Marie Trout – The Blues: Why It Still Hurts So Good
You might recognize her name. Marie Trout, PhD, is the wife of blues rock guitarist Walter Trout, who missed death by getting a liver transplant just in time. He has … Read more
Book Reviews
Martin Torgoff — Bop Apocalypse: Jazz, Race, The Beats & Drugs
We’ve all known, even the hard core non-vipers among us, that America’s seven-decade war on drugs, especially everyone’s favorite innocuous little weed—marijuana—is, when stated simply, honestly—bullshit. The draconian Marihuana Tax … Read more
Pickers & Poets: The Ruthlessly Poetic Singer-Songwriters of Texas
Troubadours and Texas music lovers will adore this collection of essays assembled and edited by Craig Clifford and Craig D. Hillis, Pickers & Poets: The Ruthlessly Poetic Singer-Songwriters of Texas. … Read more
Robbie Robertson — Testimony
To be honest, when I first heard the press stirrings that Robertson didn’t venture beyond The Last Waltz, (Thanksgiving, ’76) in his 500 page memoir, I knee jerked. “Chickenshit.” I … Read more
Steve Jones — Lonely Boy: Tales of a Sex Pistol
For the extent of influence the Sex Pistols had on popular culture, it’s easy to forget that the band lasted fewer than three years before imploding. Their rise was fast … Read more
Marc Myers – Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45…
Music journalist Marc Myers’ third book, Anatomy Of A Song, is a love letter to music and its biggest fans. Chronicling 45 hit songs in a four decade stretch from … Read more
Ray Robertson – Lives Of The Poets (With Guitars): 13 Outsiders Who…
In Lives Of The Poets (With Guitars): 13 Outsiders Who Changed Modern Music, author Ray Robertson rescues relatively unsung heroes from obscurity and elevates them to a status normally reserved … Read more
Peter Ames Carlin — Homeward Bound: The Life of Paul Simon
I don’t recall being all that enthralled or excited by Peter Ames Carlin’s two previous big name bios, namely Bruce and Paul McCartney: A Life. I haven’t read Catch A Wave, … Read more
Bruce Springsteen — Born To Run
You can take this vivid and bone-honest autobio and consider it many ways. Maybe it’s the one legendary, never-ending show, where the rarities and greatest hits all get roared out … Read more
Ed Ward – The History of Rock & Roll Vol. 1: 1920-1963
“Many times I’ve wondered how much there is to know.” – Led Zeppelin, “Over the Hills and Far Away” 1973 When I was in college, I skipped one day of … Read more
