Ann Powers, the well-known popular music critic that many readers will know from NPR, brings her famous voice to print in Good Booty. The book is a history of American popular music, with particular concentration on the ways that popular music [...]
Following up on his book about the legendary L.A. hit makers The Wrecking Crew, Hartman takes a different tack in this book about LA Rock in the 1970s. He weaves the story around producer Keith Olsen, his studio Sound City, and session guitar [...]
Our brains are assholes, according to Faith Harper, PHD, LPC-S, ACS. In her book, Unfuck Your Brain: Using Science to Get Over Anxiety, Depression, Anger, Freak-outs, and Triggers, she covers the ways our brains f*&# with us and what we can [...]
John Doe has put together a history of L.A.Punk Music in the 1970s. The contributors include his band-mate Exene Cervenka, Charlotte Caffey, and Jane Weidlin of the Au Go-Go’s, and a half dozen other musicians, music critics, and record [...]
Rhodes has concocted an unusual format for this memoir, which is also in development as a feature film. The chapters are titled as “Tracks,” as one would find on a record album. Each track includes an introductory page that references a specific [...]
This book contains twenty short stories written by twenty different authors. At the back of the book there is a short (two-to-four sentence) description of each author and their work. While the title of this anthology does imply music existing [...]
Although this is a slim 95-page book, it is essential reading for anyone who cares to explore the roots of the DIY (do it yourself) movement in music. The author sketches the odyssey of the town, which he describes as a rust belt remnant with [...]
This tiny book teaches your little one six musical sounds which includes the recorder, guitar, piano, drum, violin, and xylophone. The colorful board book also features six different animals playing his instrument. Elephant plays the piano, [...]
Brian Wilson’s memoir is a frank and revealing portrait of a troubled and popular music pioneer. It details his life with an abusive but musically encouraging father, a musical career that starts out with Brian becoming deaf in one ear, and [...]
Author Steven Hyden sets up a series of rivalries between sixteen bands or artists. Some of the rivalries are direct antipathies between such artists as Roger Waters and the other band members of Pink Floyd, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, [...]
After suffering from a debilitating stroke at age 42, completely paralyzing one side of her body, it seemed as if Valerie Giglio’s professional singing career came to a complete stop. Damage from the stroke caused extreme injury to her vocal [...]
Wick’s short novella is the story of Zenny, an aging drummer, who becomes entangled in the contemporary world of rock and roll. The book centers around a charismatic lead singer named Stella, who inspires love on the part of all of her male band [...]
“The Beatles became the Beatles only after they became the Beatles.” This is the infancy of a dream – the naive and innocent desire which many artists and musicians fostered before fame. Names change once a person hits it big. Cher can get [...]
Tracy Farr has written a complex and lyrical novel about the life of an Australian musician who becomes an early exponent of the theremin. Starting out as a pianist and violinist, Lena Gaunt is introduced to the theremin, and becomes an early [...]
Bob Boilen is the long-time host of the NPR Tiny Desk concert series. In this book he introduces us to a variety of musicians whose work he enjoys, and who have appeared on the show. The musicians span a variety of genres, but most typically are [...]
John, George, Ringo, and Paul were just a group of boys growing up in the back streets of London. Each of their young lives were defined by their struggles and their absolute love and devotion to music. Follow the meteoric of each boy from how [...]
Jesse Jarnow’s Heads: A Biography of Psychedelic America starts off right where you expect it to: with the Grateful Dead. Even now, close to 50 years on, the Dead are still the band that comes to mind first when most people hear the word [...]
Author Ray Robertson is a passionate music fan, and this book contains biographical portraits of thirteen outsider artists who changed modern music. Robertson has listened carefully to most or all of the music by these artists. Some of them are [...]
Despite the title, Hoskyn’s book is centered not on the people listed in the title, but on the legendary Al Grossman. Grossman was an enigmatic manager, who varied between being a benevolent father figure, and a despicable money-grubbing [...]
Without a doubt, Sara Bareilles can write a song. Clearly, the five-time Grammy Award nominee’s skill of word crafting translates to creating a witty memoir of her life (so far). Written as a collection of eight essays, Ms. Bareilles uncovers [...]
