Col. Bruce Hampton (the stage name of Gustav Valentine Berglund III) was a cult musical figure who launched and continued to influence the jam band genre over his fifty-plus years performing. Part musician, conjuror, confidence man, preacher, soul singer, Dada artist, philosopher, trickster, and huckster, Col. Bruce actively sought out and dealt in the weird, wild underbelly of the American South. The Music and Mythocracy of Col. Bruce Hampton is neither a true biography in the Boswellian sense nor a work of cultural studies, although it combines elements of both. Even as biographer Jerry Grillo has investigated and pursued the facts, this life history of Col. Bruce reads like a novel-one full of amazing and hard-to-believe tales of a musical life lived on and off the road. Grillo's interviews with Hampton and his bandmates, family, friends, and fans paint a fascinating portrait. Grillo aims not so much to document and demystify the self-mythologizing performer as to explain why his fans and friends loved him so dearly. Hampton's family history, his place in Atlanta and southeastern musical history, his significant friendships and musical relationships, and the controversies over personnel in his Hampton Grease Band over the years are all discussed. What emerges is a portrait of a P. T. Barnum of the musical world, but one who included his audience and invited them through the tent door to share his inside joke, with plenty of love to go around.

The Road Goes on Forever utilizes history, personal interviews, and many collected documents to aid in the telling of the story of the humble beginnings and career of the original Southern rock band on this, the 50th anniversary of their formation. Author Michael Buffalo Smith personally spoke with former Allman Brothers members including Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Butch Trucks, Warren Haynes, and Allen Woody, as well as producers, engineers, roadies, and fans to create a tribute to Macon, Georgia's greatest rock and roll export. Smith takes us inside the Big House on Vineville Avenue in Macon where the band lived during their peak years and into Capricorn Studios where they recorded all of their original albums. The albums are each given the spotlight as well, including Gregg and Dickey's solo projects, and the book explores the exhaustive list of recording credits accumulated by Duane Allman during his far too short career. There is a complete review of the unprecedented 40th anniversary Beacon Theatre residency in 2009 that found the band joined onstage by a veritable Who's Who of contemporary music greats. More than just a history of the greatest Southern band of all time, The Road Goes on Forever is a reference manual for fans of the band--a book filled with ramblin' men, blue skies, Georgia peaches, and great music. Chuck Leavell, former band member and current Rolling Stones band leader, provides the foreword.