Right by Her Roots

Much more than a smart, informative series of profiles of Americana’s leading female singer-songwriters. This book brims with empathy and insight and inhabits the spiritual journeys of its subjects to reveal how their search for meaning and fulfillment nourishes and shapes their bodies of work. In the process it also makes a case for why the voices of these women speak to those of us who keep returning to their music for sustenance and inspiration.

~Bill Friskics-Warren, author of I’ll Take You There: Pop Music and the Urge for Transcendence

With a powerful wit, intense attentiveness, and eloquent empathy, Jewly Hight is a dream come true for the songwriters to whom she pays careful and affectionate heed. By calling our attention to them, she lifts their voices, testifying concerning the ways their work uplifts, invigorates, and challenges our otherwise all-too-settled imaginations. Prepare to be enriched by this culturally crucial account.

~David Dark, author of The Sacredness of Questioning Everything

Right By Her Roots establishes Jewly Hight as one of the Americana scene's sharpest writers.

~Juli Thanki, senior writer for The 9513

Jewly Hight's conversations with eight of America's best singer-songwriters yield fascinating insights into these gifted artists' creative process and such personal subjects as their spiritual beliefs. An intriguing read.

~Holly George-Warren, author of Public Cowboy #1: The Life and Times of Gene Autry and co-author of The Road to Woodstock

In this remarkable book, music journalist Hight offers a perspective rarely seen in books on contemporary music--the stories of women singers and songwriters who have probed deeply and examined their geographical, cultural, familial, and religious roots in their music. Through interviews with Lucinda Williams, Julie Miller, Victoria Williams, Michelle Shocked, Mary Gauthier, Ruthie Foster, Elizabeth Cook, and Abigail Washburn, Hight allows these women to tell of the ways they have used music to go beyond their roots in search of their identities. She splendidly explores each artist's entire catalog, reflecting on the ways their music reveals the struggle to stand right by their roots. For example, Gauthier speaks of and to people on the social margins, identifying with them particularly through her own experience of being orphaned. Hight offers readers a glimpse of the many ways that music can transcend the ordinary to reveal the ongoing spiritual struggles that define an individual's relationship to others and to the world. Verdict This beautifully crafted little book introduces the deeply felt music of many of these women for the first time and brings their music to new audiences. For all collections.

~Henry L. Carrigan, Jr., Evanston, IL, Library Journal

As incisive and insightful as the women she profiles, Jewly Hight has filled these pages with remarkable, creative portraits of remarkable, creative people.

~Peter Cooper, Senior Music Critic, The Tennessean