Oumou Sangare performs at the Africa Music festival in Delft, Netherlands, in August 1993. Frans Schellekens/Redferns/Getty Images hide caption
The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women The inaugural season of Turning the Tables, the list that started it all, is an intervention, a remedy, a correction of the historical record that puts women at the center of popular music.
Special Series
The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women
Why make a list of the greatest albums made by women? To start a new conversation, and to rewrite history. Chelsea Beck/NPR hide caption
A New Canon: In Pop Music, Women Belong At The Center Of The Story
A selection of artists from the first-ever NPR Turning the Tables readers' poll. Courtesy of the artists hide caption
In July, NPR made a list of the greatest albums made by women. Now, we want to know: What's on your list? Chelsea Beck/NPR hide caption
On this episode of World Cafe, we discuss Bonnie Raitt's 1989 release Nick of Time. Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Americana Music hide caption
Turning The Tables: Women Of Roots and Americana
Betty Cantor-Jackson worked as the sound engineer for The Grateful Dead on official live and studio albums — and perhaps more importantly, recorded hundreds of reels of prized soundboard tape. Ed Perlstein/Redferns hide caption
Through the way the group constructed its sound and look, The Ronettes embodied proto-rock transgressions. Fred Mott/Getty Images hide caption
In May 2016, Sally Gross conducted a weekend-long, women only, studio lock-in in she called "Let's Change The Record" to address the lack of women in production and engineering. Prisca Lobjoy hide caption
Tori Amos (shown here performing in 2009) was part of a wave of women musicians who took the reins, creatively and professionally, over their music in the '90s. Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images hide caption
For so many, the hope and joy that Celia Cruz embodied made her difficult ascension to fame a footnote to her success. Scott Gries/Getty Images hide caption
Beyoncé and Solange onstage at Coachella in 2014. Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Coachella hide caption
Turning The Tables Listening Party: A Dynamic Sister Duo
Musician and spiritual leader Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda released Journey In Satchidananda, the album that would become synonymous with her sound, in 1971. Echoes/Redferns hide caption
Buckingham Nicks shows the early emergence of Stevie Nicks' greatest songwriting talents. Fin Costello/Redferns/Getty Images hide caption
Mary Margaret O'Hara gained critical acclaim and a cult following with her 1988 album Miss America; last year, Perfume Genius' Mike Hadreas invited her to perform at the Dutch festival Le Guess Who? Hiroyuki Ito/Getty Images hide caption
The music of Sweet Honey In The Rock — shown here performing in 2013 — demonstrates how the pursuit of freedom requires both bodies and voices. Earl Gibson III/Getty Images hide caption
Household's Talya Cooper says Items was meant to "express the monotony of a daily routine with an undercurrent of bubbling, righteous anger." Edwina Hay hide caption
In her music, Bessie Smith — known as the "Empress Of The Blues" — communicated the kind of outward urgency and inner stillness that often signals the telling of an absolute truth. Carl Van Vechten Photograph Collection/Library of Congress hide caption
The North Star Grassman And The Ravens cemented Sandy Denny as one of British music's most cherished voices. Evening Standard/Getty Images hide caption
On Liberman, Vanessa Carlton opts to pare down her lyrics, personal narratives and production, making it her most confessional work yet. Brad Barket/Getty Images hide caption
Patty Loveless' When Fall Angels Fly speaks to the sacred and simple dirt truth of the human condition. Rusty Russell/Getty Images hide caption
With her family bands, Maybelle Carter — shown here, sitting, with her daughters June, Anita and Helen — helped create the sound of modern country music. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images hide caption
Jamaican reggae singer Marcia Griffiths performed as one of Bob Marley's backing singers — and is a remarkable solo artist in her own right. Graham Wood/Getty Images hide caption