Kyla Titus’s 2014 biography, co-authored posthumously in part with her mother Chica Boswell Minnerly, The Boswell Legacy: The Story of the Boswell Sisters of New Orleans and the New Music They Gave to the World, was groundbreaking. Remarkably, prior to its publication, there had never been a truly comprehensive book dedicated to the pioneering jazz vocal harmony group the Boswell Sisters—despite their impressive, if relatively brief, national career spanning the early 1920s through the mid-1930s. The sisters left an indelible mark on Vaudeville, radio, and stage performances, and were innovators celebrated for their artistry and verve—a legacy that continues to attract new generations of fans.
Titus’s first edition ended a glaring gap in American musical history. As the granddaughter of Helvetia “Vet” Boswell (one of the trio) and having been personally close to her great aunt, Connee Boswell, Titus had unique access to family documents and first-hand accounts. This positioned her to gather credible source material with a depth unavailable to most biographers.
The 2014 edition was well-written: cogent, heartfelt, and filled with intimate and insightful details. It captured the sisters’ collective and individual journeys—interpersonally, artistically, and operationally—narrating their real-life highs and lows, pathos and humor, conflicts and resolutions from childhood through adulthood. It felt as though barely a stone had been left unturned.
Or so it seemed.
In 2024, Kyla Titus released a significantly updated and expanded edition of her book, edited by James Von Schilling, with contributions from David W. McCain and Paul Chiten. This new edition addresses several key issues that even the most attentive and sensitive readers found missing in the first edition, craving greater candor and information.
I won’t be a spoiler here, but it’s worth noting that the Boswell Sisters’ public story and legacy were long shrouded by a family code of privacy. This code, particularly around the specifics of Connee’s disability and the true reasons behind the sisters’ breakup, remained intact as long as Kyla’s mother, Chica Boswell-Jones-Minnerly (Vet’s daughter), was alive.
However, after her mother’s passing, and following the first edition’s publication, Kyla discovered a “secret” collection of her mother’s family photos, and a handwritten manuscript, by her mother, that provided more information in the form of her mother’s confidential 1st hand impressions about her family. These posthumous discoveries [also published separately by Kyla in 2025 as, a photo diary, called, Legacy: Images of a Family, and available on Amazon], essentially gave Kyla both tacit permission and the necessary insight to be more explicit about the tensions, alliances, and emotional complexities that surrounded the group’s breakup—openness that shapes the 2024 edition.
This new edition, expanded by about 100 pages, retains the thoroughness and narrative flow of the original while adding much-needed detail and clarity, especially regarding the circumstances of the sisters’ breakup.
Beyond this, the 2024 edition is now an even more definitive reference, offering deeper research into the Boswell Sisters’ family history, early influences, and their career arc. To the point, it is noteworthy that the book has garnered an ARSC (Association for Recorded Sound Collections) 2025 nomination, for the year’s “Best Historical Research in Recorded Jazz.”
Furthermore, the book has new features, including a substantial song index, detailed discographical information, and enhanced value as a resource for both casual readers and researchers. Online sources note that the second edition draws more extensively from the Boswell family archives, highlighting rare correspondence, photographs, artifacts, and new research not featured in the earlier edition. The updated book also includes new illustrations—some in color—enriching what was previously a largely black-and-white visual record.
Whether you are already a Boswell Sisters fan, interested in the roots of professional pop vocal harmony groups (and the predecessors to acts like the Andrews Sisters), a student of the lesser-known architects of early jazz, or simply curious about the sociology and entertainment landscape of the 1920s and 1930s, I highly recommend this book. The 2024 edition stands as an indispensable addition to American musical and cultural history.
The Boswell Legacy (Second Edition):
The Story of the Boswell Sisters of New Orleans
and the New Music They Gave to the World
by Kyla Titus and Chica Boswell Minnerly
Hardcover; 332 pages; $68.93 (Amazon)
Signed: $53.00 (eBay)
ISBN: 979-8343775068
Paperback; 332 pages; $57.65 (Amazon)
Signed: $46.00 (eBay)
ISBN: 979-8333936448
amazon.com
www.ebay.com/str/theboswellsistersstore
Neal Siegal is a Manhattan Bon Vivant and a Barber Shop Quartet Singer.
