Since there isn’t much to watch on TV next week, why not pick up a book? For some reason, there are a ton of new titles hitting the shelves. Add some of these to your reading list:
Why Tammy Wynette Matters
By Steacy Easton
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “With hits such as Stand By Your Man and Golden Ring, Tammy Wynette was an icon of American domesticity and femininity. But there were other sides to the first lady of country. Steacy Easton places the complications of Wynette’s music and her biography in sharp-edged relief, exploring how she made her sometimes-tumultuous life into her work, a transformation that was itself art. Wynette created a persona of high femininity to match the themes she sang about-fawning devotion, redemption in heterosexual romance, the heartbreak of loneliness. Behind the scenes, her life was marked by persistent class anxieties; despite wealth and fame, she kept her beautician’s license. Easton argues that the struggle to meet expectations of southernness, womanhood, and southern womanhood, finds subtle expression in Wynette’s performance of Apartment No. 9 — and it’s because of these vocal subtleties that it came to be called the saddest song ever written. Wynette similarly took on elements of camp and political critique in her artistry, demonstrating an underappreciated genius. Why Tammy Wynette Matters reveals a musician who doubled back on herself, her façade of earnestness cracked by a melodrama that weaponized femininity and upended feminist expectations, while scoring 20 No. 1 hits.”
Holding the Note: Profiles in Popular Music
By David Remnick
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and editor of The New Yorker gathers his writing on some of the essential musicians of our time — intimate portraits of Leonard Cohen, Buddy Guy, Mavis Staples, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith and more. The greatest popular songs, whether it’s Aretha Franklin singing Respect or Bob Dylan performing Blind Willie McTell, have a way of embedding themselves in our memories. You remember a time and a place and a feeling when you hear that song again. In Holding the Note, David Remnick writes about the lives and work of some of the greatest musicians, songwriters, and performers of the past 50 years. He portrays a series of musical lives and their unique encounters with the passing of that essential element of music: time. From Cohen’s performing debut, when his stage fright was so debilitating he couldn’t get through Suzanne, to Franklin’s iconic mink-drop at the Kennedy Center, Holding the Note delivers a view of some of the greatest creative minds of our time written with a lifetime’s passionate attachment to music that has shaped us all.”
Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, & Other Sole Survivors From The Songs Of Steely Dan
By Alex Pappademas, Joan LeMay
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Steely Dan’s songs are exercises in fictional world-building. No one else in the classic-rock canon has conjured a more vivid cast of rogues and heroes, creeps and schmucks, lovers and dreamers and cold-blooded operators-or imbued their characters with so much humanity. Pulling from history, lived experience, pulp fiction, the lore of the counterculture, and their own darkly comic imaginations, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker summoned protagonists who seemed like fully formed people with complicated pasts, scars they don’t talk about, delusions and desires and memories they can’t shake. From Rikki to Dr. Wu, Hoops McCann to Kid Charlemagne, Franny from NYU to the Woolly Man without a face, every name is a locked-room mystery, beguiling listeners and earning the band an exceptionally passionate and ever-growing cult fandom. Quantum Criminals presents the world of Steely Dan as it has never been seen, much less heard. Artist Joan LeMay has crafted lively, color-saturated images of her favorite characters from the Daniverse to accompany writer Alex Pappademas’s explorations of the famous and obscure songs that inspired each painting, in short essays full of cultural context, wild speculation, inspired dot-connecting, and the occasional conspiracy theory. All of it is refracted through the perspectives of the characters themselves, making for a musical companion unlike any other. Funny, discerning, and visually stunning, Quantum Criminals is a singular celebration of Steely Dan’s musical cosmos.”
A Song and A Prayer: 30 Devotions Inspired By My Favorite Songs
By Loretta Lynn & Kim McLean
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “It’s been over 60 years since the late Loretta Lynn first rose to stardom, transforming from a coal miner’s daughter to the queen of country music. Loretta knew she was blessed — to record music, to sing her songs to such great crowds, and to write books. A Song And A Prayer is a collection of devotionals combined with song lyrics that delivers a unique form of worship. Inspired by her songwriting sessions with Kim McLean (a fellow songwriter, music producer, as well as ordained minister and reverend doctor), Loretta’s love of God is felt on every page of this book. Readers will learn to experience and maintain an intimate one-on-relationship with God. This volume will become a cherished companion for Lynn fans and readers everywhere as they strive to live each precious moment to the fullest and happiest. Through A Song and A Prayer, readers of all faiths and walks of life will have the opportunity to bask in a month’s worth of spiritual encouragement. Loretta’s thoughts and lyrics not only capture the presence of God, but also capture a presence that transcends Christianity — the spirit of creativity. In a busy world, Loretta’s lyrics and prayers remind readers that God loves them more than they could imagine.”
A Little History of Music
By Robert Philip
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Human beings have always made music. Music can move us and tell stories of faith, struggle, or love. It is common to all cultures across the world. But how has it changed over the millennia? Robert Philip explores the extraordinary history of music in all its forms, from our earliest ancestors to today’s mass-produced songs. This is a truly global story. Looking to Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, and beyond, Philip reveals how musicians have been brought together by trade and migration and examines the vast impact of colonialism. From Hildegard von Bingen and Clara Schumann to Bob Dylan and Aretha Franklin, great performers and composers have profoundly shaped music as we know it. Covering a remarkable range of genres, including medieval chant, classical opera, jazz, and hip hop, this Little History shines a light on the wonder of music — and why it is treasured across the world.”
Fifty States in Forty-Five Days: How to Be in a Band, Go on Tour, and Completely Lose Your Mind
By Elizabeth Jancewicz & Eric Stevenson
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Together, Eric Stevenson and Elizabeth Jancewicz perform as the band Pocket Vinyl, where Eric slams on the piano and sings while Elizabeth creates a large oil painting on stage. One day they decide to take on their biggest challenge yet: To tour the whole nation in just 45 days, breaking the fastest time a band has played in all 50 U.S. states. With a route mapped out and the car tuned and ready, they confidently set out with optimism. They’ve been on tour before, they know the drill; yet neither realizes until too late that the stresses would go beyond just missing their cats. From performance highs to travel pains, meeting supportive fans while battling self-doubt, Eric and Elizabeth are determined to finish their tour in time. The show must go on — but it may just come at the cost of total mental breakdowns. Filled with humor, love of music and art, and the gift of human kindnesses, this breakneck trip through the local music scenes across America takes you on an unforgettable journey of what life is like on a record-breaking tour.”
Too Late To Stop Now: More Rock’n’Roll War Stories
By Allan Jones
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Allan Jones brings stories — many previously unpublished — from the golden days of music reporting. Long nights of booze, drugs and unguarded conversations which include anecdotes, experiences and extravagant behaviour. Among the tales: A band’s aftershow party in San Francisco being gatecrashed by cocaine-hungry Hells Angels. Chrissie Hynde reveals how rock ’n’ roll killed The Pretenders. What happened when Nick Lowe and 20 of his mates flew off to Texas to join the Confederate Air Force. John Cale on his dark alliance with Lou Reed. Jones remembers a world that once was — one of dark excess and excitement, outrageous deeds and extraordinary talent, featuring legends at both the beginnings and ends of their careers.”
101 Albums You Need To Hear Before I Die
By Martin Vengadesan
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Great music is about so much more than just the end product. Very often the stories behind the songs and their creators can be as scintillating as the music itself. This book is about more than just 101 slabs of music you are being advised to listen to. It’s about the also-rans and stars that burned out too fast.”
Wild Mood Swings: Disintegrating The Cure Album by Album
By Martin Popoff
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Wild Mood Swings: Disintegrating The Cure Album by Album, Martin Popoff’s innovative new project on iconic post-punk pioneers The Cure, celebrates 50 years now since key actor of the band Robert Smith got hold of his first guitar. And the form this celebration takes is a critical analysis of the band’s 13 studio albums, utilising a panel of thoughtful and engaging music critics. Presented in easy-to-read Q&A format, Martin gathers these music swamis into small teams with an aim toward deconstructing and reassembling each album, hopefully generating myriad new ways for the reader and Cure fan to appreciate the band’s seminal records, beginning with Three Imaginary Boys in 1979 and ending with 4:13 Dream in 2008. As bonus to the discussion, Popoff has created a detailed timeline linked to each album. The result presents a fresh methodology with which to consider a band’s catalogue, with the hope being that the mix of hard chronological reference material and freewheeling opinion, review and analysis makes for a lively celebration of ― and subsequent richer appreciation for ― everything Smith has done for millions of Cure fans around the world, much of it therapeutic, redemptive and in so many inspiring instances, urgently life-saving.”
Rocking China: Music scenes in Beijing & Beyond
By Andrew Field
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Rocking China traces the rise and spread of indie rock scenes from the rock capital of Beijing to Shanghai and many other cities in China. Through interviews with key players in these scenes over a period of 20 years, Andrew Field explores the meanings of rock music in Chinese society as well as the many challenges and obstacles to the development of indie rock scenes in China. Highlights include a journey by rail into the heartlands of China with the hardcore rock band SUBS and legendary “rock godfather” Cui Jian. Along the journey to document the live rock music scenes of Beijing, he discovered an emerging world of musicians, bands, clubs, festivals, promoters, record shop and record label owners that were pushing the envelope of indie music for China and the world. This book takes the reader deep into the world of independent rock music that has been flourishing in urban China since the 2000s.”
Flaco’s Legacy: The Globalization of Conjunto
By Erin E. Bauer
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “A combination of button accordion and bajo sexto, conjunto originated in the Texas-Mexico borderlands as a popular dance music and became a powerful form of regional identity. Today, listeners and musicians around the world have embraced the genre and the work of conjunto masters like Flaco Jiménez and Mingo Saldívar. Erin E. Bauer follows conjunto from its local origins through three processes of globalization — migration via media, hybridization, and appropriation — that boosted the music’s reach. As Bauer shows, conjunto’s encounter with globalizing forces raises fundamental questions. What is conjunto stylistically and socioculturally? Does context change how we categorize it? Do we consider the music to be conjunto based on its musical characteristics or due to its performance by Jiménez and other regional players? How do similar local genres like Tejano and norteño relate to ideas of categorization? A rare look at a fascinating musical phenomenon, Flaco’s Legacy reveals how conjunto came to encompass new people, places, and styles.”
Tonight It’s A World We Bury: Black Metal, Red Politics
By Bill Peel
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Tonight It’s A World We Bury is a radical re-writing of the history and politics of black metal music. Challenging the commonly held perception that black metal is a genre of the right — full of wannabe Vikings, Nazis, skinheads and other unsavoury characters — Tonight It’s A World We Bury looks at an array of black metal artists to re-affirm the genre as radically anticapitalist, revolutionary and left-wing. Utilizing an eclectic range of black metal bands, including Darkthrone, Burzum, Liturgy and Deathspell Omega, and taking in the works of Marx, Nietzsche, Deleuze and more, Tonight It’s A World We Bury is a book on black metal like no other.”
The Bach Cello Suites: A Companion
By Steven Isserlis CBE
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Bach’s six cello suites for solo cello are among the most cherished works in musical literature. Little-known for some 200 years after their composition, they have acquired an aura that enthrals audiences worldwide. Internationally renowned cellist Steven Isserlis goes deep into the history and the emotional journey of the suites, bringing to bear all his experience of performance to offer a rewarding companion for everyone, from the casual listener to the performing musician.”
The Creative Transformation of Despair, Hate & Violence: What We Can Learn From Madonna, Mick Jagger and Co.
By Rainer M. Holm-Hadulla
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “A creative lifestyle is not a luxury, but a necessary elixir of life. Only with creativity can we overcome despair, hatred and violence, in the world and in ourselves. Using selected examples of exceptionally creative people, Rainer M. Holm-Hadulla encourages us to unleash our own creative and social potential. Readers become acquainted with Madonna and Amy Winehouse, John Lennon, Jim Morrison and Mick Jagger. Before wandering through their lives and work in the interplay of constructive and destructive forces, they encounter the “Big Five of Creativity”: Talent, ability, motivation, resilience, favorable environments. The author has theoretically researched their interaction over decades, tested them in practice and drawn the conclusion: The creative transformation of human destructiveness is our chance to lead a fulfilled life in social responsibility.”
The Art of Pink Floyd The Wall
By Gerald Scarfe
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Art of Pink Floyd The Wall is a sumptuously illustrated book, collecting Gerald Scarfe’s iconic work for Pink Floyd. First The Wall was an album, then it was a stage show, a film — now there will be the definitive book, which will be a work of art in its own right. This large, landscape-format book, presented in a stunning slipcase designed by Scarfe, is packed with photos, drawings and designs which will incorporate the iconic imagery of The Wall alongside new and previously unseen material. Forty years on, The Wall has lost none of its impact, and its themes are more relevant than ever. Presenting the phenomenal artwork as it has never been seen before, The Art of Pink Floyd The Wall is a must-have for any Pink Floyd fan.”
Queen in Comics!
By Sophie Blitman & Emmanuel Marie
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Brian May, Roger Taylor and Freddie Mercury form one of the greatest rock bands in the world. Under the leadership of its charismatic singer, Queen is a planetary success for each hit with its decadent shows, inimitable aesthetics, and style. Bohemian Rhapsody, We Are the Champions, Don’t Stop Me Now, or even Crazy Little Thing Called Love are just some of the hits! Discover the great stories and little secrets surrounding the legend!
