WILLIE NELSON: AN EPIC LIFE, by Joe Nick Patoski (Little Brown & Company)
"Willie Nelson: An Epic Life", written by acclaimed Texan Joe Nick Patoski, is a meticulously researched and very readable documentation of the life and career of the legendary Willie Nelson. Combining insightful observations about Willie along with exclusive interviews of Nelson and the people that have been closest to him in his personal and professional life, this official biography has a very engaging and fluid style that makes it an entertaining and enlightening read for those either new to the story of Willie Nelson or for the long-time fan.
From the Blackland cotton patches of Willie's boyhood home in Abbott, Texas, through his musical "coming-of-age" in the rough and tumble, blood and guts honky-tonks of Fort Worth, his trials, tribulations and ultimate successes in the music business of Nashville, Nelson's return to his roots in Texas and to Austin, then on to the heights of The White House and his well-deserved legendary status worldwide, Patoski wonderfully leads the reader on the road of Willie Nelson's life.
This well-written, flowing " page-turner " is a joy to read.
Jim Yanaway
A DEEPER BLUE - THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF TOWNES VAN ZANDT -by Robert Earl Hardy (University Of North Texas Press)
Hardy's book is the second and best biography of the talented but tormented singer songwriter. Well written, researched and factual by an author who obviously has a lot of respect for his subject.
Given almost unlimited freedom in both the studio and at her home, author Michael Streissguth has created a book based on Rosanne Cash's CD THE LIST, that gives a highly personal glimpse of the artist at work.
The late Leon Kagarise was a sound recordist and photographer who loved country music and this amazing book gathers colour photos from 1961-71, taken by Kagarise....Cash, Tubb, Jones, Snow, The Louvin Brothers.....the Nudie suits!
Jimmie Rodgers was a hilbilly who linked blues, country and folk with jazz...this terrific book by Barry Mazor highlights Rodgers influence on the modern genre of Americana....he started it!