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 Sally Fingerett (born December 25, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American folk music, folk singer-songwriter. She is a founding member of Four Bitchin' Babes and recorded many albums with the band. Fingerett joined the Chicago folk scene whi ...

, Deirdre Flint,

Christine Lavin Christine Lavin (born January 2, 1952) 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 ...

, and

Debi Smith 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.Harris, CraigDebi Smith Biography, Allmusic. Retrieved November 16, 2013 Career Smith began her career as ...

. The artists have made numerous albums and have worked with producer Jeff Bova.

History

founded the band in 1990. 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 Patty Larkin (born June 19, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist based in Boston, Massachusetts. She is a founding member of Four Bitchin' Babes. Her music has been described as folk-urban pop music. Life and career Patty Lar ...

Megon McDonough Megon McDonough (formerly Megan 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' ...

, and Lavin. The foursome toured throughout the United States, after which Lavin decided to create a live album of their performance at

The Birchmere 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 on ...

entitled ''Buy Me, Bring Me, Take Me, Don't Mess My Hair'', released on

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by Al ...

in 1990. Larkin then signed with

Windham Hill Records Windham Hill Records was an independent record label that specialized in instrumental acoustic music. It was founded by guitarist William Ackerman and Anne Robinson (née McGilvray) in 1976 and was popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The label was ...

and left the band; she was replaced by

Julie Gold Julie Gold (born February 3, 1956) 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. "From a Distance" ha ...

, best known for writing the song "

From a Distance "From a Distance" is a song written in 1985 by American singer-songwriter Julie Gold. Gold was working as a secretary at the time for HBO and writing songs in her free time. Gold's friend, Christine Lavin, introduced the song to Nanci Griffith, ...

". 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 Cheryl Wheeler (born July 10, 1951) 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. Heralded as a ...

Janis Ian Janis Ian (born Janis Eddy Fink; April 7, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter who was most commercially successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her signature songs are the 1966/67 hit " Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)" and the 1975 Top T ...

, and

Mary Travers Mary Allin Travers (November 9, 1936 – September 16, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter who was known for being in the famous 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, along with Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey. Travers grew up amid the burg ...

. In 1994,

replaced

, and they released their third album ''Fax It, Charge It, Don't Ask Me What's For Dinner'' in 1995 on

Shanachie Records Shanachie Records is an American, New Jersey-based record label, founded in 1975 by Richard Nevins and Dan Collins. The label is named for the Gaelic word ''seanchaí'' (anglicised as shanachie), an Irish storyteller. It was previously distribu ...

. 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 Suzzy Roche ( ; born September 29, 1956) is an American singer and actress 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 aut ...

, formerly of

The Roches The Roches were an American vocal trio of sisters Maggie, Terre and Suzzy Roche, from Park Ridge, New Jersey. Career In the late 1960s, eldest sister Maggie (October 26, 1951 – January 21, 2017) and middle sister Terre (pronounced "Terry", ...

. In 2002, they released the album ''Some Assembly Required''. In 2004, both West and Roche left the group and were replaced by

Nancy Moran Nancy Moran (born Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States) is an American folk-rock singer-songwriter, based in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1992, she was a finalist in the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Competition. '' Dirty Linen'' reportedly d ...

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". It may be their last formal tour and Smith, one of the co-leaders, says "We are winding it down". 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.

Songwriting

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.

Discography

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control All-female bands American folk musical groups American satirists Women satirists Shanachie Records artists Rounder Records artists American comedy musical groups Musical groups established in 1990