To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse

It takes a great journalist to find the stories behind the mysteries we carry. Howard Fishman has done that with his superb examination of Connie Converse. – Ken BurnsSo powerful…A totemic accomplishment and indispensable guide. The exhaustive care with which Fishman approaches his subject is itself hypnotic, even devastating. * Los Angeles Review of Books *Nothing short of remarkable. * Publishers Weekly *[To Anyone Who Ever Asks] is the grandly researched portrait of a talent who didn’t get her due, a kind of worst-case study of why this indignity remains a brutally common occurrence … [it]is simultaneously the record of an obsession and its ultimate payoff. It’s hard to think of any book that grants such loving attention to an artist who has otherwise been denied it. * Washington Post *A massive and fascinating feat. * MOJO Magazine *Uncovers a haunting picture of a troubled life. * UNCUT *Gripping and searching… Mr. Fishman’s thoughtful and deeply researched book provides a far bolder jolt than any cover version can provide. It may yet help find for Converse what the author proposes-a place at ‘the table of great American artists and thinkers’. * Wall Street Journal *[Fishman’s] enthusiasm and diligence is infectious … Through the obsession of such dedicated fans as Fishman, Connie Converse will find a larger audience. * Kirkus *Musician, culture writer, and playwright Fishman’s extraordinary trek through the life and works of Connie Converse is a laudable endeavor… the author constructs an emotional narrative … [To Anyone Who Ever Asks is] an interesting foray into Converse’s glimmer of fame and sad subsequent neglect. * Library Journal *The mystery of American composer Connie Converse’s disappearance in 1974 is ongoing, and she may be lost forever. But her spectacular work has been rescued and elevated to a marvelous level by Howard Fishman. Her music belongs to an America that barely knows it exists. – William Kennedy, Pulitzer prize-winning author of IRONWEEDConnie Converse’s songs are a revelation, finely wrought, wry, as beautiful as they are weird. I’m so grateful this enigmatic writer and her catalogue are being explored and celebrated, in this book and beyond. – Anaïs Mitchell, Tony and Grammy-winning creator of HADESTOWN, and author of WORKING ON A SONGPacked with detective-level details about a Renaissance woman whose work passed through this world all but unnoticed. * Boston Globe *

Howard Fishman is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker, where he has published essays on music, film, theater, literature, and culture. His essays have also appeared in Vanity Fair, The Washington Post Magazine, Artforum, San Francisco Chronicle, Mojo, The Village Voice, Jazziz, and Salmagundi. Fishman’s writing was awarded first prize for Arts & Entertainment Portfolio from the Society for Features Journalism, and he’s been an invited guest speaker on BBC Radio and on various NPR affiliates. His play, A Star Has Burnt My Eye, was a New York Times Critic’s Pick. As a performing songwriter and bandleader, Fishman has toured internationally as a headlining artist for more than two decades. He has released eleven albums to date. He is based in Brooklyn, New York.

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