‘Woman Walk The Line’ Earns Belmont Book Award

Woman Walk The Line: How The Women of Country Music Changed Our Lives, edited by Holly Gleason, has won this year’s Belmont Book Award. The honor will be presented to Gleason on June 1 during the International Country Music Conference held annually at Belmont University, the conference is the foremost academic gathering devoted to country, roots and bluegrass music in the nation.

“I was startled and thrilled for all of the writers and the artists they celebrated,” Gleason said of the news. “I know how academically accomplished those judges are, and it speaks volumes about the work each of these women did. How music impacts a life, changes a person or even empowers an individual is something we don’t pay enough attention to. At a time when #MeToo and TimesUp matters, this book – and the response to it — is proof that positive women do listen to women’s art, and find within that art a sense of strength, comfort, inspiration and validation. What’s amazing is how many men did, too.”

Gleason will be part of a panel in late July in Cleveland as part of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Author Series, and will also appear on an as yet determined panel at the Country Music Hall of Fame this summer. She has also appeared at the Southern Festival of Books, the Miami Book Fair, and a South by Southwest panel.