphis Minnie was able to hold her own, invoking the thick, muddy soul of the bayou in her blues.
The poet explains: In 1943, after seeing Minnie perform at a club, poet Langston Hughes published an article in one of America’s most noted black newspapers, the Chicago Defender. Hughes praised her ability to capture emotion and convey it through her guitar as well as move the crowd. “The way Memphis Minnie swings it sometimes makes folks snap their fingers,” he wrote, “women get up and move their bodies, men holler, ‘Yes!’”
Endurance through the decades: Minnie recorded blues for more than 40 years. Her career was able to survive because of talent and the ability to adapt. She was ahead of her time, incorporating the electric guitar into the genre before her counterparts.
Samples and covers: Memphis Minnie’s legacy continues on in the music of others. Led Zeppelin covered her song “When the Levee Breaks,” and Bob Dylan sampled the song on his 2006 album Modern Times. — Niema Jordan
Listen to "When the Levee Breaks" at the Internet Archive
JONI MITCHELL
A goddess is born: Joni Mitchell, born Roberta Joan Anderson in Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1943, will go down in history as one of the iconic North American musicians. Self-described as "a lonely painter," she's a busker, poet, and troubadour. Sometimes dubbed "the female Bob Dylan" or, much to her chagrin, "the greatest female songwriter," the true identity of Joni Mitchell can be put most simply as “legend.”
An instrument of her expression: Mitchell's guitar work is some of the most inventive in popular music history. She is famous for tuning her guitar in dozens of ways (more than 75, at last count) to achieve chords that would be otherwise impossible. She has experimented with the dulcimer and developed her own style of playing the acoustic guitar, mixing traditional fingerpicking techniques with percussive slaps and folksy strums. Mitchell is a well-known advocate of the Martin D-28 guitar, although most of her albums since the ’80s have been recorded on electric guitars (at the urging of Neil Young, no less). In a February 1995 Guitar Player interview, Mitchell said she thinks of the guitar as an orchestra. She thinks of all her compositions in three parts: chord construction, melody, and lyrics. This all-encompassing view of what used to be considered a gauche art, popular music, is evidence of Mitchell's timeless, some might say eerie, wisdom.
What can't she play? Mitchell’s songs have referenced just about every genre of music available in America (and Canada). She taught herself to play the ukulele at age 18 (a guitar being too expensive at the time) to entertain patrons at local bars in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Mitchell got her professional start in the music industry as a songwriter — one of her heroes, Judy Collins, achieved success with what would be Mitchell's future hit, "Both Sides Now." After having some success as a songwriter, with hit tracks recorded by country singer George Hamilton IV and folksinger Tom Rush, among others, by 1969, Reprise Records had released Clouds, Mitchell's second full-length album. Through the early '70s, Mitchell mastered the folk sound, but with 1974's chart-topping Court and Spark, she flirted with more traditional rocknroll compositions. She quickly followed it up with an equally rocking live album, Miles of Aisles, the album's live version of "Big Yellow Taxi" became one of her biggest hits.
A musical alchemist: "I've transcribed some of her vocal performances and seen some of the most advanced rhythmic structures that I've ever found in Western recorded music," says Bob Palmieri, a Joni Mitchell aficionado and jazz guitar professor at DePaul University in Chicago. Beyond the folk-pop aspirations of many of her contemporaries, Mitchell experimented wildly with the guitar and musical composition throughout her career. "It's precisely her freedom from any number of dogmatic principles that distinguishes her as a true artist. Anywhere that diatonic relationships between chords are the right tool, that's what she uses," Palmieri continues. He imagines Mitchell forming and reforming chords as she saw fit, futzing around until it sounded like magic.
Greg Kot, music critic for the Chicago Tribune and co-host of Sound Opinions, calls Mitchell a one-of-a-kind guitarist. “In popular music, I don't think there's been anyone quite like her in the last 40 years,” Kot says. “I would put her in the category of a Curtis Mayfield, another great guitarist whose chords and phrasing were one of a kind. Like Mayfield, Mitchell's guitar playing served her songs, rather than spotlighting her skills as a musician. I think that's why she's not often recognized on ‘best guitar player’ lists. She didn't play solos, per say, or show off on the instrument. But her songs would be unimaginable without her guitar playing, and those songs are amazing."
Stop the presses: As the free-spirited ’70s turned into the callous ’80s, Mitchell retreated both physically and musically. She began avoiding interviews in earnest with magazines that had disrespected her with misogynist coverage (most famously: Rolling Stone published a piece in 1971 that diagrammed her purported sexual dalliances and dubbed her both "Old Lady of the Year" and "Queen of El Lay." Mitchell blackballed RS for almost 10 years. Although RS was gracious enough to include her as one of only two females in their 2003 "100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time" list, along with Joan Jett, there remains a breach between Mitchell and the mainstream music press that will never be mended). Musically, she recorded the heavily jazz-influenced Don Juan's Reckless Daughter and the collaboration with jazz great Charles Mingus, who approached Mitchell to work with him, on 1979's Mingus.
Still building a legacy after 21 albums: Joni Mitchell's most recent album was released on Starbucks' Hear Music label, 2007's Shine. It has been reviewed positively, largely heralded as a return to the poetic, story-weaving Mitchell who brought American folk music into the mainstream of popular music back in the ’60s and ’70s. Mitchell has inspired dozens of tribute songs (see: Sonic Youth's "Hey Joni" from their iconic Daydream Nation, Led Zeppelin's classic "Going to California," and scores more), numerous biographies, loads of artwork, and, most importantly, thousands and thousands of songwriters. As long as her recordings endure, people all over Earth will be able to hear what genius sounds like. — Dana Stewart
Joni Mitchell Web site
The Joni Mitchell Discussion List (the most comprehensive collection of articles on Mitchell)
Morrissey interviews Joni Mitchell
1979 Rolling Stone interview by Cameron Crowe
Joni Mitchell performs "Amelia" live
Joni Mitchell performs "The Circle Game" live in 1966
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The Greatest Female Guitarists of All Time, O-Z
Comments
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LA09 (over 3 years)
This is probably the worst article I've ever read. All things labeled "greatest female insert lame phrase here" are. As if we can't just be greatest guitarists, we must be greatest FEMALE guitarists. I'm actually ashamed of giving it my time -- I can never regain those precious seconds of my life. Pretty much any woman who has ever held a guitar made this list.. clearly it's not for talent.. but if it were based on talent, since it says "greatest female guitarists of all time".. where the f*** is JULIANA HATFIELD?!
vasellina (over 3 years)
joan jett is not a great guitar player. she is a badass girl who plays guitar but that's it. she plays 3 chord punk songs. i think as women we should set our standards a little higher than that. what about bonnie raitt? or dolly parton? or carrie brownstein?
mandalin (over 3 years)
although you are correct to complain about the absence of dolly parton, carrie brownstein and bonnie raitt are on the list. theyre just not on the H-M list because this is compiled alphabetically. also, although id generally agree that adding female is negative, this is a response to Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitar Players list that was unnecessarily--and enragingly--male centered. since male guitarists have all the representation and credit due them, this list is meant to shed some light on women who were just as talented but much more ignored
occum52 (over 2 years)
I like this article very much!! Nice to see the ladies get some much due attention for all that hard work they have put in, in playing and leading so strongly in the guitar world. I do think that some belong on this list and some definitely do not. We all know who REALLY does! One thing though, I bought my first real guitar in 1973, it was a Gibson L6S Custom. I still have this guitar, it still plays great. In the write up on Peggy 'Lady Bo' Jones, its mentioned that she played an Gibson L6S around '57-'63. How is this possible, when the L6S did not even exist until 1973?
Ren (over 2 years)
I have no issue with the title as I see in some of the comments. I do disagree with the selection made and felt that some of the "greatest" were left out. What's so wrong with using the word Female in the title? Let's celebrate our own gender without being compared to men - it does'nt mean we're inferior! Although I disagreed with the selection, at least there was enough description to keep me reading.
Scott (about 1 year)
No Jennifer Batten? If she's good enough to be in Jeff Beck's band, she's easily a top 10 guitarist, male or female
alex (about 1 year)
youre all freaking retarded. theres a reason theyre not on rolling stone or other lists, its because they are nobody's compared to the jimmy pages, joe satriani, slashs, and vais of the art of guitar. it doesnt matter if youre a man or a woman. theres no reason to be "enraged" that two woman made that list, there are some things woman made more of a mark on, and some things men have done a little more in. these ladys on this list are mostly a joke compared to the guitar players you hear about more. not saying they are bad, or untalented, but to say this list should be called greatest guitarists and not greatest female guitarists is laughable
yann Poisson (about 1 year)
Poison ivy of the Cramps is brilliant and versatile. she plays effortless. She was one of the first generation punk rock players. Ivy has an excellent ability to take in influence and turn out originality. She isnt just a great female guitar player she is a great guitar player regardless of her gender.
D. (about 1 year)
Seriously, you might consider Ellen McIlwaine for a list like this. She struggled for years to gain some kind of rock star status, thinking that Will Lee or Jack Bruce (made albums with both) would gain her stature. Her solo effort, We The People, showed that she needed no help, though. Still active up in mid-western Canada, and a World Treasure, however flawed, if there ever was one.
Gemma Lye (about 1 year)
Where's Louise Post???
Hart Prick (about 1 year)
You've got the wrong SABOTEN band's link there. This is the correct one: http://www.saboten.biz/
stinkfistula (10 months)
where's Cyndi Lauper
miguel sanchez (3 months)
Where is sandi thom? one of the most creative innovative guitarists going, blues, rock, pop, jazz she doesnt stick to playing one thing. Look at her website for one www.sandithom.com and look the the soundcloud page, then you'll understand
liliput1 (3 months)
I really like the article when i search for good stuff i found your article...
WeAreOurOwnDevils (3 months)
I agree with Vaselina.^^^^^^ Yep. Thanx
orphinsit (3 months)
hey LA09 this articles is a best one why you said worst...don't say this ok
zingwang (2 months)
I really like the band.The band was more widely accepted in Japan than in the U.S. and, unfortunately, disbanded in 1979.