Widely hailed as a genius, Arthur Lee was a character every bit as colorful and unique as his music. In 1966, he was Prince of the Sunset Strip, busy with his pioneering racially-mixed band Love, and accelerating the evolution of California folk-rock by infusing it with jazz and orchestral influences, a process that would climax in a timeless masterpiece, the Love album Forever Changes.Shaped by a Memphis childhood and a South Los Angeles youth, Lee always...

Emerging from a period of protest and social unrest, 1968 was the year that ushered in gut-punching sounds that would define classic and hard rock—the formation of bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath rolled away the light sounds of psychedelic music and Flower Power. Celebrated music journalist & author John Einarson provides the first detailed account of this crucial period.Einarson begins by examining the birth of psychedelic music and experimentation beginning in 1965 and ...

In the 1980s, Manitoba country-rock group The C-Weed Band scored a half dozen Top Ten hits on the country music charts beginning with their #1 hit single "Evangeline". As an Indigenous band, they broke ground for other Indigenous artists on the Canadian music mainstream. Starting out in the tough Main Street Winnipeg bars, the band faced daunting odds including poverty, discrimination, and racism throughout their rise to success. The members of The C-Weed Band, whose nucleus was the three ...

Their classic "Four Strong Winds" is widely considered to be one of the greatest songs of all time. Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, and Joni Mitchell count among their admirers. Their music, including hits like "You Were On My Mind" and "Someday Soon," has been recorded by everyone from Dylan and Johnny Cash to Sarah McLachlan and The Tragically Hip. Their influence on music—has endured over generations and surpassed genres. Yet until now, we have known little of th...

As told by the musicians who made it happen, Desperados: The Roots of Country Rock revisits country rock's rise to the top of the charts. Music scholar John Einarson delves into the years from 1963, when Buck Owens and his Buckaroos brought an electric edge to their Texas honky-tonk tunes, to 1973, when The Eagles released their album "Desperado" on David Geffen's label. Einarson examines how folk, rockabilly, blues, Nashville country, Tejano, bluegrass, and other musical idioms i...

A Canadian icon on his longstanding love of the West and his life in "one of the last true cowboy countries on either side of the border.""I live on a ranch about six miles east of the town of Longview and the old Cowboy Trail in the foothills of the Rockies. On a perfect day, like today, I can't imagine being anywhere else in the world. Of course, I'm not going to say there aren't those other days when you think, 'What am I doing here?' It's beautiful country and it can be brutall...

Acclaimed music writer Robert Hilburn’s “epic” and “definitive” (Rolling Stone) biography of music icon Paul Simon, written with Simon’s full participation—but without his editorial control—that “reminds us how titanic this musician is” (The Washington Post).For more than fifty years, Paul Simon has spoken to us in songs about alienation, doubt, resilience, and empathy in ways that have established him as one of the most beloved artists in America...

From a legendary music journalist with four decades of unprecedented access, an insider's behind-the-scenes look at the major personalities of rock and roll.Lisa Robinson has interviewed the biggest names in music--including Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, John Lennon, Patti Smith, U2, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Jay Z and Kanye West. She visited the teenage Michael Jackson many times at his Encino home. She spent hours talking to John Lennon at his Dakota apartment--and ...

At a time when Acid Rock and Heavy Metal dominated popular music, The Band rebelled against the rebellion with a masterful mix of tight ensemble arrangements, great vocals, highly literate lyricism, and a respect for the musical traditions of the American South. Comprising Canadians Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and Garth Hudson, and Arkansas-born Levon Helm, The Band sparked a new appreciation for America’s musical roots, fusing R&B, jump blues, country, folk, boogie-woogi...

A behind-the-scenes journey through the rise and demise of the '70s and '80s classic rock eraBefore disco, punk, hair metal, rap, and eventually grunge took it all away, the music scene in Los Angeles was dominated by rock 'n' roll. If a group wanted to hit it big, L.A. was the place to be. But in addition to the bands themselves finding their footing, their albums also needed some guidance. That came from a group of dedicated producers and engineers working in a ca...

**A ROCK AND ROLL MEMOIR FROM GLYN JOHNS, THE LEGENDARY PRODUCER FEATURED IN THE NEW DOCUMENTARY SERIES The Beatles: Get Back“Few figures in rock history have a more impressive résumé than Glyn Johns...[Sound Man] is full of amazing anecdotes from his fifty-year career.”—Rolling Stone“A fantastic romp through the pages of rock and roll history.”—Sir Paul McCartney, the Beatles**In 2012, legendary producer and sound engineer Glyn Johns was ...

***Winner of the Oregon Book Award for General Nonfiction and Los Angeles Times bestseller"It makes good music sound better."-Janet Maslin in The New York Times***"A fascinating look into the West Coast recording studio scene of the '60s and the inside story of the music you heard on the radio. If you always assumed the musicians you listened to were the same people you saw onstage, you are in for a big surprise!"-Dusty Street, host of Classic Vinyl on Sirius XM Sa...