The publication of Songs She Wrote: Forty Hits by Pioneering Women of Popular Music in March, 2025 signals a fresh wave of celebrations for women songwriters of the jazz decades. Go to this page to order your copies:
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/songs-she-wrote-9798881859893
Interview about Songs She Wrote for Times Square Chronicles
Suzanna Bowling interviewed me about Songs She Wrote, for the Live from Hotel Edison Times Square Chronicles podcast. The interview was in the spring of 2025, and was broadcast on October 22, 2025.
More guest appearances on the Sing Sing Sing radio program of Will Friedwald
A tribute to Irene Higginbotham, in celebration of Black History Month, in February, 2026.
And a tribute to Mary Lou Williams as a songwriter, in April, 2026, spurred by a San Diego concert of her Zodiac Suite.
These broadcasts of Sing Sing Sing are available on the websites of radio station KSDS San Diego and the Podbean site of Will Friedwald.
Black Women Songwriters of the Jazz Decades
On March 21, 2026, at the Mount Kisco Library, sponsored by the Mount Kisco Arts Council, I gave a presentation about Black Women Songwriters. This was in celebration of Black Women in Jazz and the Arts Month, as well as Women’s History Month. With me was the jazz singer, Tammy Brown, and her accompanists. We looked at songs by famous Black women like Billie Holiday and Mary Lou Williams, and less famous ones like Jeni Le Gon, Mayme Watts, Edna Alexander, and Irene Higginbotham.
Before that, I gave a talk at …
The Ceres Gallery, a feminist, not-for-profit alternative art gallery
This talk-and-concert was in celebration of the mission of the Ceres Gallery and the exhibit of artworks by Marcy Bernstein and Carlyle Upson, on September 11, 2025.
Miss Maybell and Charlie Judkins took us back to the age of ragtime and jazz through their captivating music performances, while Michael Garber sketched the lives and careers of women who braved the cold world of pop song writing. More than four dozen attendees experienced the hidden history of pioneering women in the world of American popular music! Keep an eye out for a video of this presentation, upcoming.
Here are Miss Maybell and Charlie Judkins (and band), performing a song written by Ruth Fernandez Such, “Georgia Lee.”
2025 Book Launch events
During the first half of 2025, the publication of Songs She Wrote was celebrated by many events in New York City and Westchester county. These events were in tribute to Women’s History Month in March, and Jazz Appreciation Month in April. Some of those from March were recorded author talks or broadcasts, linked below.
From March 5, 2025, comes this WFUV radio station featurette recorded at the Book Launch, sponsored by the Tin Pan Alley American Popular Music Project, at The Center at West Park, Manhattan.
https://wfuv.org/content/women-tin-pan-alley-music-history
From March 29th, 2025, comes this video, of “Radical Women Songwriters of Tin Pan Alley,” an author talk by Michael G. Garber at the Curio Room (a book and gift store in Mount Kisco, New York), with an introduction about the store by Ray Mak.
Sing Sing Sing radio broadcasts by Will Friedwald
Celebrating African American women songwriters
Feb. 8, 2025, 10 am PT, streamed from the following link:
Two broadcasts from March, 2025, celebrating Women’s History Month, focusing on Women Songwriters of the Swing Era:
These can also be found streamed from KSDS, 88.3, San Diego, CA:
https://www.jazz88.org/programs/Sing!_Sing!_Sing!
In May, a podcast featuring Michael was recorded that will be broadcast in late 2025. Michael was interviewed by Suzanna Bowling, the head of Times Square Chronicles.
The website for that podcasting outlet is: