Music Novels or Biographies

[Colorado Sharon]

I just finished my favorite novel for the third time this year, Frank Conroy's "Body and Soul". It is wonderful book about a prodigy piano player and is loaded with music theory and musical information. Do any of you members out there have other suggestions for good novels or other books with musical content in them?

Thanks!

[ira]

you wont find much theory in it, but Blues Mandolinman about Yank Rachell is pretty interesting. lots of references to many blues men of his day.

[bjc]

"Ghost Rider" by Neil Peart (drummer for Rush) will make you cry (his child and wife died within a year) and laugh (while searching for a reason he gets into all sort of problems---being trapped by a racoon after having locked himself out of his hotel room ect...)...good read, no theory, but a good read from a talented guy...oh yeah, no mando content in there...tee hee

[bjc]

And Ira is right, the Yank book is good too..if you like the blues...and "I done had the blues so long they turned into the blacks"...a great quote

[Coy Wylie]

"Can't You Hear Me Calling" by Richard Smith is a must read.

[metalmandolin]

"Woody, Cisco and Me" by Jim Longhi

[Paul Kotapish]

The novels of Lee Smith are filled with echos of Appalachian and other rural folk music. Two are particularly interesting from this perspective. Devil's Dream traces the rise and transformation of an early country-music family. The central plot has strong parallels with the history of the Carter Family, replete with a trip to Bristol for an early recording session, a Johnny Cash figure, and lots of time on the road playing tiny gigs. I don't recall if there's much mention of mandolin, per se, but plenty of acoustic country music throughout, and it's a great read.

I also enjoyed Smith's Saving Grace, about the daughter of an old-time revival preacher in the tradition of the "Church of God with Signs Following," where passionate rural gospel music meets serpents and strychnine in evangelical zeal. It's kind of harrowing at times, but fascinating.

Todd McEwen's Fisher's Hornpipe has New England fiddle music lurking in its pages, and it includes some of the funniest descriptions of amateur music making gone wrong I've ever read. It's a lot of fun, and it deserves a wider audience.

Last Night's Fun by Ciaran Carson is a wonderful player's take on the magic of making music. In one chapter, Carson--a wooden flute player--manages to pull off a remarkable insider's blow-by-blow description of a late-night session in an Irish pub, from the first tentative strains through the mysterious evolution of impromtu medleys to the morning-after crawl for a plateful of eggs, beans, and black pudding. Good craic.

Jim Rooney's Bossmen: Bill Monroe and Muddy Waters is indespensible reading, as is Jean Richie's Singing Family of the Cumberlands. Just buy 'em and read 'em.

One of my favorite first-person accounts of music making is by Gail Holst-Warhaft: Road to Rembetika: Music of a Greek Sub-Culture : Songs of Love, Sorrow, and Hashish. If you want path into the amazing world of the bouzouki in its native environs, this is a great place to start. Full of history, personal insight, and info about the hard, beautiful music of the Greek tavernas and tekes in the early part of the 20th C.

And I agree that Can't You Hear Me Calling is a good read, but there has been such an uproar of negative feelings towards this book from some of the Monroe scholars that I recommend it with the caveat that it ain't the whole story. A good campanion and perhaps more balanced picture of Monroe is available in the Bill Monroe Reader, edited by Tom Ewing.

I also liked Blair Jackson's biography of Jerry Garcia (Garcia), Paul McCartney's autobiography, and Bob Dylan's Chronicles: Volume One.

Happy Reading!

PK

[jmkatcher]

Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone about the Carter Family is truly outstanding. I also enjoyed Ed Cray's Rambling Man about Woody Guthrie.

[luckylarue]

Novels: Corelli's Mandolin - De Berniers. Forget the movie (I've never seen it), this is one of my favorite books.

Cold Mountain - Frazier. Lots of traditional music throughout the story.

Accordian Crimes - Annie Proulx. America's violent history through the eyes of a well-travelled accordian.

I am currently reading a brilliant book on John Coltrane and the making of his signature album, "A Love Supreme", by Ashley Kahn. Very inspiring - all of the aforementioned books deal w/ the emotional/spiritual power of music.

[mandocrucian]

Glimpses (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312267436/qid=1127194321/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/104-1999949-5091136?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) - Lewis Shiner

The Commitments (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679721746/qid=1127195751/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/104-1999949-5091136?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) - Roddy Doyle

The Real Frank Zappa Book (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0671705725/qid=1127218376/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-1999949-5091136?v=glance&s=books) - Frank Zappa w/Peter Ochiogrosso

Bill Graham: My Life Inside Rock and Out (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0306813491/qid=1127218498/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-1999949-5091136?v=glance&s=books) - Bill Graham & Robert Greenfield

[billkilpatrick]

"an equal music" by vikram seth. mainly takes place in venice about - amongst other things - a violinist in a chamber music group and his old girl friend, a concert piano player who is going deaf. sounds terrible ... but it's a "jolly good read."

- bill

[ira]

Searching for the Sound by Phil Lesh was surprisingly well written, and discusses how the music of the gd truly evolved.

[Ted Eschliman]

Django: The Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/019516752X/qid=1127219222/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-0536217-2107225?v=glance&s=books), by Michael Dregni. Unbelievably thorough, this compelling biography of one of Europe's greatest jazz innovators details his life and all the surrounding political, cultural, and technological influences that shaped his music.
Best book I've read in a long time. Great insight not only of the artist, but the surrounding musicians and impact they had on each other.
(Just wish he would have used a mandolin player in his bands.)

[metalmandolin]

Mandocrucian....DITTO on the Bill Graham book. Can't believe I forgot it!

[jmkatcher]

Another vote for _Glimpses_ by Lewis Shiner. I'd forgotten that one. Great book!

[glauber]

Tishomingo Blues (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060008725/102-3096437-2083334?v=glance) by Elmore Leonard. Set in the place where Robert Johnson made his deal with the devil. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif Interesting blues stuff in there. I love Elmore Leonard books, in general.

[Fretbear]

Scholars be damned: "Can't You Hear Me Calling" is great, and probably could have #been harder on Monroe than it was if Richard D. Smith didn't so obviously love his subject. Levon Helm's "This Wheels On Fire" is also excellent. "Cold Mountain" is one of the best novels ever written, which is amazing as it was Charles Frazier's first. Lauren St. John's "Hardcore Troubadour" (The Life & Near Death of Steve Earle) is great as well as harrowing at times.