Bongo Boy Blues Artist Sheba The Mississippi Queen’s
Book And Blues Album Is All Together A Perfect Combo Deal
A Real Good Woman by Sheba Makeda Beck: A Book Review
Firstly, if you have not heard Sheba’s album by the same name I strongly urge you to
give it a listen. A case can be made that the book is simply a textual version of the album; the
main difference being that on the album Sheba is able to use the bending of notes and her voice
to convey emotion whereas in the book she is limited to nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adjectives.
Secondly, this book, unlike many books that were allegedly written by famous musicians
(I am thinking here of the book by the drummer who was kicked out of Guns N Roses), is both
well written and compelling. The main difference between the two, of course, is the content.
Whereas Steven Adler, has very little to say that is beyond the sensationalistic ramblings of a
recovering drug addict who spent his height of fame in a stupor, Sheba gets to the heart of what
makes her music so rich and powerful. Take, for example, the opening chapter in which she
describes growing up in Mississippi in the 1950s.
When I was coming up, they still had a thing about the lighter you were, the better you
were treated. I was dark with nappy hair. My twin sister is light-skinned and has what we
call very good hair, which means you can get a comb through it.