How many bands record two albums (1975 and 1976) and then do their follow-up 36 years later? I can only think of one, The Deadly Nightshade. The band was, and is, comprised of Pam Brandt, Helen Hooke and Anne Bowen. Some folks have said they were the first all-women band signed to a major label, but that is not true, as there were bands like Fanny, Isis and Birtha that pre-dated them. What is true is that they were the first all-women band signed to a major label who recorded openly feminist music, and one of their anthems was “High Flying Woman.” They only charted once, in 1976 with a disco version of the “Theme from Mary Hartman,” from the TV show…an anomaly, as all the rest of their music was more of a country or bluegrass sound.
The new CD has six new songs, including the humorous “John Deere Tractor Song,” about a very naked female tractor driver (a true story), and their first song to deal with gay/lesbian issues, called “Don’t the Lovers Ever Win?” And then it has something quite cool, five videos of them performing live, from the 1984 National Women’s Music Festival, so the CD is not leaving behind their history.
And what prompts this blog entry is my latest show on Queer Music Heritage, an indepth interview with Pam Brandt, so I hope you will check that out…it comes complete with my fanatical thoroughness to capture the history….at….
And the band has a very informative website, here
