Born in poverty in Tennessee, Dolly Rebecca Parton had ambition and determination in spades. Her first single, the ironic Dumb Blonde, launched the now legendary career of a singer-songwriter with a pure country voice and a gift for story-telling.Smart as a whip, Dolly Parton shrugged aside the male-dominated world of Nashville to command her own destiny, creating huge business enterprise in the process: She owns Dollywood theme park and other hospitality venues; she has h...

Willie Nelson shares his life story in this captivating bestselling memoir of true love, wild times, best friends, and barrooms."Unvarnished. Funny. Leaving no stone unturned." ... So say the publishers about this book I've written. What I say is that this is the story of my life, told as clear as a Texas sky and in the same rhythm that I lived it.It's a story of restlessness and the purity of the moment and living right. Of my childhood in Abbott, Texas, t...

"Refreshing . . . candid . . . poignant. . . . One of the best of country's tell-alls, as warm, peculiar, and individualistic as Jennings's music itself." — Entertainment WeeklyEqual parts outlaw, renegade, and legend, Waylon Jennings enjoyed a stellar music career for four decades and this no-holds-barred autobiography reveals the story of a man who infused country music traditions with the energy of rock and roll to rewrite the rules of ...

For the first time in his own words, the legendary musical genius of The Beach Boys reflects on his tumultuous life and astonishing 21st-century comeback to live performance and renewed creativity.Brian Wilson was the driving creative force behind The Beach Boys, a band that defined an era and charted nine consecutive gold albums and hit after unstoppable hit. But he was derailed in the 1970s by mental illness, drug use, and the shifting fortunes of the band he'd h...

Legendary singer, songwriter, actress, and activist Cyndi Lauper offers a personal account of the journey that led her to become an international superstar in this “moving story of an American musical original” (Kirkus Reviews).Icon Cyndi Lauper offers a poignant account of the journey that led her to become an international superstar—from her years growing up in Queens, New York, to the making of enduring hits like “Time After Time,” “Girls Just Want to H...

The greatest Southern storyteller of our time tracks down the greatest rock and roller of all time—and gets his own story, from the source, for the very first time.The New York Times BestsellerOne of Rolling Stone's 10 Best Music Books of the YearA monumental figure on the American landscape, Jerry Lee Lewis spent his childhood raising hell in Ferriday, Louisiana, and Natchez, Mississippi; galvanized ...

The multi-Grammy Award-winning pioneering soul musician tells the story of his childhood, career, and legacy—in this own words.Ray Charles (1930-2004) led one of the most extraordinary lives of any popular musician. In Brother Ray, he tells his story in an inimitable and unsparing voice, from the chronicle of his musical development to his heroin addiction to his tangled romantic life.Overcoming poverty, blindness, the loss of his parents, and the ...

American pop music is arguably this country’s greatest cultural contribution to the world, and its singular voice and virtuosity were created by a shining thread of Black women geniuses stretching back to the country’s founding. This is their surprising, heartbreaking, soaring story—from “one of the generation’s greatest, most insightful, most nuanced writers in pop culture” (Shea Serrano)“Sparkling . . . the overdue singing of a Black girl’s song, with per...

Smart Blonde: Dolly Parton is a comprehensive and revealing biography which includes interviews with family members, musicians and producers who have worked with Dolly over the years. This new and fully updated edition includes a detailed section on the superstar's legendary performance at 2014's Glastonbury Festival.This book is a detailed assessment of her music as a singer and songwriter over the last forty years, and author Stephen Miller discusses how she shru...

The Everly Brothers were one of the most important and influential of the early rock and roll bands. They set the standard high with close two-part harmonies and were the first of the rockers who combined country with rock and roll and, surprisingly, impressed both sides of the fence.This book is a fan's tribute to one of the great groups of the fifties and sixties. Anyone who is a fan of the Everly Brothers would enjoy learning more about the duo.Included in this short boo...

A collection of wise and witty quotes from and inspired by Jim Henson similar in format to The World According to Mister Rogers. "When I was young, it was my ambition to be one of the people who made a difference in this world. My hope is to leave the world a little better for my having been there. It's a wonderful life and I love it." -Jim Henson "Yeah, well, I've got a dream too. But it's about singing and dancing and making people happy. That's the kind of dream that gets better the mor...

This official guide chronicles the story of the birthplace of country music as told by the people who were there. Escott presents the official inside history of the home of country music, offering fans an exclusive look into the heart and soul of country music. Full color, and packed with photos from the Opry Archives covering 80 years of history.