Greetings and blessings to all as we near another weekend. Just a quick update about my upcoming book, Lifelong Companion: My Journey Through 100 Dylan Songs, which blends personal memoir, in-depth critical scrutiny of the music of Bob Dylan, and a survey of the salient events of the past 65 years of American history. My hope is that this book will appeal not only to the myriad fans of Bob Dylan who never tire of digging ever deeper into his oeuvre, but also to those who will resonate with the universal elements of my own twisting on the road journey of never-ending personal and spiritual discovery. Everything is on hold, at the moment, as I am waiting to obtain permission to include Mr. Dylan’s lyrics in my text. Hopefully I will get that permission soon so that I can move toward publication, once again through BookBaby who helped me publish my first book, Music Titans: 250 Greatest Recording Artists of the Past 100 Years, which remains available on most online book selling sites. Thanks.
Tag: recording classics
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It was 1963 and I was finishing seventh grade when I heard my first Bob Dylan song, “Blowin’ in the Wind”, released as a Peter, Paul and Mary cover. Their version shot to #2 on The Billboard Hot 100. Two summers later I heard, for the first time, that inimitable Dylan voice on “like a Rolling Stone”, the single that has been called by numerous publications and commentators the most ground breaking and important recorded song in history. 60 years later and I haven’t looked back as Dylan has gone on to have one of the most storied careers in music history, even winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016. I’ve recently completed my second book, Lifelong Companion: My Journey through 100 Dylan Songs, which looks at how Dylan’s seminal work intersected with both the nation’s history and culture and with my own twisting on the road journey of never-ending personal and spiritual growth and discovery. Not sure when the new book will be published (I’m working on that now), but I’m hoping that you will read it when it is available and will enjoy it even half as much as I did in writing it. My first book, Music Titans: 250 Greatest Recording Artists of the Past 100 Years, continues to sell (mostly on Amazon) and I am grateful to all of you for your support. Thank you.
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Greetings and Blessings! In my last post I mentioned that I have finished my newest book, Lifelong Companion: My Journey through 100 Dylan Songs, and am beginning the search for an agent and a publisher. Lifelong Companionmay be characterized as a hybrid memoir, mixing music history and criticism with memoir and an overlay of recent U.S. history.
To whet your appetite, here are just a few Dylan and book-related facts. Bob Dylan hails from Minnesota and is 84 years old; he continues to record and play live. His big break occurred when he was 20 and received a glowing NY Times review, leading to a Columbia recording contract. His first album of mostly covers flopped, but he became a folk sensation with “Blowin’ in the Wind”, a big hit for Peter, Paul & Mary, and the release of his second LP. I’ve been following him closely since 1965 and have seen him in concert a dozen times, meeting him in Santa Monica in 1979. It is estimated that Dylan has sold over 125 million records. His most celebrated LPs are The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963), Bringing It All Back Home (1965), Highway 61 Revisited (1965), Blonde on Blonde (1966), and Blood on the Tracks (1975). Though not known for his singles, 1965’s “Like a Rolling Stone” is widely considered one of the most ground breaking, influential singles of all-time. One of the most covered songwriters in history, some of his best loved songs include— “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall”, “The Times they Are a-Changin”, “Chimes of Freedom”, “It Ain’t Me, Babe”, “Mr. Tambourine Man”, “Desolation Row”, “Visions of Johanna”, “Just Like a Woman”, “All Along the Watchtower”, “Lay Lady Lay”, “ I Shall Be Released”, “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, “Forever Young”, “Tangled Up in Blue”, “Every Grain of Sand”, “Blind Willie McTell”, “Mississippi”, and countless more.
Dylan has won Grammys, an Oscar, a Golden Globe. He is in the Rock and Roll and Songwriters halls of fame. He has been honored by the governments of France, Spain, Sweden, and the U.S. His work is taught in universities, from Harvard to Texas to British Columbia. He’s even been awarded a Pulitzer and a Nobel Prize in Literature. I’m thrilled to tell the story of how my life has intersected with Dylan’s music these past 60+ years. I’m hopeful my book will be available soon. Thanks for reading.
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Greetings. I am in that uncomfortable, in-between, interminable waiting time, as various agents look over my query letter or my book proposal to see if I’ll have any luck finding a traditional big-time publisher for my new book, LIFELONG COMPANION: MY JOURNEY THROUGH 100 DYLAN SONGS, a hybrid memoir that blends critical analysis of 62 years of Bob Dylan’s work with elements of my own personal wanderings and recent American history. In the meantime, I am gratified to see that my first book, MUSIC TITANS: 250 GREATEST RECORDING ARTISTS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS, continues to sell at a modest but steady rate. I am more grateful than I can say for any and all of you who have been friends or been supportive along the way. Thank you and stay well!
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In September 2023, a new state-of-the-art concert venue opened in Las Vegas, the Sphere. The first band to play there was U2 and currently the Eagles are in residence. Both bands are featured in MUSIC TITANS – 250 GREATEST RECORDING ARTISTS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS, an encyclopedic music history compendium, widely available at Amazon and most online outlets. Here’s a very brief excerpt from MUSIC TITAN’S entry on the EAGLES—
In the 1970s, no other American band so captured the zeitgeist as did the Eagles. They took a narrow genre, country rock, and made it mainstream, transforming country music itself in the process. Along the way, they released two of the most iconic, best-selling albums of all time.
Originally, they were four separate musicians who had migrated to L.A.; they came together to back Linda Ronstadt and formed a band, signing with David Geffen’s Asylum. Glen Frey, rhythm guitarist, and Don Henley, drummer, wrote most of the songs and handled most of the lead vocals. Bernie Leadon played guitar and brought a country sensibility while Randy Meisner added bass. Their 1972 debut featured “Take It Easy,” which put them on the musical map… Don Felder joined the band in ’74, bringing his considerable guitar skills to the mix, and, the following year, the Eagles broke through with One of These Nights, which featured three Top 10 hits. Leadon soon departed over creative and personal differences, to be replaced by the harder-rocking Joe Walsh. In early ’76, they released Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975), and the album surprised the world, leaping off the shelves and continuing to sell for years, eventually vying with Michael Jackson’s Thriller for the title of all-time U.S. bestseller. Later that year, they released their fifth LP, the superlative Hotel California. The title track has become mythic, with its lyrical exploration of the underbelly of the American Dream, its iconic intro, and its Walsh-Felder dual lead guitar outro, which was deemed by Guitarist magazine the finest guitar solo in history….as of this writing (despite the death of two key members, Glenn Frey and Randy Meisner), the Eagles carry on.
Suggested Songs:
Desperado (1973)
One of These Nights (1975)
New Kid in Town (1976)
Hotel California (1977)
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The world lost two giants from the world of popular music last week, Sly Stone and Brian Wilson. Both artists were 82. To mark their passing, here are a couple of brief excerpts taken from their profiles in MUSIC TITANS – 250 GREATEST RECODING ARTISTS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS —
One of the best and most influential hybrid bands of the late ’60s-early ’70s was San Francisco’s Sly and the Family Stone. An amalgam of brothers Sylvester and Freddie Stewart’s bands, it was led by older brother Sly (Sylvester) who had grown up a musical prodigy, proficient on keyboards, guitar, bass, and drums before he was a teen. When he and his brother merged, they were not an immediate hit, but one soulful party track, “Dance to the Music,” proved to be their breakthrough. However, with the release of 1969’s Stand! they were arguably pop music’s most important and groundbreaking act. Stand! is representative of the unique blend of R&B, soul, rock, gospel, pop, and funk that Sly and the Family Stone were creating. Not only that, the band was a mix of Black and white, male and female musicians, unheard of in those days. The songs, such as the captivating title track and the peace and equality anthem “Everyday People,” were positive uplifting messages of hope…. In 1969, they played a fiery set at Woodstock, beautifully captured on film and forever cementing their legacy…
They hailed from Hawthorne, one of countless L.A. suburbs, three teenage brothers, a cousin, and a school friend. In the early ’60s, blending the rock & roll sounds of Chuck Berry with the harmonies of the Four Freshmen, they sang of the endless California summertime fantasy of sun, sand, surf, girls, and cars, catching the wave to musical stardom with a couple of hit singles, “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” “Fun, Fun, Fun,” and “I Get Around.” Soon, the Beach Boys were the most popular American band….1964, however, brought the Beatles and the “British Invasion” wave of English rock bands to American shores. Homegrown acts disappeared overnight; could the Beach Boys compete and survive? In 1966, the Beach Boys answered that question for all time. With the 23-year-old Brian Wilson at the production controls and utilizing arresting melodies; unusual chord combinations; thoughtful, introspective lyrics; their trademark sophisticated falsetto tinged harmonies; and driven by a Phil Spector-like “wall of sound,” the Beach Boys produced their masterpiece, Pet Sounds, whichhas been praised by artists as diverse as Philip Glass and Paul McCartney. The latter claimed it spurred him to respond with Sgt. Pepper. A Mojo Magazine music panel in 1995 voted it the greatest record ever, while Rolling Stonelisted it as the second greatest LP of all time. Individual tracks, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Sloop John B,” and “God Only Knows” are each considered masterworks….
MUSIC TITANS is available through Amazon, BookBaby, B&N, and countless other online sites.
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MUSIC TITANS celebrates 250 of the greatest recording artists that were/are active over the past 100 years. Musicians from every genre and era are included, ranked (based on an algorithm that looks at various measures of popularity, influence, and honors collected), and profiled with both biographical and musical information included. Here are just a few of the artists portrayed and the decade they were at their artistic or commercial peak —
1920s – George Gershwin, Al Jolson, Bessie Smith
1930s – Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman,
1940s – Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Charlie Parker
1950s – Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Miles Davis, Little Richard, Hank Williams
1960s – Beatles, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, James Brown
1970s – Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, Elton John
1980s – Michael Jackson, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Prince, U2
1990s – Garth Brooks, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Nirvana
2000s – Eminem, Coldplay, Radiohead, Kanye West
2010s thru Today – Taylor Swift, Drake, Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar
It has to be said that some of today’s biggest stars are not in the book, but, no doubt, would be included if I ever do an updated edition. These include — The Weeknd, Billie Eilish, Miley Cyrus, and more. MUSIC TITANS – 250 GREATEST RECORDING ARTISTS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS is available online through Amazon, BookBaby, B&N, Apple, and many more sites. Thanks.
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I continue to be gratified that my book, MUSIC TITANS – 250 GREATEST RECORDING ARTISTS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS, continues to attract new readers. Below, you’ll find the opening passage of the book, which sets out how I came to write it —
There are not a lot of universals in this fractured world. Certainly we are divided by politics, religion, class, and, all too often still, by race. One universal bonding element, however, is music. Music is found in all cultures, and even the most hardened or stoic individual can be moved by a song, a melody, a chord, a lyric, a beat.
Not that we all love the same songs or the same styles of music. As a child, all too often, I heard my father hollering to “turn that noise down,” while I often looked to flee the room to avoid having to hear his melancholy tunes. Still, I think it is safe to say that virtually all human beings can be stirred, at times, by some form of music.
This book is an attempt to honor that universal grace that we call music. I am not a professor of music and I don’t purport to know much about Indian or Chinese or Middle Eastern music. I may speak a little Spanish, but I am not qualified to write about Mexican ranchera or mariachi styles. What I have been doing, ever since I was a little boy in the mid-’50s, is listening to music—religiously, fanatically, constantly. In countless ways, music has colored, even defined and given meaning to my life. I bought my first 45s at age seven, made weekly lists of my favorite songs when I was 11 or 12, sang in choirs and choruses and informal doo-wop gatherings with friends as I grew into adolescence. As I said, I didn’t listen to mariachi or Indian music because it wasn’t readily available, but I consumed everything within my grasp. When I bought my first $8 guitar from Woolworth’s, I learned to play (badly) and in no time I was singing and strumming in a teenage band, then later in parks, on beaches, and street corners, caring not for the coins or occasional bills that came my way but only for the love of singing and sharing song. Never parlaying the occasional coffee house, recording session, or church gig into a career, I grew instead into a teacher but never left the world of music behind.
This book, then, is a labor of love. Whenever I watch or read about the latest Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees, or check out Rolling Stone’slists of the greatest this or that, or listen to a trendy artist picking up a handful of Grammys, I am always intrigued and sometimes ready to differ. That’s what this book is about—it seeks to answer the question, just who are the greatest recording artists of the past century?
MUSIC TITANS remains available at Amazon or wherever books are sold online. Thank you!
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I haven’t posted for a little while, but I am grateful that my book, MUSIC TITANS – 250 GREATEST RECORDING ARTISTS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS, continues to find new readers. I just recently took an extended 13 state road trip; so, to mark the occasion, here is a list of car or travel related songs from artists featured in my book. Enjoy — “On the Road Again” – Willie Nelson; “I’ve Been Everywhere” – Johnny Cash; “Thunder Road” – Bruce Springsteen; “Route 66“ – Nat King Cole; “Little Red Corvette” – Prince; “Ol’ ‘55” – Tom Waits; “Take Me Home, Country Roads” – John Denver; “Take the ‘A’ Train – Duke Ellington; “Maybellene” – Chuck Berry; “Take It Easy” – Eagles; “Truckin’” – Grateful Dead; “Autobahn” – Kraftwerk; “Car on the Hill” – Joni Mitchell; “Ramblin’ Man” – the Allman Brothers Band; “From a Buick 6” – Bob Dylan; “America” – Simon & Garfunkel; “The Long and Winding Road” – Beatles. MUSIC TITANS remains available on Amazon and countless other online sites. Thank you.
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86 years ago on Easter Sunday, MARIAN ANDERSON sang at one of the most historic concerts in U.S. History. In honor of that occasion, here is an excerpt from her profile taken from my book, MUSIC TITANS – 250 GREATEST RECORDING ARTISTS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS (Music Titans, by Steve Williams, is widely available online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BookBaby Bookshop, Apple, and more. I’d be honored if you read it and tell your friends about it, if you enjoy it. A sincere Thank You if you’ve already done so)—
Best known for shattering racial barriers, Marian Anderson was also a brilliant contralto who could also sing in the soprano range, possessing a voice that appears “once in a hundred years,” according to famed conductor Arturo Toscanini.
Born in Philadelphia, Marian began singing in her Baptist Church choir at the age of six, transitioning to adult choirs as she moved into her teens. She was so impressive that several organizations raised money so that she could train properly. Winning a contest brought her the opportunity to sing in 1925 with the New York Philharmonic, and, by 1928, she was performing at Carnegie Hall. Touring the United States, she regularly faced racial prejudice, denied entrance again and again to hotels and restaurants in many of the cities where she sang. She was a big hit in Europe in the 1930s, and, in 1939, she performed at the White House for the Roosevelts and the King of England.
That same year, she was barred from singing at Washington D.C.’s Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The NAACP launched a protest, which was given a great boost when Eleanor Roosevelt quit the DAR, prompting many other members to follow suit. An alternative concert was arranged for Easter Sunday on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, with 75,000 attending and millions more listening to the live radio broadcast.
Anderson sang classical and opera numbers as well as traditional African-American spirituals. As musician Rhiannon Giddens wrote, “By performing spirituals in the concert hall, Anderson linked generations of listeners to Black American history.”
In 1955, at the age of 58, Marian shattered another color line by making her debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera. Honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a lifetime Grammy, and countless honorary doctorates, Anderson truly paved the way for other greats such as Leontyne Price and Jessye Norman.
Suggested Songs:
Ave Maria (1936)
Nobody Knows the Trouble I See (1948)
Crucifixion (1948)
Greatest Recording Artists 