The Music Book Podcast

On this episode, Marc talks with Steve Wynn, author of “I Wouldn't Say It If It Wasn't True: A Memoir Of Life, Music, And The Dream Syndicate,” published in August of 2024. It’s an entertaining and insightful memoir of his music-obsessed life, from his childhood biking to the store to buy records, to his days as a record store clerk and radio DJ, to his co-founding of the Dream Syndicate, the LA band  whose debut album “Days of Wine and Roses” is a classic of 80’s post-punk.As Wynn writes, “I had somehow and against all odds gone from being a music-obsessed record-store clerk making songs in his father’s basement to being an underground sensation navigating a major label bidding war, theater tours with the coolest bands on a similar but loftier ascension, and then descending to a contentious flameout and the ultimate crash and burn, all within those three short years.”We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Steve Wynn!

On this episode, Marc talks with Jonathan Grasse, author of “Jazz Revolutionary: The Life and Music of Eric Dolphy,” due out on October 15. It’s a thorough history of the legendary jazz multi-instrumentalist, who produced an impressive body of work both on his own and in groups led by John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Oliver Nelson, and many more, before his tragic death in 1964 at age 36. Grasse crafts the first truly comprehensive biography of Dolphy by tracing nearly every step of his music career, as well as delving deep into the releases he appeared on. As he writes, “Jazz Revolutionary approaches the artist’s recordings as essential cultured artifacts, as primary texts..[Dophy had] a warrior-monk dedication to exploring diverse musical resources beyond what the extant jazz vocabulary provided.”We hope you enjoy Marcs conversation with Jonathon Grasse!

On this episode, Marc talks with Corey duBrowa, author of “An Ideal For Living: A Celebration of the EP,” published in early 2024. It’s an overview of some of the best EP’s from the 1950s until the present, with decade-themed chapters containing entries on individual releases by a wide range of writers. In addition, duBrowa wrote an opening chapter on the history of the format, and put together a final chapter of what he and his friends deem the best EPs of all time. There’s also an intro by Spoon’s Britt Daniel and an epilogue by former Guided By Voices member Chris Slusarenko.As duBrowa writes, “With an immediacy that flies in the face of an LP’s “grand concept,” an EP turns out to be a great way for an artist to write a few songs and get them out quickly, without fanfare or pomp.”We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Corey duBrowa!

On this episode, Marc talks with Henry Rollins, author of “Stay Fanatic! Volume 4,” the latest entry in his series of books chronicling, as he puts it, “Lessons in Possession and Confessions of Obsession.” Written in diary form, “Stay Fanatic!” dives into Rollins’ adventures in listening to music, finding out about music, and hunting for records on Ebay and Discogs. It’s also a kind of travelogue, as many entries were written while Rollins was on tour, as well as a kind of evolving philosophical document of how and why he got so obsessed with music.As Rollins once explained, “I wanted the writing to be exactly how I think about records; endless amounts of detail, making mountains out of molehills, everything pretty much slammed into the red with enthusiasm…If music is one of those things that is and has always been one of the best friends you’ve ever had, you might like this book."We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Henry Rollins!

On this episode, Marc talks with David Stubbs. He’s the author of “Fear of Music: Why People Get Rothko But Don't Get Stockhausen,” originally published in 2009 and recently reissued. It's an examination of how avant-garde visual art gets mainstream acceptance but avant-garde music is comparatively obscure and unpopular. It's also a pocket history of modern art and music that brings up all kinds of interesting issues and associations among many different artistsAs David writes, “Part of this book is a history, albeit a potted and highly subjective one, of twentieth-century music set in its social and aesthetic contexts and in parallel with developments in the arts…This text isn’t intended as a sealed and finished piece of academic work - it’s as much a matter of questions, suspicions, and impressions as answers, historical facts, and conclusions.” We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with David Stubbs!

On this episode, Marc talks with Frans de Waard, author of “America’s Greatest Noise,” published in July of 2024 by Frans’s own imprint, Korm Plastics. It’s the story of Ron Lessard, founder of RRRecords in Massachusetts, which he ran from the mid-80s until 2009. It's a story told in Lessard’s own words, compiled by de Waard from a series of Skype conversations the pair had over the past year. There are so many fascinating and often hilarious stories about how Lessard put together his releases, including some uniquely odd projects that helped define the noise scene of the past 40 years. As Frans writes, “I learned a lot and we laughed a lot about noise musicians, releases, quirks, anti-records, concerts, and so much more. Here’s a man who enjoys a joke and whose releases sometimes have a humorous streak, yet at the same time he is serious concerning the release of records and creating noise music.”We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Frans de Waard!

On this episode, Marc talks with Robyn Hitchock, author of “1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left,” published in July of 2024. You probably know Robyn as an incredibly creative and accomplished musician. His first book could be called a memoir, but it’s confined to the year 1967, when he left home at age 13 to enter boarding school in England, and fell in love with music. It's a super compelling book filled with Hitchcock’s vivid depictions and idiosyncratic notions, written to read like a real-life novel.As Robyn has explained, “For me, 1967 was the portal between childhood and the adult world...the world was changing as fast as I was, and music embodied that change.”We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Robyn Hitchcock!

Toby Manning, an author who examines the relationship between pop music and political culture, shares insights from his upcoming book, 'Mixing Pop and Politics.' He explores how songs—from Don Henley's 'Boys of Summer' to gangster rap—carry deeper political meanings. Manning discusses music's role in reflecting cultural shifts and fostering collective experiences. He also touches on the challenges of interpreting lyrics and the evolution of sampling in music, revealing how the genre continually reshapes societal narratives.

On this episode, Marc talks with Mike Smith, author of “In With The In Crowd: Popular Jazz in 1960s Black America,” published in May of 2024. Smith argues that most studies of 60s jazz focus on the avant-garde centered around John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, and more, and he sets out to balance that with a history of the more popular jazz artists from that decade, such as Eddie Harris, Nancy Wilson, and Ramsey Lewis, showing how their music also influenced the form and culture of jazz.As Mike writes, “There was an infrastructure that allowed jazz to thrive in the sixties because jazz, for many, was a moneymaker. It wasn’t just the music of protest; it wasn’t just the music that spoke to feelings of rage, anger, and resentment. Jazz could be all of those things, but it was also so much more.”We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Mike Smith!

On this episode, Marc talks with Tom Maxwell, author of “A Really Strange and Wonderful Time: The Chapel Hill Music Scene, 1989-1999,” published in April of 2024. It's the story of a community where musicians played in each other’s bands, toured with each other, produced each other’s records, and supported each other’s work regardless of style or pedigree. Tom also shows what it was like to be in a place where major labels descended, boosting some bands and discarding others. He experienced it first hand as a member of many NC bands, including Squirrel Nut Zippers, whose 1995 album “Hot” sold over a million copies.As Tom writes, “I want to give you a sense of what was broadly going on musically and show you the fertile soil from which all this wondrous music sprang. Because this kind of community is very much like a garden: there are the beautiful flowers, of course, which command most people’s attention, but for those flowers to grow there must also be a rich diet, pollinators, earthworms, and the right amount of rain, shade, light, and decay.”We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Tom Maxwell!