Author:Sheila Tracy
In this captivating study of one of our most popular music genres, Sheila Tracy goes behind the scenes and talks to over 60 Americans who played with the most famous big bands - and who lived to tell the tale. This was no mean feat: swing music''s huge popularity brought the performers wild adulation and, for many, resorting to drugs and alcohol was the only way to keep up. These musicians relate their incredible experiences of life on the road, where the pressure to party every night was enormous.
'Envy may be a sin, but it is a godsend to drama. Honest and always hilarious'
—— Daily Telgraph'Fantastic, very funny. The best sort of book about rock, being both personal and intimate ... illuminating a dozen big subjects by side-light'
—— Andrew O’HaganA poignant story, well worth reading
—— OKWell-written and insightful ... a rare, unmissable memoir
—— HeatReal power … compelling reading … his book often has the intensity of a thriller
—— Craig Brown , Mail on SundaySharp, touching and genuinely inspiring
—— Sunday TimesAn honest, engrossing and uplifting read
—— Good Book GuideFunny, touching, inspiring and told in such a way that it becomes impossible to resist
—— Glasgow Evening TimesSean Wilentz's beautiful book sets a new standard for the cultural history of popular music in America
—— Leon WieseltierUnlike so many Dylan-writer-wannabes and phony 'encyclopedia' compilers, Sean Wilentz makes me feel he was in the room when he chronicles events that I participated in. Finally a breath of fresh words founded in hardcore, intelligent research
—— Al Kooper, musician, record producer and Bob Dylan collaboratorWriting about Bob Dylan's music, and fitting it into the great crazy quilt of American culture, Sean Wilentz sews a whole new critical fabric, part history, part close analysis, and all heart. What he writes, as well as anyone ever has, helps us enlarge Dylan's music by reckoning its roots, its influences, its allusive spiritual contours
—— Jay Cocks, screenwriter for THE AGE OF INNOCENCE and THE GANGS OF NEW YORKIt throws up a wealth of unexpected connections.
—— Ian Thomson , Spectator, Christmas round upDid you know Bob Dylan loves Eileen Aroon? One of the many facts in Bob Dylan in America.
—— Patrick McCabe , Irish Times, Christmas round upThe result is a broad and brilliantly illuminating appreciation of Dylan as both performer and songwriter up to the present day
—— Belfast News LetterFull of anecdotal gifts you will never forget... Ephron reflects on the early days of her career-memories of her time working as a mail girl at Newsweek and writing for Esquire-while taking every opportunity to get real about her life at the time she was penning this memoir.
—— Oprah Magazine