University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations August 2012 Sweet Nothings: Women in Rockabilly Music: LaVern Baker and Janis Martin Stephanie P. Lewin-Lane University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the African American Studies Commons, Music Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Lewin-Lane, Stephanie P., "Sweet Nothings: Women in Rockabilly Music: LaVern Baker and Janis Martin" (2012). Theses and Dissertations. 11. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/11 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. SWEET NOTHINGS: WOMEN IN ROCKABILLY MUSIC LAVERN BAKER AND JANIS MARTIN by Stephanie Lewin-Lane A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Music at The University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee August 2012 ABSTRACT SWEET NOTHINGS: WOMEN IN ROCKABILLY MUSIC LAVERN BAKER AND JANIS MARTIN by Stephanie Lewin-Lane The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2012 Under the Supervision of Dr. Gillian Rodger Rockabilly music is an exciting and vibrant style of early Rock and Roll that originated in the 1950s. With its aggressive beat and anti-establishment connotations, rockabilly is considered a widely male-dominated genre, a point supported by the majority of scholarship and literature on the subject. However, a review of available contemporary recordings, television shows, advertisements and interviews show that women were an integral part of the history of rockabilly music.