The internet age seems to have finally caught up with the music journalism world (hooray for fewer CDs in the mail; boo for the questionable quality of non-FLAC streaming), but there is still a certain magic about the printed word that can never be captured on a computer screen. A lot of postage was spent sending titles to our offices, and we’re grateful. To celebrate the Books Issue, we’ve compiled some of the best stuff on this page, and you read about even more (and listen to the songs) below. Call your local record store or indie bookseller to see if these releases are in stock.
Anthology of Emo: Volume One Ten years ago, Atlantic Records exec Tom Mullen needed an outlet to discuss the origins of emo. Over the course of a decade, washedupemo.com became a veritable community where Mullen would interview artists and start a podcast that eventually evolved into the definitive source for any info related to the now widely recognized (and commercially viable) genre. Released in October, this 376-page softcover tome features in-depth interviews with with luminaries like Chris Simpson (Mineral, The Gloria Record), Caithlin DeMarrais (Rainer Maria), and Mike Kinsella (American Football, Joan Of Arc) that candidly explain seemingly every watershed moment leading to a canon of sad songs that make us feel happy. (Anthology of Emo)
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Books Issue 2017: John Prine’s Beyond Words journeys beyond the songs, lets fans into his heart
Cover Me: The Stories Behind the Greatest Cover Songs Of All Time Nerds know that mining the origins of our favorite cover songs can often be gateways to tunes and stories that will eventually change our lives. Ray Padgett — senior music publicist at Shore Fire Media and a journalist whose work can be read at Consequence Of Sound, SPIN, MTV, Vice and more — knew that 10 years ago when he founded covermesongs.com, and his new 232-page book takes readers on an immersive examination of 19 songs. Some are standards (“Satisfaction” — a Rolling Stones cover by Devo) and others not so much (“Gloria” — Patti Smith covering Them), but every page of this hardcover beauty is laid out with gorgeous photos and several weekends’ worth of knowledge readers will cherish for the rest of their lives. (Sterling Publishing)
Isaac Hayes: The Spirit of Memphis (1962-1976) Call it a book or call it a box set; just make sure you’re hinting to someone to make sure that this collection dedicated to Hayes’ days at Memphis-based soul imprint Stax is in your possession. Four CDs give listeners 67 songs (some unreleased) that track Hayes’ evolution from cover artist to songwriter to full-blown bandleader. All that audio is augmented with a 56-page book featuring interviews and — most impressively — tons of handwritten notes from Stax master reels, old press releases and loads of glossy, behind-the-scenes photos from the label’s archives. (Craft Recordings)
Liner Notes: On Parents & Children, Exes & Excess, Death & Decay, & a Few of My Other Favorite Things To this 32-year-old wannabe hipster, Loudon Wainwright III was always just Rufus’ dad: A guy who was important, but whose work outside of the Grammy-winning High Wide & Handsome I just didn’t have the attention for (Sufjan, Joanna Newsom — there was always just so much more deep music I needed to dive into instead). After spending time with the 71-year-old folkie, humorist and actor’s new, often hilarious meditation and memoir on family, I can’t can’t wait to reconcile my sins and then maybe catch the man at his March 29 show inside Ruth Eckerd Hall’s ridiculously intimate Murray Theatre. (Blue Rider Press)
Smithsonian Rock and Roll: Live and Unseen A veritable who’s who of rock and roll is contained within this most impressive 200-page tome. The brainchild of The Smithsonian who, a few years back, released an open call for photographers to submit their unseen and unpublished photos of rock icons, blossomed into one of the most enjoyable rock books of recent years. Writer Bill Bentley delivers an engaging introduction before he lets the amazing photos do the talking. Superb onstage shots of legends as diverse as Little Richard to Patti Smith fill the pages of this record album-sized coffee table book as well as short, written homages that delve into the bios of the artists pictured while offering interesting facts and details along the way. You have to love a book that digs beneath the surface to include often forgotten about artists like Detroit-based punk rock forefathers MC5 and Blues legend Jimmy Reed yet manages to acknowledge modern day artists like pop hit maker Adele and soul-influenced blues/rock trio Alabama Shakes. Whether as an introduction to a young fan discovering the real feel and essence of rock and roll or a reminder to a seasoned, lifelong devotee of rock of the thrills and excitement the music brings, this essential book serves as a virtual roadmap of the key, integral players of the game. The most intriguing part about the well-designed book is its ability to elicit the true sense of urgency and hysteria rock and roll can inspire while presenting flawless, rousing photos that most readers have probably never seen before. A marvelous trip through the many years of the birth and development of rock music like none readers have ever experienced before. (Smithsonian Books) —Gabe Echazabal
Elvis Ignited: The Rise of an Icon in Florida Nicko’s is for sale, and eating at the very seat Elvis purportedly sat in during the developmental stages of his career is a silly thing I may actually miss when the Tampa diner eventually gets turned into an overpriced yuppie biscuit house. Especially now that Bob Kealing, an Emmy-winning television reporter for WESH in Orlando, has published his probe of The King’s Sunshine State exploits. Kealing — who has previously written about Kerouac’s Florida days and even oft-forgotten Winter Haven boy Gram Parsons — takes his time with folks from across the region as they share firsthand stories of their time with Presley. My colleague Cathy Salustri has a great, historical Florida road trip book out on this very same imprint, but Kealing (no offense, Cathy) has laid out a musical map I’d much rather spend my time following. (University Press of Florida)
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On the record: Tampa author John Capouya draws a musical road map with his book Florida Soul
Florida Soul: From Ray Charles to KC and the Sunshine Band CL contributor Bill DeYong did a great job examining this one from Tampa author John Capouya, and we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the collection of stories that prove that Florida does — and always did — have a whole lot of soul. (University Press of Florida)
We Were Going to Change the World Hit So Hard, the heartbreaking memoir by Hole drummer Patty Schemel, gets love below, but Stacy Russo’s collection of interviews with women musicians and journalists lived was in print because of the librarian’s attention to detail it gives to often unheard of — yet still vital — players in the ‘70s and ‘80s southern California punk scene. Sure, Exene Cervenka and Alice Bags show up, but the 283-page work also includes talks with Nature Core’s Tammy Talbot and fan-turned-punk-rock-historian Kathy Rodgers. At first, a foreword by Mike Watt seems like an odd choice (a man, ‘splaining a book about women?), but the Minutemen and Dos bassist ends up beautifully capturing the influence women had on the scene and his own life, too. (Santa Monica Press)
The Man Who Carried Cash: Saul Holiff, Johnny Cash, and the Making of an American Icon Academic approaches to the less romantic, largely tactical side of making it in the music biz can be snoozy to even the most interested parties. While Julie Chadwick’s look at the relationship between Johnny Cash and his manager Saul Holiff can feel encyclopedic at times, it is mostly an intimate look into one of America’s most important musical figures only made possible after Holiff’s death, when his son found a key to a storage locker where Dad kept sorta-creepy records of his relationship with the singer. Hotliff — who in 1973 abruptly quit working with the Man In Black after 13 years — was there for so many of the ups and downs of Cash’s career, and a trip with this book feels like a criminally detailed peek into a very complex relationship. (Dundurn Press)
Bowie: The Illustrated Story By the time you read this, it’ll have been almost two years since the world lost perhaps its most charmingly unpredictable, impossibly pioneering pop star. This newspaper did its best to immortalize David Bowie on last year’s “In Memoriam” cover, but former MOJO editor Par Gilbert does a much more thorough job inside of this gorgeous 224-page hardcover book with enough insight into every phase of the Thin White Duke’s career (plus loads of rich, behind-the-scenes photos) to send even the most devoted superfans into moonage daydreams of their own. (Voyageur Press)
Hit So Hard: A Memoir If there's a book in his recap that is painfully real, then its this crushing, 272-page memoir from Patty Schemel where the former Hole drummer who walks readers through a rock and roll life that included addiction, detox, rehab and a whole lot of famous friends. The anecdotes and stories are painfully vivid (have you ever stuffed $100 worth of cocaine into a condom and then up your vagina?), but all of it flows gracefully in the same way Schemel, 50, attacked the drums with an assertive sense of melody that made her one of rock's greatest timekeepers. You should read this, but if you're too lazy then just set your eyes on a documentary that shares the same title. (Da Capo Press)
This article appears in Dec 14-21, 2017.