Michael Amos Cody, Author of 'Gabriel's Songbook', with Frye Gaillard and Peter Cooper, on Appalachian Music & Culture, MTV, & the Nashville Music Scene in the 1980s

In this episode we’re venturing inside the complicated world of the Nashville music biz. Michael Amos Cody joins me to talk about his novel ‘Gabriel’s Songbook’, which follows starry-eyed Gabriel Tanner on his quest to strike it big as a singer-songwriter in the Music City in the 1980s. 

In the final segment, Frye Gaillard and Peter Cooper drop by to talk about the real Nashville music scene in the 1980s. Frye is an historian and author of such books as ‘A Hard Rain: America in the 1960s’, ‘The Southernization of America’, which he co-wrote with Pulitzer Prize-winner Cynthia Tucker, and ‘Watermelon Wine: The Spirit of Country Music’. Peter is the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s senior director, producer, and writer.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Christopher Cross’s buried guitar lead on “Ride Like the Wind”
• Suzi Quatro’s convincing argument for including Simon & Garfunkel in a rock novel 
• The Appalachian setting and culture for part of the novel ‘Gabriel’s Songbook’ and what Appalachia means to Michael and the character Gabriel: food, religion, family, community, mountain music
• The complexities and difficulties of an image-driven music business during the MTV 1980s on singer-songwriters, like Gabriel, who don’t fit the mold
• Michael’s own experience as a young musician in Nashville during this time
• How Michael’s relationship with his wife, Leesa, inspired the relationship between Gabriel and Eliza in ‘Gabriel’s Songbook’
• The passion that Michael still feels for making music
• Frye and Peter talk about the differences between the ‘70s and ’80s Nashville music scene and business

MUSIC AND MEDIA IN THE EPISODE IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:

1. Free Country Instrumental Music/No Copyright Background Music
2. “Born the Run” by Bruce Springsteen
3. “Ride Like the Wind” by Christopher Cross
4. “April Come She Will” by Simon & Garfunkel
5. “Mountain Dew” by The Stanley Brothers
6. “Lookin’ for Love” by Johnny Lee
7. “Mexican Radio” by Wall of Voodoo
8. “Best I’ve Ever Seen” by Michael Amos Cody
9. “Leesa, Listen” by Michael Amos Cody
10. “Soulmates” by Michael Amos Cody
11. “You’ve Got Something I Need” by Michael Amos Cody
12. “The Sweetest Gift” by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris
13. “Better Class of Losers” by Randy Travis
14. “Molly Dear” by Jonathan Byrd
15. “I Came for the Gold” by Michael Amos Cody

LINKS: 

Michael Amos Cody’s website: https://michaelamoscody.com/

Michael on Twitter, @DrMacOde

Michael on Instagram, @michaelamoscody

Frye Gaillard’s website: https://fryegaillardauthor.com/

Frye on Facebook, @FryeGaillard

Peter Cooper’s website: https://www.petercoopermusic.com/

Peter Cooper on Facebook, @PeterCooper

Christy Alexander Hallberg’s website: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/

Christy Alexander Hallberg on Twitter, @ChristyHallberg

Christy Alexander Hallberg on Instagram, @christyhallberg

Christy Alexander Hallberg’s YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfSnRmlL5moSQYi6EjSvqag

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices