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The Four Bitchin' Babes is a group of female singer-songwriters with rotating membership performing mainly humorous, satirical, or light-hearted songs in the folk genre. The current touring group consists of Sally Fingerett, Deirdre Flint, Christine Lavin, and Debi Smith. [1] The artists have made numerous albums and have worked with producer Jeff Bova.
Christine Lavin founded the band in 1990. [2] She produced the compilation album On a Winter's Night, then put together a road show of the artists who appeared on it: Patty Larkin, Megon McDonough, Sally Fingerett, and Lavin. The foursome toured throughout the United States, after which Lavin decided to create a live album of their performance at The Birchmere entitled Buy Me, Bring Me, Take Me, Don't Mess My Hair, released on Rounder Records in 1990. [1]
Larkin then signed with Windham Hill Records and left the band; she was replaced by Julie Gold, best known for writing the song "From a Distance". The group continued to tour and released their second album, Buy Me… Volume II in 1993. In the meantime, other artists would substitute in concert for band members who were unavailable, such as Cheryl Wheeler, Janis Ian, and Mary Travers. In 1994, Debi Smith replaced Julie Gold, and they released their third album Fax It, Charge It, Don't Ask Me What's For Dinner in 1995 on Shanachie Records.
In 1997, Lavin chose Camille West to replace her in the band, and the new lineup released the live album Gabby Road: Out Of The Mouths Of Babes, also recorded at the Birchmere. In 2001, the band released the album The Babes: Beyond Bitchin', produced by Jeff Bova, in addition to a live concert DVD. McDonough left the band in 2001 to perform a one-woman show, and she was replaced by Suzzy Roche, formerly of The Roches. In 2002, they released the album Some Assembly Required. In 2004, both West and Roche left the group and were replaced by Nancy Moran and Deirdre Flint. In 2006, they toured for their CD "Hormonal Imbalance: A Mood Swinging Musical Revue".
As of June 2022, the Four Bitch' Babes are touring, including a stop at The Birchmere, where they recorded their first album and see as an "unofficial home base". [3] It may be their last formal tour and Smith, one of the co-leaders, says "We are winding it down". [1]
There have been eleven different members (not counting guest or touring "Babes"), with the Four Bitchin' Babes currently consisting of Sally Fingerett, Deirdre Flint, Christine Lavin, and Debi Smith. Only Fingerett has been a member for their entire history. [1] [3]
Typically, the Babes' albums consist of songs written by the individual members, all of whom have or have had solo careers as well. Songs appearing on their albums, such as "Microwave Life" (by McDonough), "B.O.B. (Battery-Operated Boyfriend)" and "L.A.F.F. (Ladies Against Fanny Floss)" (by West), and "Don't Mess With Me (I'm Somebody's Mother)" (by Fingerett), satirize modern life, especially from a mature female perspective. [3]
Deirdre Flint | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Deirdre Flint |
| Genres | Folk |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, teacher |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals acoustic guitar bass guitar |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Website | https://deirdreflint.net/ |
Deirdre Flint is an American satirical folk-rock singer-songwriter. A former elementary school teacher, she joined Four Bitchin' Babes in 2005.
Her music has appeared on the Dr. Demento radio show and on the television show Nip/Tuck , as well as on The Learning Channel's "A Dating Story" and documentary "Always A Bridesmaid". Her songs, such as "Cheerleader," "The Boob Fairy," and "Past Life Regressed," deal with offbeat topics, often from the perspective of a ditzy female character. She has performed in more than 50 venues across the United States, including The Kennedy Center, [4] and has been reviewed in publications such as The Christian Science Monitor , The Washington Post , [4] and Billboard Magazine , [5] which called her "Shuffleboard Queens" album, "grown-up satire with a non-cynical wink".
Flint won the New Folk songwriting prize at the Kerrville Folk Festival in 2000, and was Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Showcase Artist that same year.
| Buy Me, Bring Me, Take Me, Don't Mess My Hair: Life According to Four Bitchin' Babes | 1990 | Sally Fingerett | Megon McDonough | Christine Lavin | Patty Larkin |
| Buy Me, Bring Me, Take Me, Don't Mess My Hair: Life According to Four Bitchin' Babes Volume II | 1993 | Julie Gold | |||
| Fax It, Charge It, Don't Ask Me What's For Dinner: More Life According To Four Bitchin' Babes | 1994 | Debi Smith | |||
| Gabby Road: Out of the Mouths of Babes | 1997 | Camille West | |||
| The Babes: Beyond Bitchin' | 2001 | ||||
| Meet the Babes (DVD) | 2001 | ||||
| Some Assembly Required | 2002 | Suzzy Roche | |||
| Hormonal Imbalance...A Mood-Swinging Musical Revue | 2006 | Deirdre Flint | Nancy Moran | ||
| Diva Nation...Where Music, Laughter & Girlfriends Reign! | 2009 | ||||
| Mid Life Vices...A Guilt Free Musical Revue | 2012 | Marcy Marxer |
Christine Lavin is a New York City-based singer-songwriter and promoter of contemporary folk music. She has recorded numerous solo albums, and has also recorded with other female folk artists under the name Four Bitchin' Babes. She is known for her sense of humor, which is expressed in both her music and her onstage performances. Many of her songs alternate between comedy and emotional reflections on romance.
Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band formed in London in 1967 by guitarist and singer Peter Green. Green recruited drummer Mick Fleetwood, guitarist and singer Jeremy Spencer and bassist Bob Brunning, with John McVie replacing Brunning a few weeks after their first public appearance. Guitarist and singer Danny Kirwan joined the band in 1968. Christine Perfect, who contributed as a session musician starting with the band's second album, married McVie and joined Fleetwood Mac as an official member in July 1970 on vocals and keyboards, two months after Green left the band; she became known as Christine McVie.
The Roches were an American vocal trio of sisters Maggie, Terre and Suzzy Roche, from Park Ridge, New Jersey.
The Donnas were an American rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1993. The band consisted of Brett Anderson, Allison Robertson, Maya Ford and Torry Castellano. Amy Cesari replaced Castellano, who left the band in 2009 due to tendonitis. They drew inspiration from the Ramones, The Runaways, Girlschool, AC/DC, Bachman–Turner Overdrive and Kiss. Rolling Stone has stated that "the Donnas offer a guileless take on adolescent alienation; they traffic in kicks, not catharsis, fun rather than rage". MTV has stated that the band offers "a good old-fashioned rock & roll party".
Mary Black is an Irish folk singer. She is well known as an interpreter of both traditional folk and modern material which has made her a major recording artist in her native Ireland.
Crazy Horse is an American rock band best known for their association with the musician Neil Young. Beginning in 1969 and continuing to the present day, they have been co-credited on a number of Young's albums, with 15 studio albums and numerous live albums being billed as by Neil Young and Crazy Horse. They have also released six studio albums of their own, issued between 1971 and 2009.
Cheryl Wheeler is a Massachusetts-based singer-songwriter of contemporary folk music. She has recorded thirteen folk albums to date and has toured extensively throughout the United States since the mid-1970s.
Hugh Blumenfeld is an American folk musician and singer-songwriter from Connecticut. He was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York City, graduated with degrees in Biology and Humanities from M.I.T. in 1980, and got a master's degree in English Literature from the University of Chicago in 1981. He was active in the Greenwich Village music scene in the 1980s, attending the Cornelia Street Songwriters Exchange and performing at Folk City and Speak Easy while working on a PhD in Poetics from New York University. He also helped to edit the Fast Folk Musical Magazine and recorded songs for a dozen issues. After earning his PhD in 1991, he worked as an English professor until 1994, when he began writing and performing full-time. Over the next 10 years he toured mainly in the Northeast and Midwest, with several short tours in Europe and one in Israel. In 1999 he was appointed Connecticut State Troubadour.
Suzzy Roche is an American singer, best known for her work with the vocal group The Roches, alongside sisters Maggie and Terre. Suzzy is the youngest of the three, and joined the act in 1977. She is the author of the novels Wayward Saints and The Town Crazy and the children's book Want to Be in a Band?
Julie Gold is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her musical composition "From a Distance," which became a hit for Bette Midler and won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1991.
The Birchmere is a concert hall in Alexandria, Virginia, that features rock, blues, bluegrass, country, folk, jazz, ethnic, and comedic performers. Its main room seats 500 and provides dinner service, making for an intimate space, with tables only a few feet away from the stage. The location also features a bandstand with a bar and a dance floor. Owner and manager Gary Oelze opened The Birchmere in 1966 as a restaurant.
Rachel Haden is an American musician and one of the triplet daughters of jazz bassist Charlie Haden.
Megon McDonough is an American folk/cabaret singer-songwriter and actress, from Crystal Lake, Illinois. After her early solo recording career brought national attention, she became a founding member of Four Bitchin' Babes, performing and recording with them from 1990 to 2001 and then resuming her solo work.
Sally Fingerett is an American folk singer-songwriter. She is a founding member of Four Bitchin' Babes and recorded many albums with the band.
Debi Smith is an American folk singer-songwriter. She has been a member of Four Bitchin' Babes since 1994, with whom she continues to tour.
Sally Barker is a British singer and songwriter, known for her solo work and as a founding member of the Poozies. In 2014, she was a finalist in the BBC One talent contest The Voice, finishing in joint second place.
What's That I Hear?: The Songs of Phil Ochs is a 1998 tribute compilation to the music of the late Phil Ochs. The various performers cover several generations of Ochs' admirers. All profits from the album's sales were divided equally between the non-profits, the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and Sing Out! Magazine.
Baskery is a Swedish alternative Americana folk rock band, comprising the three sisters Greta, Stella and Sunniva Bondesson. The band have released five studio albums.
David Buskin is a singer, songwriter, performer, author, playwright, jingle composer and girls' basketball coach. He is well known for composing numerous television and radio commercials produced in the 1980s and 1990s. He won a Clio Award in 1983 for Just Watch Us Now, NBC's signature jingle.
Amy Helm is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She is the daughter of drummer Levon Helm and singer Libby Titus. She is a past member of the Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble Band and Ollabelle, as well as her own touring band.
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