Elvis and the Grateful Dead


Book Description

When two Elvis impersonators die during the annual Elvis festival, Callie Jones must help her cousin Lovie when she becomes the prime murder suspect.




Elvis and the Grateful Dead


Book Description

When the first Elvis impersonator is found slumped over his piano, a heart attack seems the likely suspect. But when a second keels over mid-swagger at Callie Valentine Jones's party, suspicious minds begin to wonder if something foul is afoot. Because everyone knows two dead Elvis impersonators add up to only one thing: murder. As it turns out, Callie's cousin Lovie--a 190-pound bombshell who's had more lovers than the King had hit records--turns out to be suspect #1. Callie knows she's innocent but to prove it, she and Lovie will have to find out who the real killer is. It's a mystery fit for a King, and with a little help from Callie's hunk-a-burnin' love ex Jack, and her talented hound dog Elvis--who's convinced he's the true reincarnation of the King--Callie and Lovie are determined to have the killer singing Jailhouse Rock. But they need to move fast and be ready for the killer's next move, because their chance may be now. . .or never! "Another crazy, fast-paced mystery sure to leave cozy fans chuckling and waiting for the next adventure." --Booklist "Webb's sly sense of humor and neatly plotted mystery is laugh-out-loud hilarious." --Romantic Times




Elvis, Strait, to Jesus


Book Description

"In the world of modern country music history, Tony Brown has earned a critical spot...[as] one of the top creative minds of the past four decades." -- Billboard.com This striking photographic journey shows how Tony Brown became the King of Nashville: from pianist for Elvis Presley, to president of MCA Records Nashville, to producer of over 100 number-one country songs that are beloved by millions. Elvis, Strait, to Jesus celebrates a music icon's legendary rise, his history-making industry relationships, and how these friendships gave us the songs we still live by. The magic of Tony Brown's forty-year career is revealed in pictures, with historical and behind-the-scenes images, snapshots from the "Elvis years," and stylish contemporary portraits staged in a French Renaissance chair of friends, musicians, and artists including: George Strait - Reba McEntire - Trisha Yearwood - Brooks & Dunn - Vince Gill - Lionel Richie - Lyle Lovett - Patty Loveless - Steve Earle - Rosanne Cash - Emmylou Harris - Jimmy Buffett - Marty Stuart - Bernie Taupin - Don Was - William Lee Golden - Rodney Crowell - David Briggs - Glen D. Hardin - Donnie Sumner, and more. Tony's fascinating anecdotes accompanying the photos unveil the encounters that led to mega-hits by George Strait, Reba McEntire, Trisha Yearwood, and countless others; he recounts how he became the accidental founder of Americana music with the edgy signings of Steve Earle and Lyle Lovett to MCA, as well as his unforgettable memories of life on tour with Elvis Presley. He also retraces his North Carolina roots and honors the legends of rock, country, and gospel with whom he forged an inimitable music legacy. This special tribute is one that no fan of music or artistic photography should be without.




When Elvis Meets the Dalai Lama


Book Description




Elvis and The Dearly Departed


Book Description

From a USA Today–bestselling author: First in the mystery series filled with “pure southern lunacy of the best possible kind” (Laurien Berenson). They say you can’t get to Heaven without passing through the Eternal Rest Funeral Home. And no one gets into Eternal Rest without passing muster with Elvis—the basset hound who’s convinced he’s the reincarnation of the King of Rock ’n’ Roll. Brewing up a big ol’ pitcher of Mississippi mystery, Peggy Webb’s delightful new series is as intoxicating as the Delta breeze. Normally, Callie Valentine Jones spends her days fixing up the hairdos of the dead, but when the corpse of prominent local physician Dr. Leonard Laton goes missing, it’s bad for business. So Callie and her cousin Lovie (Eternal Rest’s resident wake caterer) have no choice but to go in hot pursuit of the recently embalmed, last seen bound for Vegas by way of downtown Tupelo. In Vegas, Callie and Lovie hit the jackpot when they find the dearly departed inside a freezer owned by his showgirl mistress, Bubble Malone. But their luck runs out when Bubble decides to join her man in the afterlife. With the poisonous Laton family tree providing plenty of rotten suspects, Callie, along with some help from her basset hound, Elvis, is determined to crack this case—and have a killer singing “Jailhouse Rock” in time for her next haircutting appointment . . .




Rock Star


Book Description

Filled with memorable photographs, Rock Star will appeal to anyone interested in modern American popular culture or music history.




Elvis


Book Description

Legends have to start somewhere... Witness the King of Rock 'n' Roll's humble beginnings in Memphis as a young artist struggling to define his voice and break into the music industry. From the history-making Sun Studio to television sets across the nation, the trials and tribulations of Elvis Aaron Presley are explored in graphic detail by authors Chris Miskiewicz (Grateful Dead: Origins) and Marvel Comics artist Michael Shelfer.




Before Elvis


Book Description

An essential work for rock fans and scholars, Before Elvis: The Prehistory of Rock 'n' Roll surveys the origins of rock 'n' roll from the minstrel era to the emergence of Bill Haley and Elvis Presley. Unlike other histories of rock, Before Elvis offers a far broader and deeper analysis of the influences on rock music. Dispelling common misconceptions, it examines rock's origins in hokum songs and big-band boogies as well as Delta blues, detailing the embrace by white artists of African-American styles long before rock 'n' roll appeared. This unique study ranges far and wide, highlighting not only the contributions of obscure but key precursors like Hardrock Gunter and Sam Theard but also the influence of celebrity performers like Gene Autry and Ella Fitzgerald. Too often, rock historians treat the genesis of rock 'n' roll as a bolt from the blue, an overnight revolution provoked by the bland pop music that immediately preceded it and created through the white appropriation of music till then played only by and for black audiences. In Before Elvis, Birnbaum daringly argues a more complicated history of rock's evolution from a heady mix of ragtime, boogie-woogie, swing, country music, mainstream pop, and rhythm-and-blues--a melange that influenced one another along the way, from the absorption of blues and boogies into jazz and pop to the integration of country and Caribbean music into rhythm-and-blues. Written in an easy style, Before Elvis presents a bold argument about rock's origins and required reading for fans and scholars of rock 'n' roll history.




Grateful Dead and the Art of Rock Improvisation


Book Description

More than fifteen years since the death of lead guitarist and singer Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead stand as a symbol of the unresolved cultural clashes of the 1960s. The band's thirty-year odyssey is a testament to the American imagination, with thousands of live concert recordings by fans and the band itself, preserved alongside an impressive array of images, artwork, and paraphernalia. Most recently, the Grateful Dead have released from their vault their entire 1972 European tour, one of the largest boxed sets of live music--seventy-three compact discs--ever released. This publicly available archive of recorded music lays the groundwork for David Malvinni's exploration of the band's musical signature as the ultimate jam band in Grateful Dead and the Art of Rock Improvisation. Malvinni considers a select group of songs from the Dead's early repertoire, from its unique covers of "Viola Lee Blues," "Midnight Hour," and "Love Light" to original masterpieces like "Dark Star." Marrying basic music analysis to philosophical frames offered by improvisatory musings of Heidegger, Derrida, and Deleuze, Malvinni presents the core aesthetic underlying the Dead's musical styling. In tracing the evolution of the band's unique jam style, Malvinni outlines the Dead's gift as gatherers and inventors of old and new soundscapes in their multifaceted improvisations. Like no other band, the Dead brought together a variety of styles from roots and folk to country and modal jazz to postmodern European art music. Devoted Deadheads reveled in the band's polyglot, risk-filled approach to playing live and the joint band-audience quest to reach a type of sonic cosmic ecstasy, commonly described as the "X factor." Although fans and scholars alike recognize the Grateful Dead as icons of psychedelic music, the band's improvisatory approach still remains an enigma to the uninitiated. In Grateful Dead and the Art of Rock Improvisation, Malvinni unravels this mystery, walking readers through the band's musical decision-making process. Written for rock music fans with little to no background in music theory, as well as scholars and students of popular music culture, the book reveals the method behind the seeming chaos of America's greatest jam band.




Perspectives on the Grateful Dead


Book Description

The Grateful Dead, one of the most meticulously documented rock bands, significantly influenced American music and popular culture. Its popularity has endured for three decades despite mixed critical reception. Jerry Garcia, thought of among many as a musical icon and spokesperson for more than one generation of fans, was often equally scorned by various critics. This collection of scholarly essays attests to the varied fields of interest the band and its followers, known as Deadheads, have affected, including psychology, law, and ethnomusicology. The contributions explore the diversity of the culture of fans, empirically analyze the music, apply literary criticism to the lyrics, and explore Dead-related philosophical and theological concepts — in other words, they are as eclectic as the myriad Grateful Dead fans themselves. Appealing to Grateful Dead scholars, fans, and collectors alike, these twenty-two essays are grouped by subject, and each essay includes a bibliography of resources for further research.