When Publishers Weekly rolled out its massive list of books to be released this spring and summer, CMT.com sifted out the music titles you might find engrossing, starting with Big & Rich: All Access, penned by Big Kenny and John Rich themselves and due out in June.
Daniels calls his biography Growing Up Country: What Makes Country Life Country. Look for it on April 3. Songwriter Bobby Braddock, who co-wrote the heart-ripping "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and a ton of other classics, holds forth about his early days in the just-released Down in Orburndale: A Songwriter's Youth in Old Florida.
Fans too young to have seen Hee Haw during its first run on TV may not remember Roni Stoneman, the gap-toothed comedienne who was equally quick with a quip or a banjo. Of course, she had an illustrious history as a member of the pioneering Stoneman Family band well before Hee Haw came along. With the assistance of Ellen Wright, a folk music performer and writing lecturer at Northwestern University, Stoneman recounts her colorful career in Pressing On: The Roni Stoneman Story. Publication is set for April. Stoneman read excerpts from her book at a meeting of the International Country Music Conference a few years back. They were revealing, tender and often hilarious.
In that vast non-country world of music, we have: Let's Spend the Night Together: Backstage Secrets of Rock Muses and Supergroupies, Pamela Des Barres, July; Heart Full of Soul: An Inspirational Memoir About Finding Your Voice and Finding Your Way, Taylor Hicks, July; I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon, Crystal Zevon (the late singer-songwriter's wife), May.
Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer -- The Authorized Biography, Chris Salewicz, May; Clublife, Rob the Bouncer, March (about the New York club scene); Dr. Dre: The Biography, Ronin Ro, March; Dr. Dre in the Studio: From Compton, Death Row, Snoop Dog, Eminem, 50 Cent, the Game and Mad Money -- The Life, Times & Aftermath of the Notorious Record Producer, Jake Brown, March.
Billy Joel: The Biography, Mark Bego, June; Elvis: Still Taking Care of Business -- The Truth About the King From His Bodyguard Confidant, Sonny West with Marshall Terrill, May; Morrissey: The Pageant of His Bleeding Heart, Gavin Hopps, April; The Beatles: A One Night Stand in the Heartland, Bill Carlson and Denise Gardner, July; Roadwork: Thirty Years of Touring with the Who, Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart and the Eagles, Tom Wright with Susan VanHecke, May.
Van Halen: A Visual History 1978-1985, Neil Zlozower, June; I Got Your Back: Our Bond as Father and Son, Eddie and Gerald Levert, May; My First Time: A Collection of First Punk Show Stories, edited by Chris Duncan, May; Inside the Music of Brian Wilson: The Songs, Sound and Influences of the Beach Boys' Founding Genius, Philip Lambert, March.
Nirvana: The Biography, Everett True, April; Fab Four FAQ: Everything Left to Know About the Beatles ... and More, Stuart Shea and Robert Rodriguez, June; The Rough Guide to Blues, Nigel Williamson, March; Led Zeppelin Crashed Here: The Rock and Roll Landmarks of North America, Chris Epting, April; White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s, Joe Boyd, April; Making Music Videos: Everything You Need to Know From the Best in the Business, Lara M. Schwartz, June.
One book we don't expect to get review copies of is Uncommon Sound: The Left-Handed Guitar Players That Changed Music, a two-volume set with companion CD by John Engel, coming in May. It profiles 150 left-handed guitarists from the 1920s to the present. And it sells in this limited edition for $350. You might have to pawn your guitar to buy it.
