Helen Hooke was first known in her 1970s incarnation as the inspired fiddler for the country/feminist/rock touring band, Deadly Nightshade. While Olivia and Redwood were just beginning, and although Hooke met and befriended many of the Women's Music pioneers, Deadly Nightshade released two albums (The Deadly Nightshade and F W) on the RCA label, received press in Rolling Stone, The New York Times, and Ms. magazine as harbingers of feminism, and played alongside of feminist luminaries as Bella Abzug and Gloria Steinem, and for NOW.

In the mid-1980s, after doing more music that might go national, after several more bands and managers, Hooke decided to put out her next album independently: Verse-Ability (Montana Blake Productions, 1988). Satisfied with her involvement in the music from beginning to end, drawn to the Women's Music and Culture circuit in which such independent production is possible -- she made an appearance at the 1991 Michigan Womyn's Music Festival and at the 1991 Association of Women's Music and Culture Annual Conference -- Hooke recently released her new album, Your Body's A Rocket (Montana Blake Productions, 1992). ~ Laura Post, Rovi