Women's Music Magazines

About my research references: I am very fortunate to have in my archives
fairly complete sets of three wonderful women's music magazines.

Musica

Musica was edited by Indy Allen, out of Troutdale, Oregon, and the first issue was a three-page newsletter
(March 1974). By the fifth issue (Spring 1976) it had grown to 13 pages of news about festivals, new releases
and artist info. The last issue I have is from Spring 1977, but it has no volume number so I cannot tell if
there were any issues between #5 and it; and I do not know if any other issues were done.

Click for Every Issue of Musica

Paid My Dues

Paid My Dues was a remarkable magazine of women's music information, reviews,
interviews, etc. Volume 1 number 1 came out in early 1974, with an amazing 38 pages.

A side comment: in those years it was often hard to determine the names of people putting out magazines.
I know, because I was involved with a gay newspaper (in Norfolk) in the late 70s. There were two forces
going on. One was the common sense element of not wanting to publish your name in a gay/lesbian
identified magazine. Many people would have been in danger of losing their jobs if publically named. Also,
there was a "community spirit" of some of these ventures, where no one wanted to take "credit" for a joint effort.

Anyway, Paid My Dues lasted until 1980 and issued (as far as I know) 15 issues. Some of the people
responsible were Dorothy Dean (founder), Kathryn Gohl, Karen Corti, Judy Erickson, Kathyrn Judd,
Toni Armstrong Jr, and many others. Toni Armstrong Jr went on to found Hot Wire Magazine (The Journal
of Women's Music), published from 1984 - 1994. Shown below on the covers are guitarist Jerene Jackson
and Kay Gardner.

Hot Wire

The third women's magazine in my collection, that is a major resource to me, is the superb magazine Hot Wire.
Its subtitle was "The Journal of Women's Music and Culture," and for ten wonderful years it covered this genre
in both an entertaining and scholarly way. Publisher Toni Armstrong Jr masterly ushered the magazine through
30 issues, and I'm very pleased that I have all in my archives.

And check out my Sept 2005 show for a terrific interview with Toni Armstrong Jr,
perhaps THE expert on women's music publications

Lesbian Tide

No, "Lesbian Tide" was not a music magazine, but it was excellent in its coverage of women's music.
It was published out of Los Angeles, from 1971 through 1980, the prime time for this important history.
I have a handful of the issues and am sharing about 50 of the articles and music ads from it.

Click for Lesbian Tide Articles

And below, from a 1977 issue of "Sing Out!" is a listing of "Feminist Phonograph Records & Tapes." Now, this was not a lesbian magazine, it was a folk magazine, but it gave amazing coverage to lesbian artists and many early and historic recording appear on the listing. I did spot some errors: in the title of Maxine Feldman's song "Angry Atthis," and Margie Adam's name has no "s" on the end, but all in all a remarkable list from a time when it was a a blessing just to see a list like this. Also note the listing of a tape by Casse Culver that pre-dated her album.

And check out my Sept 2005 show for a terrific interview with Toni Armstrong Jr,
perhaps THE expert on women's music publications