Unveiling the Legends: Dolls of the 60s & 70s

“You can hear it in my music. It’s always been there. I had it when I was a little kid. I have it now. I’ve been racing, raging through life as long as I can remember.”
Ladies and gentlemen, Etta James!
From the smoky clubs of Los Angeles where Josephine Baker and Billie Holiday performed, a diva was born. The blues informed every twist and turn in Etta’s life, beginning with her love for the songs of Amos Milburn and Guitar Slim. After hitting it big with “The Wallflower” at just 15 years old and singing with Chuck Berry on “Back In The USA,” Etta was signed to the legendary Chess Records roster. It doesn’t get much more blues than sharing a label with Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, and Sonny Boy Williamson. Her career exploded with her “At Last!” album, and the hits just kept coming with the oft-sampled “Something’s Got A Hold On Me” and “I’d Rather Go Blind.” Etta is remembered for her gutsy, soulful voice, but underneath her blonde ‘do, she was an unbelievably resilient woman with a heart (and an attitude!) as big as her voice.
“Etta James: Blues To The Bone” is available wherever you stream your podcasts 🎤
(Episode starts at 6:07)
Sources:
Etta James with David Ritz, “Rage To Survive: The Etta James Story” (1995)
Terry Gross, host, “Roots of R&B: Singer/songwriter Etta James” NPR: Fresh Air, 1994
“Muscle Shoals” (dir. Freddy Camalier, 2013)
Christopher Loudon, “Etta James: Blues To The Bone” Jazz Times, 9/1/2004
Songs used in this episode:
Etta James - “Something’s Got A Hold On Me” (1962)
Meade “Lux” Lewis - “Honky Tonk Train Blues” (1940)
Billie Holiday - “I’ll Be Seeing You” (1944)
Amos Milburn - “One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer” (1953)
Guitar Slim - “The Things I Used To Do” (1953)
Hank Ballard and The Midnighters - “Work With Me, Annie” (1954)
Etta James and The Peaches - “The Wallflower (Roll With Me, Henry)” (1955)
Georgia Gibbs - “Dance With Me, Henry” (1955)
Etta James - “Good Rockin’ Daddy” (1955)
Etta James and Harvey Fuqua - “Spoonful” (1960)
Howlin’ Wolf - “Smokestack Lightning” (1956)
Chuck Berry - “Back In The USA” (1959)
Etta James - “All I Could Do Was Cry” (1960)
Glenn Miller - “At Last” (From the soundtrack of “Sun Valley Serenade,” 1941)
Etta James - “At Last” (1960)
Etta James - “Trust In Me” (1960)
Etta James - “Baby What You Want Me To Do” (Jimmy Reed cover) [Live at the New Era Club, 1963]
Etta James - “842-3089 (Call My Name)” (1967)
Etta James - “I’d Rather Go Blind” (1968)
Janis Joplin - “Me and Bobby McGee” (1970)
Etta James - “Feeling Uneasy” (1974)
Etta James - “I’d Rather Go Blind” (Live at the Montreaux Jazz Festival, 1975)
Etta James - “Don’t Stop” (1980)
Etta James - “When The Saints Go Marching In” (Live at the 1984 Olympics Opening Ceremony)
Etta James - “The Man I Love” (1994)
Beyonce - “I’d Rather Go Blind” (From the soundtrack of “Cadillac Records,” 2008)
Follow @thedollspod on Instagram for clips and photos from this episode!

In 1968, 15-year-old Olivia Hussey starred in Zeffirelli’s “Romeo and Juliet,” and your 10th grade English class was never the same.
Olivia had to catch up to her own prestige. Not every high schooler is out here winning a Golden Globe! She was just a girl navigating very adult situations, powerful men, and civil blood making civil hands unclean. She handled them all with the grace of the classical heroines. Olivia’s filmography spans B-film comedies and Biblical tragedies. Enjoying three great loves, her life story is full of Shakespearean drama. Is now the one(-ish) hours’ traffic of our Dolls Pod stage; that which, if you, with patient ears attend, what here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. Translation: the Dolls Pod is back from our sabbatical! Huzzah!
“Olivia Hussey: Life Beyond Juliet” is available wherever you stream your podcasts 🎭
Sources used:
Olivia Hussey, “The Girl On The Balcony” (2018)
“Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting Q&A for Shakespeare Lives” British Film Institute, 2016
Andrew Dalton, “‘Romeo and Juliet’ Stars Sue over 1968 film’s teen nude scene” Associated Press, 1/3/2023
Jessica Wang, “Romeo and Juliet stars file new lawsuit against Paramount over underage nude images used for Criterion release” Entertainment Weekly, 2/15/2024
Alejandra Gualarte, “Leonard Whiting Remembers His ‘Beautiful Juliet,’ Olivia Hussey” Vulture, 12/28/2024
“Dean Martin’s Son in National Guard Crash” UPI Archives, 3/23/1987
“Removal of remains of Martin, weapons officer continues” UPI Archives, 3/31/1987
“Hussey and Whiting vs. Paramount Pictures Corp, et. al.” Superior Court of the State of California, Los Angleles County - Central District (ruling of Hon. Judge Holly Fujie, 10/21/2024)
And archives on romeoandjulietlawsuit.com
Follow @thedollspod on Instagram for clips and photos from this episode!

For about as long as country music has existed, the Carter Family has been at the heart of it. Only after June Carter reached the top of the Music City ladder, first taking the Grand Ole Opry stage at just 21 years old, would she became one half of the greatest power couple country music has ever known. As told in the final Dolls Pod episode before our fall sabbatical, the second Mrs. Cash navigated addiction, affairs, danger, and darkness under the punishing spotlight of fame. June’s legacy spans the entire history of the genre she helped define, and her love for the Man in Black survived against all odds. Johnny and June chose each other and their faith time and time again, as life’s trials put them through that “ring of fire.”
“June Carter Cash: Through The Ring of Fire” is available wherever you stream your podcasts ❤️‍🔥
(Episode starts at 4:35)
Sources used:
John Carter Cash, “Anchored in Love: An Intimate Portrait of June Carter Cash” (2007)
June Carter Cash, “From The Heart” (1987)
June Carter Cash, “Among My Klediments” (1979)
Johnny Cash, “Cash: The Autobiography” (1997)
Robert Hilburn, “Johnny Cash: The Life” (2013)
Steve Turner, “The Man Called Cash” (2001)
Songs used in this episode:
The Carter Family - “Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow Tree” (1927)
Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters - “Foggy Mountain Top” (1950)
June Carter - “Grandma Told Me So” (1949)
Johnny Cash - “The Rebel Johnny Yuma” (1961)
Anita Carter - “Love’s Ring of Fire” (1962)
Bob Moore - “Mexico” (1961)
Johnny Cash - “Ring of Fire” (1963)
Johnny Cash and June Carter - “It Ain’t Me, Babe” (1964)
Johnny Cash and June Carter - “Jackson” (1968)
June Carter Cash - “Appalachian Pride” (1975)
June Carter Cash - “Song to John” (1981)
Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash - “The Far Side Banks of Jordan” (1998)
Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash - “‘Cause I Love You” (as performed on The Johnny Cash Show, 1971)
The Carter Family - “I Found You Among The Roses” (1940)
June Carter Cash - “Ring of Fire” (as performed on The Johnny Carson Show, 1980)
Follow @thedollspod on Instagram for clips and videos from this episode!

It was love at first sight when Vivian Liberto met her handsome airman at a roller rink. They dated for a few weeks, then she waited for him for 3 years while he was stationed overseas. He sent her the engagement ring through the mail, they got married, lived off boxed mac and cheese for months while he worked a dead-end appliance sales job. Then he became the Man in Black. Vivian Cash was by Johnny’s side through thick and thin for 12 years of marriage, watching from the wings as he wrote country music history with his song about her. She saved every single love letter, and dutifully preserved every memory of Johnny long before the fame. They say love is worth waiting for, but a very special love is worth “walking the line.”
Sources used for this episode:
Vivian Cash with Ann Sharpsteen, “I Walked The Line: My Life with Johnny” (2008)
“My Darling Vivian” (dir. Matt Riddlehoover, 2020)
Juan Louis Garcia, “The Life of Vivian Liberto: Johnny Cash's First Wife and Author” The Handbook of Texas Women, Texas State Historical Association Online (2026)
Valerie J. Nelson, “Vivian L. Distin, 71; Inspired Hit by Husband Johnny Cash” Obituaries: Los Angeles Times, 5/28/2005
Richard A. Marini, “Johnny Cash’s Alamo City courtship” Express News, 5/31/2015
Sydney Trent, “White supremacists attacked Johnny Cash for marrying a ‘Negro’ woman. But was his first wife Black?” The Washington Post. 5/16/2021
Clayton Edwards, “70 Years Ago Today, Johnny Cash Recorded His First No. 1—a Song He Wrote as a Promise to His First Wife” American Songwriter, 4/2/2026
“Obituary: Richard Laurence Distin” Legacy (2019)
Songs in this episode:
Rosemary Clooney - “Mambo Italiano” (1954)
Johnny Cash - “Get Rhythm” (1956)
Johnny Cash - “Cry! Cry! Cry!” (1955)
Johnny Cash - “I Walk The Line” (1956)
Johnny Cash - “Ring of Fire” (1963)
Follow @thedollspod on Instagram for clips and photos from this episode!

James Brown, George Clinton, Jimi, and Sly are all contenders for a “Mount Funkmore.” There’s one woman whose face should be carved in that stone with the boys.
Long before she was ever a wife and “muse,” Betty Davis was an up-and-coming songwriter, Wilhelmina model, and “it” girl of the New York underground. She gave her hit song “Uptown” to the Chambers Brothers and called Jimi Hendrix and Warhol’s Factory her friends. With her substantial influence on her husband Miles Davis, jazz fusion as we know it was born. Betty didn’t need a famous man to make her groundbreaking albums: she was a singer, songwriter, arranger, and producer all on her own. Her in-your-face persona is still so fresh, she’s got Beyoncé name-dropping her 50 years later! Betty was everything: raunchy, loud, unapologetically fierce, driven, sensitive, and spiritual. Above all, she was real. Get ready for Betty, because the queen of FUNK is here to stay!
In addition, the Dolls Pod is honored to welcome professor, ethnomusicologist, DJ, and author of the upcoming “Game Is Her Middle Name: The Life and Music of Betty Davis” Dr. Danielle Maggio to the show. We talked about how her new book came to be, her own friendship with Betty, and celebrated Betty’s power and soul.
“Betty Davis: Queen of Funk” is available wherever you stream your podcasts ⭐️
Preorder “Game Is Her Middle Name: The Life and Music of Betty Davis” by Danielle Maggio from Feminist Press: https://feministpress.org/collections/coming-soon/products/9781558613782-game-is-her-middle-name
Follow Danielle on Instagram: @saucequeen_phd
(Episode starts at 3:41)
Sources used:
Personal interview with Danielle Maggio, PhD (7/25/2026)
Danielle Maggio, “‘Sound Projector:’ Reissuing, Representing, and Reclaiming the Music of Betty Davis” University of Pittsburgh, 2020
Danielle Maggio, “Betty Davis In Japan,” parts 1-7. Substack via Light In The Attic, 2024
John Ballon, “Betty Davis: Betty Davis” All About Jazz, 10/31/2003
John Ballon, “Liberated Funk” Wax Poetics issue 22, March/April 2007
John Szwed, “So What: The Biography of Miles Davis” (2002)
Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe, “Miles: The Autobiography” (2011 ed.)
Neil Spencer, “Miles Davis: The muse who changed him, and the heady Brew that rewrote jazz” The Guardian, 9/4/2010
Virginia Vigliar, “Betty Davis: What happens when women have a hold on their own narrative?” Medium, 1/2/2021
“Betty: They Say I’m Different” dir. Philip Cox, 2017
Song used in this episode:
Miles Davis - “Bitches Brew” (1970)
Bessie Smith - “Young Woman’s Blues” (1926)
Betty Davis - “They Say I’m Different” (1974)
Beyonce - “Break My Soul (The Queens Remix)” [2025]
Betty Mabry - “Get Ready For Betty” (1964)
The Chambers Brothers - “Uptown” (live at the 3rd Annual Harlem Cultural Festival, 6/29/1969)
Betty Davis - “Steppin’ In Her I. Miller Shoes” (1973)
Miles Davis - “Mademoiselle Mabry” (1968)
Betty Davis - “Politician Man” (1969)
Betty Davis - “Ready, Willing, and Able (Take 1)” [1969]
Miles Davis - “Pharaoh’s Dance” (1970)
Betty Davis - “If I’m In Luck I Might Get Picked Up” (1973)
Betty Davis - “Don’t You Call Her No Tramp” (1974)
Betty Davis - “Dedicated To The Press” (1975)
Betty Davis - “Stars Starve, You Know” (1976)
Etta James - “Baby What You Want Me To Do” (Jimmy Reed cover) [1964]
Danielle Maggio - “A Little Bit Hot Tonight” (2019)
Follow @thedollspod on Instagram for clips and photos from this episode!