books

Eye Mind

The Saga of Roky Erickson and The 13th Floor Elevators,

The Pioneers of Psychedelic Sound

Paul Drummond (Author) Julian Cope (Foreword)

“One of the most exhilarating and important rock ’n’ roll stories ever told.”—Julian Cope

The trailblazing 13th Floor Elevators released the first “psychedelic” rock album in America, transforming culture throughout the 1960s and beyond. The Elevators followed their own spiritual cosmic agenda, to change society by finding a new path to enlightenment. Their battles with repressive authorities in Texas and their escape to San Francisco’s embryonic counterculture are legendary.

When the Elevators returned to Texas, the band became subject to investigation by Austin police. Lead singer Roky Erickson was forced into a real-life enactment of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest and was put away in a maximum-security unit for the criminally insane for years. Tommy Hall, their Svengali lyricist, lived in a cave. Guitarist Stacy Sutherland was imprisoned. The drummer was involuntarily subjected to electric shock treatments, and the bassist was drafted into the Vietnam War.

This fascinating biography breaks decades of silence of band members and addresses a huge cult following of Elevators fans in the United States and Europe. The group is revered as a formative influence on Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, Patti Smith, Primal Scream, R.E.M, and Z.Z. Top.

Roky Erickson is the subject of a heralded recent documentary feature, You’re Gonna Miss Me; a box set of remastered Elevators CDs with liner notes by author Paul Drummond will be issued in fall 2007.

A Deeper Blue

The Life and Music of Townes Van Zandt

Robert Earl Hardy

This is the first serious biography of a man widely considered one of Texas'—and America's—greatest songwriters. Like Jimmie Rodgers, Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, and Hank Williams, Townes Van Zandt was the embodiment of that mythic American figure, the troubled troubadour. A Deeper Blue traces Van Zandt's background as the scion of a prominent Texas family; his troubled early years and his transformation from promising pre-law student to wandering folk singer; his life on the road and the demons that pursued and were pursued by him; the women who loved and inspired him; and the brilliance and enduring beauty of his songs, which are explored in depth.

The author draws on eight years' extensive research and interviews withTownes' family and closest friends and colleagues. He looks beyond the legend and paints a colorful portrait of a complex man who embraced the darkness of demons and myth as well as the light of deep compassion and humanity, all "for the sake of the song."

"This is an account of a period of time in music history as well as of one man's struggle with his own life, a struggle that uses the creative process as a way to salvation."—Kathleen Hudson, author of Telling Stories, Writing Songs and Executive Director, Texas Heritage Music Foundation

"The author talked to many, many people who knew Townes. His work offers a wealth of anecdotes and information."—Louis Black, editor, Austin Chronicle and executive producer of Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt

ROBERT EARL HARDY has been a professional writer and editor with an interest in contemporary music for twenty-five years. Also a musician, he has played guitar in rock'n'roll, rhythm and blues, and honky-tonk bands in the Washington, D.C., area since the 1970s. He is currently researching the cultural history of 1960s and '70s garage bands. He lives in Laurel, Maryland.

Chicago Soul

Recordings And History Of An American Culture

Ruben Molina

Chicago Soul is the first comprehensive, intimate look at the music that was lovingly created by Chicanos from throughout the American Southwest. It's a story about the music and the cultural cauldron that created it. This music of the 1950s and 1960s flourished during a time when Soul music was the "hip thing" and garage bands sprang up throughout the Southwest, from the Westside of San Antonio to the bustling barrios of Los Angeles. These young musicians fused the music of their parents' homeland with the soulful rhythms flowing from Philadelphia, Memphis, New Orleans and Detroit. For the first time, all of the great groups of the Southwest tell their story and reveal what the Chicano has always known – that Soul music runs through our veins.

Willie Nelson

An Epic Life

Joe Nick Patoski

Willie Nelson: An Epic Life as a 576-page testament to that Abbott youngster’s journey from badass country boy to besainted one-name legend. Fans who’ve come to believe that Willie-ness is next to godliness may be surprised by the coarser reality of his life, from cotton-picking poverty through an eternity on the road—not to mention the raging lunacy of his Fourth of July picnics and his (well-documented) affinity for smoking dope and rough-edged pistol-packing associates. Patoski declines to judge or analyze, merely chronicling Nelson’s story through the eyes and ears of those who have lived it. Some events could stand more-thorough treatment, particularly the genesis and creation of Red Headed Stranger, those almost 34 minutes of unvarnished country that in 1975 turned the record industry on its ear. But in the end, the biographer’s message is simple and true: Willie does what Willie wants to do, and he does it with a hard-won smile.

Guide To Rare Rockabilly & Rock n' Roll 45 RPMs

Tom Lincoln & Dick Blackburn 2008 Edition

(2008/LINCOLN) Broschur/Glossy Paperback, 21x27 cm, 206 Seiten/pages, plus 22 Seiten farbige Label & Hüllen Abbildungen in Top Qualität. Guide to rare Rockabilly & Rock & Roll plus Black Rockers, Instrumentals, Cross Listing By Label, Collector's/DJs Top Ten Lists, 22 pages of color photos. It Has Been 10 Long Years Since The First Edition Was Published, And This Is The First Rockabilly Price Guide Since 2002 During Which There Have Been A Great Many Changes In Values Of These Records. In Addition Numerous New Titles Are Included In The Second Edition And A New Section On The Rarest Instrumental 45 RPM Records Is Included. Features Of The New Second Edition Include: Over 5500 Titles Of Records Valued At $50 And Up New Valuations Based On Up-To-Date Information About Supply And Demand Of Collectable Rockabilly/Rare Rock N Roll 45s More "Notes" Dealing With Specific Information On Artists, Records And Values A Special Discussion About Rockabilly Record Collecting And The State- Of-The-Art Of The Hobby Special Sections On "Black Rockers" And "Instrumental" 45s A New Section For Cross Listing By Labels For Easier Indentification 20 Pages Of Color Photos Of Rare Rockabilly Record Labels A New Section On Collector/Dealer "Top 10 Lists" Of Rare Rockabilly/ Rock N Roll.

Texas Blues

The Rise of a Contemporary Sound

Alan Govenar

Texas Blues allows artists to speak in their own words, revealing the

dynamics of blues, from its beginnings in cotton fields and shotgun

shacks to its migration across boundaries of age and race to seize

the musical imagination of the entire world.

Fully illustrated with 495 dramatic, high-quality color and black- and-white photographs—many never before published—Texas Blues provides comprehensive and authoritative documentation of a musical tradition that has changed contemporary music. Award-winning documentary filmmaker and author Alan Govenar here builds on his previous groundbreaking work documenting these musicians and their style with the stories of 110 of the most influential artists and their times.

From Blind Lemon Jefferson and Aaron "T-Bone" Walker of Dallas, to Delbert McClinton in Fort Worth, Sam "Ligntnin'" Hopkins in East Texas, Baldemar (Freddie Fender) Huerta in South Texas, and Stevie Ray Vaughan in Austin, Texas Blues shows the who, what, where, and how of blues in the Lone Star State.