Episode 1: Andra & Billie

By: Rebecca Carroll

Narrated by: Rebecca Carroll, Andra Day

Jazz legend Billie Holiday meant a lot of things to a lot of people. But at the end of the day, Billie was a Black woman. Academy Award nominated actress and Grammy-award winning singer Andra Day, who plays the iconic songstress in the film The United States vs. Billie Holiday, talks with host Rebecca Carroll about what it was like to inhabit Billie’s universe, the power of her most famous song “Strange Fruit,” and the fullness of her complicated humanity.

©2021 Paramount Audio, a Division of Paramount Pictures Corporation (P)2021 Paramount Audio, a Division of Paramount Pictures Corporation

Episode 1 is good

After I heard the two-minute intro in spring 2021, I decided not to listen. However, on a Saturday night (Feb 5, 2022), nearly one year later AFTER I decided that I didn't want to engage the story, I revisited my idea in part because I love Billie and in part because I was cleaning my home office. I so happy that I looped back around. The first episode engaged me. The conversation between Rebecca and Andra was thought-provoking and inspiring. Hearing the short clip of Billie herself talking at the end of this episode made this episode perfect.

(headline is optional)

"She kept her foot on the necks of white people." I don't think Billy would have described herself that way. That's my reason for my review.