HIDDEN TRACKS

“Hidden Tracks: Female Musicians in the Recording Studio, Past and Present”

This groundbreaking series illuminates the hidden stories of women who shaped recorded music, capturing the extraordinary experiences of female musicians, engineers and producers who, despite having been historically few in numbers, remain powerful contributors in the recording industry's narrative.

Through intimate, unfiltered conversations, we'll document their pivotal contributions, technical mastery, and the unique perspectives they bring to music production. Despite representing less than 3% of producer and engineer roles, these women have been instrumental in creating some of the most iconic sounds of our time. At a moment when streaming has fundamentally altered the music landscape, this project not only preserves critical oral histories but celebrates the innovative women who have quietly revolutionized how we hear and experience recorded sound.

This series is a breakout companion series to the full SOUNDTALKS: MAKING RECORDS series, beginning production MARCH 2025.

In 2024, the top-nominated artists at the Grammys are women, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé rule the global zeitgeist, and it seems that women have finally achieved equity in music. On the surface, anyway. Yet the success of a small fraction of frontwomen and media personalities doesn’t tell the whole story of women in music. What about the women in the band – the instrumentalists, session women, background singers, road dogs and others who’ve contributed to many of the greatest hits of all time, but whose stories remain in the shadows? Popular music will not be a truly even playing field until those women’s stories are told.

With this in mind, we are planning an exciting and historically significant event to take place this summer – June 22 – at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park. This performance will celebrate and center the women whose creativity has been key to the evolution of popular music, while often remaining unheralded. Women in the studio and on the road have provided signature riffs, beats and choruses to so many immortal songs and contributed to some of the greatest tours of all time. From Carol Kaye and Bobbye Hall to Wendy and Lisa, Tina Weymouth, Gail Ann Dorsey and Allison Miller, we want to say these women's names! This idea has been one we've wanted to pursue for half a decade, and now feels like the right time to make it happen.

“I Am the Band” (working title) will be a revue-style performance with a top-level all-woman backing band supporting noted vocalists as they play selections from the unpublished songbook of hits powered by women – songs like “Good Vibrations,” “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Purple Rain,” and “Genius of Love.” Narration from music critic and author Ann Powers will thread a narrative through the evening, but the main event will be the fun and inspirational night of great players and featured vocalists interpreting classic songs.

I AM THE BAND: Hidden Tracks Live

Noted producer, studio owner and instrumentalist Jordan Brooke Hamlin is our musical director and will work with all of our performers to select songs and make them shine. This will be the fifth large-scale, hand-crafted woman-centric show we have produced at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park. We've had many amazing artists perform on our shows, from Roberta Flack and Ronnie Spector to Lizzo, Carly Rae Jepsen and Mitski, to Terri Lyne Carrington, and Rhiannon Giddens. Angela Davis even performed a featured reading at one of our events! These events have been unforgettable, and we believe this may be our most spectacular yet.