Books
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Drive All Day, Because I’m Too Old to Drive All Night, 2022
Read sample chapters * Hear Jamie read a chapter
“You will learn from Jamie’s profound tips, be entertained by her exciting outdoor activities, and revel in the beautiful moments and memories that she shares in her colorful, relatable, and deeply engaging memoir.” F. Falaye, Readers’ Favorite. Read the whole review here.
Jamie rants about everything from Spotify, who paid her ten cents one quarter, to sharing the road with clueless truckers who don’t pull over even when they’re dragging a curtain of sparks behind them. Read about a trip to Hawaii where she hardly noticed the beaches, (Because: Ukuleles), a gig at a hospice where they didn’t want soothing instrumentals and candlelight, and a Canadian winter that saw her walking to class every day, even when the Real Canadians were driving. There’s also the trip to Dollywood where her mom was the oldest person in line for a bone-rattling roller coaster but, then again, this is the same woman who jumped out of a plane in her seventies.
Jamie’s a guitar teacher too, even if any search engine would have you believe guitar teachers are all young guys leaning over smiling women who can’t possibly learn how to form a G chord without manly instruction. She’s had several students from the Chinese embassy who pepper her with questions about Beatles songs, such as, “Did Eleanor Rigby really exist?” or “Why are these songs so sad?” There are pupils with creative excuses for not practicing like, “We couldn’t find her guitar.” She’s had students who aren’t neurotypical, such as her student who communicates using their favorite lines from vintage cartoons. On her popular YouTube channel, viewers ask about lesson details, but they also want to know if she’s married and if she’s lost weight. There are thousands of men who teach online and not one of them is told that the blue in his shirt matches his eyes.
It’s not all music related, like the chapter about being an administrator for a neighborhood group where threads sometimes end up with writers hurling expletives at each other. Very un-Canadian, eh? She also writes about living between two cemeteries (the neighbors are really quiet), and the Uber ride from a New York City airport wherein her driver decided not to kill her and throw her body along the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Get a glimpse of 1970s lesbian bar life with characters like Big Jan in “Definitely a Habit” and a more recent chapter about why barbecued chicken is what makes a festival better.
Dive into a musician’s life and if you learn anything, remember to stay off the roller coasters at Dollywood, unless you have a jumbo bottle of Ibuprofen.
“… give Jamie Anderson’s newest book a read … I particularly loved the stories in this book of her teaching music – virtually and in person. Her experiences with folks on the neuro-diversity spectrum really touched my heart. Get. The. Book.” D. Phillips, fan
An Army of Lovers: Women’s Music of the Seventies and Eighties, 2019
“The women’s music networks were for many of us where we gathered to sing and stomp and share the pulsing rhythms of our lives. This book captures that sense of exhilaration, enthusiasm and possibility so many of us celebrated. What it also does is detail the history of how women rewrote the rules of production and distribution, putting together all kind of women who could rent a theater or church or basement hall so that we could come together and sing the lyrics that detailed what we hoped to accomplish—a revolutionary poetry, an alternative network of women making their own way in the world. When there were no spaces where we could hear our musicians, we made those spaces and along the way remade the rules for what women could accomplish on the neighborhood level. I stood in those crowds, sang along with Meg Christian and Casse Culver and women who played rock & roll and bluegrass and all the music that echoed in my bloodstream. Jamie Anderson has caught the lightning and put it on the page.” — Dorothy Allison (Bastard Out of Carolina)
An Army of Lovers, 2019
Drive All Night, 2014.“A piece of lesbian history from the girl with a guitar who truly sang for her supper. Jamie brings the road to you in color and out loud.” – Suzanne Westenhoefer
Freelance Writer
Creative – quick – sensible shoes
For the music industry: musician bios – one sheets – press releases – web content
Jamie is an accomplished writer with a talent for “getting” the artist. She has written two press releases for me, and she nailed both of them… on time and at a very reasonable price.” – Linq, performing artist
For Media: blogs – books — magazines – newsletters
Published in Acoustic Guitar, AfterEllen.com, Curve, Indie-Music.com, Minor7th.com, SingOut! and more
“As a contributing writer for Sing Out! magazine, Jamie Anderson has consistently done excellent work, meeting deadlines and completing her assignments in a most professional manner, whether submitting reviews or completing article-length assignments, all while exhibiting a deep passion for folk and independent music.” — Blaine Waide, Managing Editor, Sing Out!
“At Minor 7th, Jamie’s music reviews don’t just give a thumbs-up or down, but strive to give a little peek into the heart of the singer-songwriter and offer up why he or she might be laying their soul so bare.” — Alan Fark, editor, Minor7th.com
Want samples? Contact Jamie
Selected Credits
Appearances with:
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Colleges and Universities:
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Festivals (main stage) and other large events:
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Passed on a staircase:
Almost run over in a parking lot by:
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