In May LARB ran a diverse range of articles that touched on the art, the lives, and the social impact of musicians. Below you will find, among other things: reviews of a memoir by pioneering feminist singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco and of a study of Bob Dylan’s poetics; close — and troubling — readings of Michael Jackson’s songbook and Tom Petty’s short-lived embrace of Confederate symbolism; reassessments of Aretha Franklin and the band Alabama; and an interview with Stephen Malkmus. — LARB Editorial
The Monthly Digest: June 2019
Just a Girl and Her Sad Songs: Ani DiFranco’s Memoir
A feminism rock icon muses about her past and her music.
Alabama’s Mortal Sounds
Revisiting the primal scene — an Alabama concert.
Tangled Up in Blue Poetics: Timothy Hampton Reads a Bob Dylan for the Ages
Rob Wilson considers “Bob Dylan’s Poetics: How the Songs Work” by Timothy Hampton
The Michael Jackson Songbook
After "Leaving Neverland," what can Michael Jackson's lyrics tell us?
Lost and Found
Charles Taylor marvels over "Amazing Grace."
Poems for an Uncertain World: On Serhiy Zhadan’s “What We Live For, What We Die For”
Amelia Glaser recommends “What We Live For, What We Die For: Selected Poems” by Serhiy Zhadan, translated from Ukrainian by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps.
All the Poets (Musicians on Writing): Stephen Malkmus
In this monthly series, Scott Timberg interviews musicians on the literary work that has inspired and informed their music.
More Poems Left in My Chest: A Portrait of the Poet Laureate of Kurdish Jihad
Mohammed Fatih Mohammed considers the legacy of Khider Kosari, the “poet laureate of Kurdish jihad.”
Tom Petty: A Cool, Gray Neo-Confederate?
Connor Goodwin talks to Michael Washburn about his new book on Tom Petty's "Southern Accents."
In the Borderlands Between Reality and Fantasy: On Chloe Aridjis’s “Sea Monsters”
Chloe Aridjis’s "Sea Monsters" is a surreal, captivating tale about the power of a youthful imagination.
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