Hold On World revisits Lennon and Ono's love affair and startling collaborations. John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band was arguably the most emotionally honest album ever made. It wasn't merely another record but more like a sonic exorcism, a spiritual, public bloodletting. Lennon's album drove a stake through the heart of the Beatles' myth while confronting everything else in John's life, from Dylan to God to his glorified status as a "Working Class Hero." Determined to rid himself of childhood traumas-abandoned by his father, John, at age nine, watched helplessly as his mother was killed by a car-Lennon wrote the most powerful song cycle of his career, confronting fear, disappointment, and illusion, all the while espousing his love for Yoko Ono. Released simultaneously, Ono's album Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band is emotionally raw and challenging. It inspired bands like the B-52s and Yo La Tengo to employ pure sound, whether shrieking vocals or guitar feedback, to express their deepest feelings.

Roy Orbison emerged as an artist alongside his Sun Records contemporaries in the early days of rock 'n' roll. He did not possess the good looks of Elvis Presley or the everyman toughness of Johnny Cash nor did he conduct wild-child stage antics like Jerry Lee Lewis. But he did possess a magnetic mystique that would captivate fans around the world and inspire countless musicians.THA quiet man who k.d. lang would refer to as Buddha Orbison was more interested in building model airplanes watching films and reading books in his den than talking about himself or partying hard. Yet he was nothing shy of a superstar a determined to succeed driven by a relentless love for music that started in childhood and blessed with some of the best pipes in the business. Standing still onstage hidden behind his perpetual Ray-Bans Orbison delivered his melodious songs with haunting emotional depth. His artful recordings mysterious image and angelic voice have left an indelible mark on popular music.THIn ERhapsody in BlackE John Kruth tells the story of Roy Orbison in prose as musical as the artist's melodies and does not shy away from or trivialize the personal pain alienation and tragic events that shaped Orbison's singular personality and music. Featuring interviews with people who worked closely with Orbison career-spanning photos a select discography and a new afterward for the paperback edition ERhapsody in BlackE is both celebratory and touching. It delves into the behind-the-music details of Orbison's collaborations recording sessions tours and business affairs as well as his personal life a his roots his marriages and his children a to present a telescopic view of his legacy.

This book is a fun and informative historical survey of songs that lionize notorious brigands from Ireland to Brazil Italy to Australia to the drug lords of Mexico and the inner-city gangs of the United States. For centuries each of these cultures have continued to romanticize criminals raising them to the status of heroic figures through poetry stories song and more recently film. EA Friend of the DevilE tracks the true story of these legendary bandits behind the songs that deify them while looking at society's role in both creating outlaws and our perpetual need for a new hero. The book also delves into why socially minded truth-seeking artists including Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan wrote and sang songs about such cold-blooded killers as Pretty Boy Floyd and Joey Gallo purposefully perpetuating their myths in lieu of an honest portrayal of these bad men.THEA Friend of the DevilE features new interviews with dozens of contemporary songwriters including Steve Earle Richard Thompson Taj Mahal and Dr. John along with authors Michael Ondaatje and Ishmael Reed. Illustrated with a series of photographs by the author of songwriters and singers of outlaw ballads that include Pete Seeger Joan Baez Aaron Neville John Prine and Gordon Gano of Violent Femmes.

At last, the authorized biography of Townes Van Zandt (1944-1997), who wrote such unforgettable songs as "Pancho & Lefty" and "If I Needed You." Born to a wealthy oil family in Ft. Worth, Texas, hounded by alcoholism and depression, Van Zandt pursued a nomadic existence following his muse, whatever the cost to himself, friends, and relatives. Based on exclusive interviews with those close to Van Zandt, including his best friend Guy Clark and colleagues like Steve Earle and John Prine, "To Live's to Fly" captures all the humor, hijinks, poetry, and heartbreak of this revered, "genuinely" outlaw country artist.