Alice Randall (born May 4, 1959) is an American author, songwriter, producer, and lecturer. She is best known for her contributions to country music, in addition to her novel and New York Times bestseller The Wind Done Gone, which is a reinterpretation and parody of the 1936 novel Gone with the Wind.
Early life
Mari-Alice Randall was born on May 4, 1959, in
Detroit, and was raised in Washington, D.C.
[Paula J. K. Morris, "Randall, Alice 1959–", Contemporary Black Biography, 2003. Encyclopedia.com.] She attended Harvard University, where she earned an honors bachelor's degree in English and American literature and graduated cum laude.
In 1983, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to become a country songwriter, where she still resides on the Vanderbilt University campus.[ Biography on Alice Randall Official Website , accessed February 9, 2007.] Alice Randall was married until 1990
Career
Music
On her second night in Nashville in 1983, Alice Randall was discovered by
Steve Earle at the Bluebird Cafe. Earle taught Randall how to be a country songwriter, beginning that evening.
After starting her career in country music under the mentorship of Steve Earle, Randall founded her own music production company titled Midsummer Music in Nashville.
Randall co-wrote "XXX's and OOO's (An American Girl)," which was released as a single in 1994 by country music singer Trisha Yearwood. Over 20 of her songs have been recorded, including several top 10 and top 40 records; with many of her songs having been performed by Trisha Yearwood and Mark O'Connor.
In addition to her song writing, Randall also wrote the video of the year "Is There Life Out There" by Reba McEntire, which won at the 1992 Academy of Country Music Awards.
Writing
Fiction
Randall is the author of six fiction novels:
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The Wind Done Gone (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001)
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Pushkin and the Queen of Spades (2004)
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Rebel Yell (2009)
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Ada's Rules: A Sexy Skinny Novel (2012)
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The Diary of B.B. Bright, Possible Princess (2013) winner of the Phillis Wheatley Award
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Black Bottom Saints (2020)
Her first novel The Wind Done Gone, is a reinterpretation and parody of Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind. The Wind Done Gone retells Gone with the Wind from the viewpoint of Scarlett O'Hara's half-sister Cynara, a mulatto slavery on Scarlett's plantation.
Randall and the publishing company of The Wind Done Gone, Houghton Mifflin, were sued in April 2001 by the Mitchell Estate on the grounds that The Wind Done Gone infringed the copyright of Gone with the Wind. The lawsuit, Suntrust v. Houghton Mifflin Co., was settled, allowing The Wind Done Gone to be published on the condition of a label of "An Unauthorized Parody".[Calvin Reid, "HM, Mitchell Estate Settle 'WDG' Suit", Publishers Weekly, May 10, 2002.] In addition, Houghton Mifflin agreed to make a financial contribution to the Morehouse College, a historically black education institution in Atlanta supported by the Mitchell estate.[
]
Randall's second novel, Pushkin and the Queen of Spades, was named as one of The Washington Post's "Best Fiction of 2004."[ "The best of 2004, brought to you by our eclectic band of reviewers". The Washington Post, December 5, 2004.]
Non-fiction
Published by
Random House in 2015, the cookbook "Soul Food Love" was co-written by Randall and her daughter, Caroline Randall Williams, an author and poet. Alice Randall and Caroline Randall Williams wrote the cookbook to inspire healthy living in their lives and in the African American community, by reducing fats and sugars, while paying homage to traditional soul food.
In February 2016, the book received the 2016 NAACP Image Award for Literature (Instructional).
In 2006, Alice Randall also wrote My Country Roots, alongside Carter and Courtney Little. She published this non-fiction piece in Nashville, by Naked Ink.
In 2024, Alice Randall released * My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music's Black Past, Present, and Future through Atria/Black Privilege Publishing.
Production
Randall wrote and produced the pilot of the television movie XXX's and OOO's, a film about four ex-wives of country music singers, on
CBS in 1994. The 1 hour and 50 minute film was directed by
Allan Arkush and co-written by John Wilder.
Education
Randall is now a professor at Vanderbilt University, where she resides as a writer-in-residence and serves as the Andrew W. Mellon Chair in the Humanities.
At Vanderbilt, she specializes in soul food, African American children's literature, African American film, and
creative writing.
She teaches courses including lectures on "Country Lyric in American Culture" and "Soul Food as Text and In Text".
While at Vanderbilt, she is working on using the arts in the American health disparity as well as the international health disparity.
Awards
Randall received the Al Neuharth Free Spirit Award in 2001
[ Al Neuharth Free Spirit Award Past Honorees , Freedom Forum] and the Literature Award of Excellence from the Memphis Black Writers Conference in 2002. She was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award in 2002.
[ Randall was also accepted for a prestigious writing residency at the famed Yaddo artist's community from June 23, 2011, to July 24, 2011.]
Randall was inducted into the Silver Circle in 2008, in honor of working in the country music industry for a quarter of a century. She was inducted alongside 10 other nominees, notably Reba McEntire, whose video of the year she wrote in 1992.
Songs
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The Ballad of Sally Anne – Mark O'Connor, River City Ramblers
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Big Dream – Samantha Mathis
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Blinded By Stars – Adrienne Young
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Get the Hell Out of Dodge – Walter Hyatt
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Girls Ride Horses Too – Judy Rodman
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I'll Cry for Yours (Will You Cry for Mine) – Tamra Rosanes
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Many Mansions – Moe Bandy
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Reckless Night – The Forester Sisters
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Small Towns (Are Smaller for Girls) – Holly Dunn
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Solitary Hero – Carol Elliot
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The Resurrection – The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
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Went for a Ride – Radney Foster
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Who's Minding the Garden – Glen Campbell
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XXX's and OOO's (An American Girl) – Trisha Yearwood
See also
External links
