michaelclorah 's review for:

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

2.0

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While Mr. Tosches certainly has a wealth of information to share, this book is turgid to the extreme. Except a long glowing passage about the wonders of Jerry Lee Lewis, little of this book touches on rock n' roll and its country roots. Which isn't a terrible thing if you're looking for a book that's about the roots of country music and the intersections of early 20th century American music - particularly country and blues, with slight touches on jazz and other forms. Whatever you've come to this book for, however, the dry writing and Mr. Tosches' insistence on writing down EVERY SINGLE RECORDING HE CAN FIND to support each chapter's vague thesis ("old country music was raunchy - here are 100 recordings to prove my point with artist, year and label delineated") make the book a real chore to get through at times. I'll give it two stars for the informative value, but I'm overrating its readability by doing so.