New York: Da Capo Books.
Helen Oakley Dance has been an active part of the music scene since the 1930s as an observer, promoter and record producer. Her marriage to noted jazz authority Stanley Dance only deepened her involvement with music. In Dance’s biography Stormy Monday: The T-Bone Walker story, she recounts the life of Texas’ influential guitarist. She follows his humble beginnings in Dallas and his debut performances to jam sessions and late nights with mentor Blind Lemmon Jefferson. Through the words of Helen Dance the reader learns how he became a legend of the Blues. Stormy Monday features a discography of Walker’s music, plus a forward from BB King, appreciative words from fellow Texas six-stringer Duke Robillard, bibliography and references for further reading. It serves as the model for defining a great Blues book. Octogenarian Helen Oakley Dance is still vocal as a music historian, and she was most recently seen discussing Duke Ellington in Ken Burns’ Jazz Series.
–(Blues Foundation press release, 2001.)