Remote The Durham Museum

Join Pat at the Durham Museum for Women Who Rock 10am-12noon

RELEASE YOUR INNER ROCK STAR
The Durham Museum begins a remarkable 2013 schedule with a provocative exhibition from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power illustrates the importance of women in the world of popular music from the 1920s to present day. It highlights the flashpoints, the firsts, the best, and the celebrated and sometimes lesser-known women whose artistry advanced the progress of rock-and-roll music. Featuring more than 250 artifacts and performance videos, the exhibition moves through rock-and-roll eras, demonstrating how women have been engines of creation and change.

Women played a central role in the development of the rock-and-roll genre, beginning with early blues artists, like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. Spirited rhythm-and-blues singers—such as Ruth Brown, LaVern Baker, and rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson—added their creative talents to popular music through its explosive growth in the ’50s. Girl groups, like the Shirelles and Supremes, dominated the charts in the early ’60s while Janis Joplin, Grace Slick, and Joni Mitchell carried the torch into the ’70s. Today, music is ruled by women from Lady Gaga to Alicia Keys, Rihanna to Carrie Underwood.

In addition to being the writers and voices of beloved songs, many women have made their marks by playing instruments in their bands. Women Who Rock features guitars played by Wanda Jackson, Nancy Wilson, Bonnie Raitt, and Taylor Swift; a drum played by Meg White; and Lady Gaga’s childhood piano. In addition to musical instruments featured artifacts include clothing, handwritten lyrics and music, session cards, concert posters, photographs, dressing room notes, appointment notebooks, and a Tony award statuette.