Stevie Nicks in 50 Songs

Music historian Zaleski (Taylor Swift) chronicles the career of Fleetwood Mac frontwoman Stevie Nicks in a series of brisk, colorful recaps of the making of her most formative songs. Zaleski explores the backstories of hits like 1975’s “Rhiannon” (whose title character’s “wild, unfettered” energy was inspired by the legend of the “goddess of steeds and maker of birds” from the Mabinogion, a collection of early Welsh folklore); 1993’s “Landslide” (a song of “delicate folk-pop beauty” that captured the emotional chaos Nicks experienced over her father’s health struggles and the uncertainty of her early music career); and 1981’s “Edge of Seventeen,” whose “impressionistic” lyrics drew from multiple strands of her life (the song’s white-winged dove references a drawing Nicks once saw on an airplane menu). Along the way, Zaleski explores Nicks’s musical influences, including the Mamas & the Papas and the Stone Poneys; the relationships—romantic and professional—that defined her life; and her struggles with addiction to cocaine and prescription drugs. Zaleski doesn’t shy away from her subject’s artistic and personal challenges but assumes a triumphant tone throughout, celebrating Nicks’s music, idiosyncratic fashion style, and influence on artists like Sheryl Crow, Harry Styles, and Taylor Swift. The result is an enjoyable, accessible survey of the creative inspirations of one of the most dynamic voices in rock music. Photos. (May)