From unforgettable memoirs by artists like Dolly Parton and Reggie Watts to a momentous volume celebrating 50 years of Hip-Hop, this list of reads honors and celebrates the music that shapes us.
In Their Own Words:
Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones by Dolly Parton
A beautiful celebration of Dolly Parton’s iconic sense of style through entertaining personal stories and 450 full-color photographs, including exclusive images from her private costume archive.
“In this effervescent full-color volume, Parton recounts the vivid tales behind the clothes . . . An unforgettable personal and professional history of a beloved country music performer . . . [and] a must-have treasury for diehard Dolly fans and armchair fashionistas.”—Kirkus Reviews
Available October 17th in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
Click to Read an Excerpt
Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook
Great Falls, MT: Fast Times, Post-Punk Weirdos, and a Tale of Coming Home Again by Reggie Watts
Comedian and musician Reggie Watts shares his story of growing up in Montana as a biracial oddball struggling to navigate life, girls, drugs, and his own identity in America’s heartland—and having a blast doing it.
“Great Falls, MT deepens my understanding of Reggie Watts while keeping the mysteriousness around his incredible art intact. How did this brilliant, wonderful person get here? This book makes his path seem like something more logical than improbable. Of course he became this person! It’s the same way I feel about Liverpool and The Beatles, or Minneapolis and Prince.”—Fred Armisen
Available October 17th in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
Click for More Information
Click for Audiobook Information
The Upcycled Self: A Memoir on the Art of Becoming Who We Are by Tariq Trotter
From Tariq Trotter—better known as Black Thought—the platinum-selling, Grammy-winning co-founder of The Roots, and one of our generation’s most powerful artists and incisive storytellers, comes a brilliantly crafted work about the art—and war—of becoming who we are.
“One of hip-hop’s greatest MCs, unpacking his harrowing, remarkable journey in his own words, with enough insights for two lifetimes.”—Lin-Manuel Miranda, award-winning songwriter, producer, director, and creator of In the Heights and Hamilton
Available November 14th in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
Click for More Information
Click for Audiobook Information
Sonic Life: A Memoir by Thurston Moore
From the founding member of Sonic Youth, a passionate memoir tracing the author’s life and art—from his teen years as a music obsessive in small-town Connecticut, to the formation of his legendary rock group, to thirty years of creation, experimentation, and wonder.
“Downtown scientists rejoice! For Thurston Moore has unearthed the missing links, the sacred texts, the forgotten stories, and the secret maps of the lost golden age. This is history—scuffed, slightly bent, plenty noisy, and indispensable.”—Colson Whitehead, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Underground Railroad and Harlem Shuffle
Available October 24th in Hardcover, eBook, Audio, and Large Print Editions.
Click for More Information
Click for Audiobook Information
World Within a Song: Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music by Jeff Tweedy
An exciting and heartening mix of memories, music, and inspiration from Wilco front man and New York Times bestselling author Jeff Tweedy, sharing fifty songs that changed his life, the real-life experiences behind each one, as well as what he’s learned about how music and life intertwine and enhance each other.
“Like his songs, this book felt like a gesture of warm reassurance, an inspiring reminder of the role art can play in keeping a person alert to life and moving forward. Tweedy is a generous, insanely gifted national treasure.”—George Saunders, New York Times bestselling author of A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
Available November 7th in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
Click for More Information
Click for Audiobook Information
The History of Bones: A Memoir by John Lurie
The quintessential depiction of 1980s New York and the downtown scene from the artist, actor, musician, and composer John Lurie.
“No other human’s strange struggles and triumphs are like this. I was transfixed reading Lurie’s yearning to make sense of it all, slamming his fist through the precious veneer of the early eighties New York art/music scene. Yeeeooooow.”—Flea, author of Acid for the Children
Available in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
Available October 24th in Trade Paperback.
Click to Read an Excerpt
Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook
Black Punk Now Edited by Chris L. Terry and James Spooner
A canonizing, bold, and urgent anthology setting a new precedent for Black Punk Lit, created by generations of Black punks—featuring both new voices and those from the not-so-recent past.
“Spooner and Terry have brought together voices of an independent Black Punk foundational ethos, celebrating the unassimilable and the defiant—the bold, fearless spirit of artists, musicians, writers, and nonconformists that absolutely refuse to back down to the mainstream of any kind.”—Vernon Reid, Guitarist and Songwriter of Living Colour
Available October 31st in Trade Paperback and eBook Editions.
Click to Read an Excerpt
An Ode to the Icons:
LL COOL J Presents The Streets Win: 50 Years of Hip-Hop Greatness by LL COOL J, Vikki Tobak, and Alec Banks
Co-authored by Hip-Hop legend LL COOL J, acclaimed journalist Vikki Tobak and Rock The Bells’ editorial director Alec Banks, this momentous volume celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the influential culture, sound, and preeminent voices of American Hip-Hop music.
LL COOL J Presents The Streets Win commemorates the birth, rise, and progression of Hip-Hop’s culture and its indisputable impact on American music over the past fifty years. Vikki Tobak, Alec Banks and LL COOL J reveal the journey of this music genre through rarely seen photographs of Hip-Hop from its inception, from block party performances to street shots, parties, sessions at recording studios, and more. The imagery is accompanied by first-person recollections from Hip-Hop’s MCs, B-Boys, graffiti artists, and DJs who share how they fell in love with Hip-Hop, broke into the business, their artistic and personal style inspiration, and their views on Hip-Hop’s culture and music.
Available in Hardcover.
Click to Read an Excerpt
Tupac Shakur: The Authorized Biography by Staci Robinson
The authorized biography of the legendary artist, Tupac Shakur, a moving exploration of his life and powerful legacy, fully illustrated with photos, mementos, handwritten poetry, musings, and more.
“A must-see for [Tupac] fans [with] loads of colorful details about his life . . . The author is at her best in her descriptions of Shakur’s ambitions, intense work ethic, and dislike of authority . . . as well as his family life . . . This authorized biography of Shakur is intimate and personal.”—Kirkus Reviews
Available October 24th in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
Click to Read an Excerpt
Click for Audiobook Information
Harry Styles Text by (art/photo books) Alex Bilmes, Aya Kanai, and Jem Aswad
The perfect gorgeous pocket-sized book for all Harry Styles fans, packed with 100+ amazing photos and with a gold-foil stamped cover. Plus, top cultural, music and fashion contributors discuss Harry’s cultural significance and answer the question: Why Harry, why now and just what makes him the man of the moment?
Fabulously dressed with a flair all his own, unapologetic yet vulnerable, talented yet supremely humble: Harry Styles is a cultural phenomenon and icon for our times. This photo-packed, gold-foiled luxe gift book celebrates the global superstar’s impact on music and fashion and how his choice of positive and authentic self-expression and tolerance has helped redefine modern masculinity and celebrity worldwide.
Available October 24th in Hardcover and eBook Editions.
Click to Read an Excerpt
To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse by Howard Fishman
The mysterious true story of Connie Converse—a mid-century New York City songwriter, singer, and composer whose haunting music never found broad recognition—and one writer’s quest to understand her life.
“The mystery of American composer Connie Converse’s disappearance in 1974 is ongoing, and she may be lost forever. But her spectacular work has been rescued and elevated to a marvelous level by Howard Fishman. Her music belongs to an America that barely knows it exists.”—William Kennedy, Pulitzer-prize winning author of Ironweed
Available in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
Click to Read an Excerpt
Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook
Biography of a Phantom: A Robert Johnson Blues Odyssey by Robert “Mack” McCormick; Edited by John W. Troutman
The drama of In Cold Blood meets the stylings of a Coen brothers film in this long-lost manuscript from musicologist Robert “Mack” McCormick, whose research on blues icon Robert Johnson’s mysterious life and death became as much of a myth as the musician himself.
“It’s a completely engrossing exploration of the South, one that only elevates and deepens what Robert Johnson achieved as an iconoclastic musician who was said to have sold his soul to the devil for his mastery. McCormick’s book also has the added gift of revealing how a great biography can be assembled.”—NPR, Fresh Air
Available in Hardcover and eBook Editions.
Click to Read an Excerpt
Behind the Music:
H.R. Giger: Debbie Harry Metamorphosis: Creating the Visual Concept for KooKoo by Chris Stein; Introduction by Debbie Harry
A beautiful coffee table art book chronicling the extraordinary collaboration between Debbie Harry and H.R. Giger for Harry’s 1981 solo album KooKoo.
When the visual artist H.R. Giger, best known for his biomechanical creature and set design for seminal 1979 sci-fi-horror film Alien, encountered Debbie Harry, the punk icon and lead singer of globally successful new wave band Blondie, the results were sublime. With photographs and words by Chris Stein, Harry’s long-term collaborator, artefacts and sketches from the Giger archive, and an introduction by Debbie Harry, this is an essential behind-the-scenes insight into the processes of an incredible creative partnership.
Available in Hardcover.
Click for More Information
Music in History:
Time’s Echo: The Second World War, The Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance by Jeremy Eichler
A stirring account of how music bears witness to history and carries forward the memory of the wartime past.
“Time’s Echo offers the same kind of immersive experience that [Eichler] encourages us to explore in music. His beautiful meditation on the dark shadows that compelled, propelled and ultimately haunted classical music in Europe during and after World War II inspires our ears.”—Kira Thurman, The New York Times
Available in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
Click to Read an Excerpt
Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook
