For Women's History Month, one of music's giants tells her life story

This week, Michael Hann wrote in The Guardian,

You can assess influence by listening to beats in clubs, or bands in bars, but that is vanity, really. The true extent of influence is not in how a particular sound touches the outer margins of music, acclaimed by the congnoscenti, but in how deep it penetrates the most popular music. That is why the Beatles are the most influential group ever, and why Shania Twain is a colossally important figure in modern music. 

Country music purists bemoan the current state of the genre, which they lament for having little to do with Hank Williams. But the stuff that sells copies and fills stadiums – even if doesn’t sound much like Shania, one of those artists who has crossed over to first-name status – owes her a colossal debt. Today’s biggest country star Luke Bryan may not even write about the same things as her, yet Shania opened the door for country to be genetically spliced with whatever else was popular. 

In company with her then husband, producer and songwriting partner Robert John “Mutt” Lange – who had helped AC/DC and Def Leppard to international superstardom – Shania decountrified country on the albums Come on Over and Up!, putting out different versions for different markets. She wanted her music bought not just by country fans, but also pop fans. And you hear those lessons not just in bro country, but in Carrie Underwood, Kelsea Ballerini and in the biggest pop star of the modern age, Taylor Swift. Shania Twain may not be the power she once was, but she is still everywhere. That’s influence. MH

And Henry Bemis Books agrees!

Twain, Shania, From This Moment On (Atria Books, 1st edition, second printing, 2011). ISBN 978-1-4516-2074-0. The autobiography of one of the leading pop music stars of the last quarter century. Hardcover, unclipped dustjacket with a crease in back flap. Good condition. Inscribed on the front end paper, “Lindz- you’re the best! XXOO’s Shania Twain.”  424 pp., color illustrations. HBB price: $30.