This is the second year of our tribute to our late colleague Gordon Sharpe. We felt that an award which recognised the cream of the new books we’ve reviewed over the previous year was a fitting way to remember someone who is still much missed. Gordon wrote insightfully on books related to Americana, whether that was the music, or the culture, and we’ve tried to reflect that in the books recognised below.
My favourite book which I reviewed this year was Peter Jesperson’s ‘Euphoric Recall‘. That looks at his years on the road with REM, and at New West Records. After some years where good musical memoirs have been thin on the ground the fact that I couldn’t squeeze that into the top three speaks to the quality of the books we read in 2024.
Runners-up:
Robyn Hitchcock “1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left”
In the press release for this book Nick Lowe says, “Robyn Hitchcock belongs to an almost extinct species, ‘The Totally Original Artist,’ once relatively commonplace, now only occasionally glimpsed in the dense tree canopy of the pop rainforest. Mysterious, elusive, a kind of rock ‘n’ roll Olingo.” How Hitchcock feels about being compared to a tree dwelling mammal from Central America is not recorded, but the point is well made. 1967 was one of those pivotal years in music and using his journey through the year that shaped him is a stroke of genius. For those of us too young to have partaken of that time this is an enlightening trip. As Paul said “he does so in his unique style, droll and with the occasional whiff of whimsy and surrealism, familiar to anyone who has seen him live, is the icing on the cake. One can easily picture him telling any of these tales in between songs on stage.”
Mary Gauthier “Saved By A Song”
Reviewed by Jonathan Aird in March
Mary Gauthier says in one of the chapters on 13 songs featured in this book: “When songwriters are willing to bravely reveal the deeper truths cowering behind walls of self-protection, their songs begin to resonate. Songs are where we can safely tell secrets. A form of self-expression, yes, but even more importantly, a form of emotional communication.” ‘Saved By A Song’ is part memoir, part philosophising, and part the mechanics of songwriting. Jonathan rightly singles out the chapter on ‘Rifles and Rosary Beads’ as being “notably moving as it depicts the ability of music to heal.” So many music autobiographies are journey to redemption in form or another, very few succeed in being as compelling as Gauthier has turned in here.
The 2024 Gordon Sharpe award winner: Steve Wynn “I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True”
Reviewed by Jonathan Aird in September
It’s been quite the 18 months or so for Steve Wynn. The 4 CD reissue of Dream Syndicate’s ‘The Days Of Wine And Roses‘ was a triumph, followed this year with a solo album ‘Make It Right’, which Jonathan also reviewed, and a tour of songs and stories from this book. Jonathan says that “it was read first time if not quite in one sitting then certainly in less than 24 hours, so scores highly on the engaging and page-turning criteria. And for a rock and roll memoir those are pretty important criteria.” I’d agree with that, I read it back in September, saw the Bristol stop on the tour, and have read it again since. As I mentioned above really engaging Rock and Roll autobiographies are not as thick on the ground as you might think and this amongst the best I’ve read in recent years.
