Katherine Yeske Taylor in Conversation with Amber Ritchie

CRITIC’S PICK: Katherine Yeske Taylor returns to Atlanta Saturday, Jan. 20, to promote her new book, She’s A Badass: Women in Rock Shaping Feminism. Longtime Creative Loafing readers may remember her byline in these pages some years ago. But most people who keep up with music probably know her writing in national publications, including Billboard, Spin, American Songwriter, FLOOD, and others, where she has created a following for her insightful and intuitive brand of music journalism since moving to New York City.

Yeske Taylor got her start writing about music when still in her teens. As she recounted in her piece for Creative Loafing’s 50th anniversary issue, she did so by persisting, by being relentless in contacting CL’s then music editor (full disclosure: me) every week until I gave her an assignment. Well-written and engaging, it was clear Yeske Taylor wrote because she had something to say and wanted to be heard, not just because of an appreciation and understanding of music and the purpose it serves.

She’s A Badass: Women in Rock Shaping Feminism follows through on the promise of her earlier writing, making a strong case for what it means to be a badass, that is, what women have encountered, had to put up with, and endured for choosing to make their way in a male-dominated industry, one that was, until very recently — and, in many ways, still is — sexist, bigoted, and misogynistic; tempered but still unconstrained, by the #metoo movement.

Interviewing twenty badasses, Yeske chronicles the ups and downs along with the pitfalls and breakthroughs they’ve encountered in getting equal billing and achieving gender equality in what, for all too long, has been a male dominated industry. The chapters include discussions with a wide variety of women musicians of varying backgrounds and political views, who see themselves as feminists and those who don’t, including Amy Ray, Cherie Currie, Lydia Lunch, Ann Wilson, Amanda Palmer, Orianthi, and others who have had to maneuver the patriarchal business in order to create their art.

For this event, Yeske Taylor is in conversation with Amber Ritchie who, in addition to her writing and podcasts, serves on the board of Y’All Rock Camp Atlanta, the co-sponsoring non-profit organization working with “trans and nonbinary youth and cis girls through music education, creative expression, and performance.”

In addition to the live discussion, after which Yeske Taylor will be signing copies of her book, the event will also be hosted virtually on crowdcast, Charis’ virtual event platform. Though also free, you must register for the online event here. — Tony Paris