I initially became interested in the fascinating true story of Connie Converse after hearing one of her songs in the short-lived dramedy Good Girls a few years ago. Curious as to why I’d never heard of her before, I looked her up and discovered that she vanished without a trace at age 50 and was never found.

Information on the internet about it was scant, so imagine my delight when I discovered that there was an entire book coming out about it!

Howard Fishman has done an exceptionally good job of piecing together the fascinating life and perhaps even more fascinating vanishing act of Converse who, it turns out, was so much more than just a songwriter.

A polymath, ahead-of-her-time singer and songwriter. and all around intriguingly odd duck, Converse struggled to fit into a world that seemed too small for her, and so she removed herself from it.

What happened to Converse remains a mystery, but Fishman gives us enough to go on to make some educated guesses, and in the end I was as intrigued by Converse’s life as I was by her disappearance.

This is excellent and well-researched content that is so well told that it reads like fiction. Bravo.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Penguin Group-Dutton for an advanced copy of this book on the live of a lost singer/songwriter, and the quest to bring her story out of obscurity.

Artists create as much for themselves as they do for others to enjoy. Artists hope that art will find its fans, but that does not always happen. There are patrons sometimes who see something or hear something that no one else does, and promotes or even better subsidizes the artist, until the world catches up. The truth about art and entertainment is that there are many gatekeepers, and the mediocrity sells. Something that sounds too fresh and too new, sometimes doesn't get the appreciation of the people at the time. Something new takes thinking to appreciate, the usual gets click, air time, record deals, studio time. Artists, though they don't say it also want something else from their art. Immortality. When they are gone, they wish their art to continue to entertain, enrich and be performed, well after their mortal coil is gone. Some get that, more often many artists labor in obscurity, die known to few, even disappear without a sound. Connie Converse was one of those artists, whose entire works were left in a file cabinet in Michigan, known to a few, but forgotten by most of the world. Until a radio show, and a party made two different people pay attention, and an obsession to know more was born. Howard Fishman, singer, musician, and writer has in To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse written one of the best biographys on an artist that few knew anything about, but whose songs and writings were so far ahead that even to the jaundiced ears of 21st music listeners, the passion, warmth and skill make the soul happy.

Howard Fishman was at a party, knowing nobody but the host, and doing his best to not standout when a song came on that changed his life. Connie Converse was the singer, and the song seemed so familiar, so of a time, and yet seemed out of time, a song that touched Fishman deeply. Digging for more information, only led to a lot more questions. There was an album of Connie Converse songs, recorded over 50 years earlier, and yet was like nothing being recorded at the time. Fishman thought Converse was a hipster joke, a modern prank of a band pretending to be older. However the more Fishman dug, the happier he was at being proved wrong. Elizabeth Eaton Converse, aka Connie Converse was real, with a brother who had a file cabinet loaded with songs, book ideas, letters, operas and much more. Who had disappeared in 1974, leaving even more mysteries in her wake. Fishman was hooked and wanted to find out more.

A very different kind of biography, a book about a woman, who never seemed to belong, and because she was a woman in a era like the 1950's was never really given a chance. An era that many small minded men want to return too, but I digress. Converse should be more popular, or at least known to music people, for her songs are not just unique but really stand out lyrically. And in emotion. There are many reasons why Converse is not more popular, as covered in the book. Which is also another theme of the biography, the search for trying to find out more about Converse. Stories change sometimes in the same family. A helpful brother seems to have purged many items from Converse's history, along with some other family secrets. Or some just don't want to talk anymore about her, for their own reasons. Fishman is a very good writer, and a better researcher finding out more about this woman from over 60 years in the past then many reporters can find on politicians today. Fishman looks at Converse, the era, and especially the songs, which really are wonderful. There are so many stories, how others discovered Converse, how Converse came to be on a album for the first time. And at the end many mysteries.

A gripping biography that is both beautiful and sad. Sad that Converse never got to see what her music meant to even two people whose lives honestly were changed hearing Converse. The sadness that was Converse's life, and maybe end. And beauty with songs that really are extraordinary. I recommend listening to the album first if possible, than listening while reading for the full experience. It does hit hard. A really wonderful book, that hits a lot of emotions, and leaves one thinking a lot about art, life, and legacies far after the last page.

This was a wonderful book on a topic that is long overdue. I read this book and will probably read it again.