When the music of the previously unknown Connie Converse was released in 2009, decades after she deliberately disappeared in 1974 (never to be heard from again), it created a new reference point in American music, and a need to rewrite the music history books.

In early 1950s New York, more than ten years before Bob Dylan and his contemporaries popularized the "singer-songwriter" identity, Converse was writing and performing witty, introspective, literary songs for voice and guitar. She was also a brilliant scholar, visual artist, activist and public thinker far ahead of her time.

Join Howard Fishman, author of To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse, in conversation with Boston Globe contributor James Sullivan and Trevor Smith, PEM’s Associate Director–Multisensory Experience and Curator of the Present Tense.

Their conversation will cover the Converse family's long history in America, dating back to their 1630 arrival in Salem, and Converse’s relationship to the American songbook. They will also play samples from Converse’s pioneering recordings and haunting melodies. A book signing will follow the talk.

Pick up a copy of To Anyone Who Ever Asks in the PEM Shop.

You can listen to Connie Converse’s album How Sad, How Lovely on Spotify or Bandcamp.