AMERICAN TROUBADORS: GROUNDBREAKING SINGER-SONGWRTIERS OF THE 60s

by Brend, Mark

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Description

San Francisco, CA: Backbeat Books. VG+. 2001. 1st printing. Paperback. Paperback. 176 pp. Color & B&W photos. Discography, index .

Book summary

An in-depth survey of the careers and output of nine singer-songwriters, both well known (Tim Hardin, Tim Buckley, Tim Rose, and Fred Neil) and otherwise (David Blue, David Ackles, Tom Rapp). While the bulk of AMERICAN TROUBADOURS concentrates on perceptive analysis of its subjects' songwriting, author Mark Brend also finds time to include revealing autobiographical detail, making the book a valuable informational resource, particularly in the case of the little-documented Rapp (whose song "Rocket Man," written on the day of the first moon landing in 1969, provided the inspiration for the later Elton John hit). Many of these artists influenced succeeding generations of songwriters--both Jackson Browne and James Taylor, for instance, admit a debt to Tom Rush. Unfortunately for some of them, commercial indifference, tragedy, or sometimes both--as in the case of the 1960s protest singer Phil Ochs--often marred their lives. Well-written and researched, the book's strength lies in the equal recognition and acknowledgment it gives to the lives and songs of each of its subjects.