M
usic is my first love. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a family that valued listening to and making music. There were always guitarists, pianists, lots of singers and even a washtub bass player around at family gatherings. I’m sure that this contributed to the fact that I now love to read about music, musicians and musical performances.
If you’re looking for bite-sized entries, try “The Girl in the Song” and “The Boy in the Song” by Michael Heatley. These books discuss the people and events that inspired some of our favorite songs.
“Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! The Story of Pop Music from Bob Haley to Beyoncé” by Bob Stanley, who argues that pop music starts with Bill Haley and the Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock.” He moves forward chronologically, sometimes devoting a whole chapter to an especially influential musician or group, like Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and Michael Jackson.
Famous musicians are very often fascinating people. Here are some of the newer biographies of musicians at the Buda Public Library:
Johnny Cash: The Life
by Robert Hilburn
Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul
by Mark Bego
George Harrison: Behind the Locked Door
by Graeme Thomson
Mercury: An Intimate Biography of Freddie Mercury
by Lesley-Ann Jones
Mozart
by Paul Brett Johnson
27: A History of the 27 Club Through the Lives of Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse
by Howard Sounes
Connect with music and musicians at the Buda Public Library!
