A review by wholelottaotto
Country: The Twisted Roots Of Rock 'n' Roll by Nick Tosches

3.0

Nick Tosches' first book, in which his trademarked style of "hard-boiled nonfiction" (which I recently described to a colleague as "40% facts, 60% attitude) was still in development. An interesting read to see the directions it would lead the author in his later works--'Unsung Heroes of Rock & Roll' looks at the history of early (black) R&B/rock & roll pioneers that he skims over here; chapters on Jerry Lee Lewis and Emmett Miller were turned into full-length studies of their own ('Hellfire' and 'Where Dead Voices Gather,' respectively.) My favorite chapters were the ones on Jerry Lee (since I never get tired of hearing about America's greatest batshit-crazy musical genius) and one provocatively entitled "Cowboys and Niggers," which examines the cross-pollination of black and white music (e.g., Otis Redding's Muscle Shoals studio musicians were all white; Louis Armstrong and Jimmie Rodgers recorded tracks together; myriad country covers of Blind Lemon Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues," that sort of thing.) The book has no bibliography or discography, a significant weakness for a volume like this, so I can't whole-heartedly recommend this one for everyone but hard-core Nick Tosches devotees and obsessive country music fans.