Research Guides: Lesbian Studies: Music & Musicians

Books & Journals (non-fiction)

InfoKat Discovery
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InfoKat Discovery allows you to quickly search multiple UK library resources simultaneously, including books, journal articles, dissertations, government documents, archives and special collections, images, maps, videos, music and open access content. InfoKat Discovery does NOT include all of the journal articles available through our databases.

Search the online catalog for book and journal titles.

Use Interlibrary Loan (ILL) for titles not found at UK.

Broken Horses: A Memoir by Brandi Carlile
ISBN: 0593237242
Publication Date: 2021
Brandi Carlile is a six-time Grammy Award–winning singer, songwriter, performer, and producer. Since her debut in 2004, she has released six studio albums and was the most nominated female artist at the 2019 Grammy Awards, with six nominations, including Album, Record, and Song of the Year.
GLSG Newsletter for the Gay & Lesbian Study Group of the American Musicological Society by American Musicological Society. Gay & Lesbian Study Group
Publication Date: 2001-2005
Request articles via Interlibrary Loan.
Hera: the Binghamton Women's Center Newspaper by Women's Center (Binghamton, N.Y.)
Publication Date: 1981-1998
Request articles via Interlibrary Loan.
Hot Wire by Not Just a Stage (Organization: Chicago, Ill.)
Publication Date: 1984 - 1994
Request articles via Interlibrary Loan.
Janis : her life and music by Holly George-Warren
ISBN: 1476793107
Publication Date: 2019
Biography of Janis Joplin, establishes the Queen of Rock & Roll as the rule-breaking musical trailblazer and complicated, gender-bending rebel she was. Request via Interlibrary Loan.
Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer by Chely Wright
Publication Date: 2011
Request via Interlibrary Loan.
The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival: an Amazon Matrix of Meaning by Laurie J Kendall
Publication Date: 2008
Request via Interlibrary Loan.
My Red Blood: a Memoir of Growing up Communist, Coming onto the Greenwich Village Folk Music Scene, and Coming out in the Feminist Movement by Alix Dobkin
Publication Date: 2009
Request via Interlibrary Loan.
Queer Episodes in Music and Modern Identity by Sophie Fuller and Lloyd Whitesell
ISBN: 0252075781
Publication Date: 2008
Request via Interlibrary Loan
Sing Out! : Gays and Lesbians in the Music World by Boze Hadleigh
ISBN: 1569801169
Publication Date: 1997, 1991
Request via Interlibrary Loan.
Sounding Out: Pauline Oliveros and Lesbian Musicality by Martha Mochus
ISBN: 0415973767
Publication Date: 2008
Request via Interlibrary Loan.
The Truth Is-- : My Life in Love and Music by Melissa Etheridge; Laura Morton
Publication Date: 2001
Request via Interlibrary Loan.
Women & music : a journal of gender and culture by International Alliance for Women in Music
Call Number: ML82 .W62
Publication Date: 1997-

Databases available at University of Kentucky

Find full-text journal articles, newspaper articles, reference titles, proceedings, and reports.

Music Periodicals Database
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Provides indexing, abstracts, and full-text articles from hundreds of international music periodicals and journals. Some complete journal runs are included, with indexing back to 1874. Coverage includes music education, performance, ethnomusicology, musical theater, theory, popular music, classical music, opera, music theory, music business, and more.
Music Index
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Contains indexing and abstracts of articles about music and citations for book reviews, obituaries, and news articles. Includes articles from over 660 journals; coverage dating back to 1964.
Oxford Music Online
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A gateway to Oxford's music reference publications, offering users the ability to search Grove Music Online together with The Oxford Companion to Music and the Oxford Dictionary of Music, a total collection of more than 70,000 articles on music written and reviewed by subject experts and suitable for musical amateurs, professionals, and scholars alike. Please note: Database restricted to five simultaneous users

Lists of Lesbian Musicians - Websites

Online lists of contemporary lesbian musicians.

Lesbian Love Music Playlists

Lesbian Musicians - Autostraddle

Lesbian Musicians - FamousFix

Lesbian Musicians - Wikipedia

Top 50 Lesbian Songs - Gunaxin

Documentaries & Films

Chely Wright: Wish Me Away by Bobbie Birleffi, Beverly Kopf
Publication Date: 2012
The coming out of country music singer and gay rights activist Chely Wright. In May 2010, she was the first major country music performer to publicly come out as gay. (Amazon Prime / Purchase / Interlibrary Loan)
Cássia Eller by Paulo Henrique Fontenelle
Publication Date: 2014
The first Brazilian in history who was out as an openly gay singer. She had a significant musical career with ten recorded albums. (Amazon / Purchase / Interlibrary Loan)
Hit So Hard by P. David Ebersole
Publication Date: 2012
The film details the life and near death story of drummer Patty Schemel. (Amazon Prime / Purchase / Interlibrary Loan)
International Sweethearts of Rhythm: America's Hottest All Girl Band by Greta Schiller; Andrea Weiss; Maxine Sullivan; Tiny Davis; Ruby Lucas
Call Number: AV-D8155
Publication Date: 2007
Available at the University of Kentucky Libraries.
Pick Up the Mic by Alex Hinton
Publication Date: 2006
Award-winning documentary about the queer hip-hop scene (a.k.a. homohop) which is a subgenre of hip hop and includes gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender artists. (Purchase / Interlibrary Loan)
Radical Harmonies by Dee Mosbacher; Boden C Sandstrom; Margie Adam; June Millington; Lisa Ginsburg; Fawn Yacker; Marla Leech; Dina Maria Munsch
Publication Date: 2002
Request via Interlibrary Loan.
Rise Above: The Tribe 8 Documentary by Tracy Flanagan, director
Publication Date: 2006
Request via Interlibrary Loan.
U people [videorecording] : LGBT rockumentary by Hanifah Walidah & Olive Demetrius
Call Number: AV-D7991
Publication Date: 2010
Available at the University of Kentucky Libraries

Sound Recordings and Albums

Arthur Moon by Arthur Moon
Publication Date: 2019
All songs written by Lora-Faye Åshuvud, except #6, which was co-written by Lora-Faye, Cale Hawkins, and Martin D. Fowler.
The Center Won't Hold by Sleater-Kinney
Publication Date: 2019
Produced by St Vincent and is the last album with drummer Janet Weiss, who announced her departure from the band on July 1, 2019, a month before the album was released.
Flow State by Tash Sultana
Publication Date: 2018
A vibrant and talented musician from Melbourne, Australia
Heart to Mouth by Laura Pergolizzi
Publication Date: 2018
Laura Pergolizzi (aka LP) is an American singer and songwriter born in New York.
Hey, I’m Just Like You by Tegan and Sara
Publication Date: 2019
Ninth studio album by Canadian indie pop duo Tegan and Sara, released via Sire Records.
Industry Games by Chika
Publication Date: 2020
Debut EP, defiant statement of her non-conformist spirit.
Jaguar by Victoria Monét
Publication Date: 2020
Debut album, Victoria Monét earned 2 Grammy nominations for her work as a co-writer on Ariana Grande’s 2019 album Thank U, Next.
We Resist War by Yela Quim
Colombian singer-songwriter, rapper, and fat lesbian artivist Yela Quim believes in art as a way of uplifting, resisting, and healing the wounds of sexist war and violence.

Lesbian Music Videos Online

There are many lesbian music videos found on YouTube by searching with the open ended term lesbian music. The results will include songs and performances by men. To narrow down the search to a specific type of music or video, add search terms or use quotation marks, such as the following examples.

1. lesbian music

2. lesbian music reggae

3. lesbian music country

4. lesbian "folk music"

5. lesbian "indie rock"

Lesbian Gay Band Association

LGBA - Lesbian Gay Band Association
A musical organization comprised of concert and marching bands from cities across the United States and the world. Formed in 1982 as Lesbian and Gay Bands of America when seven independent bands met formally in Chicago, the Association has grown to 38 member organizations including international bands.