THE MUSIC LOVER’S GUIDE TO NORTH AMERICA (Backbeat Books)
Josephine Matyas & Craig Jones *****
I’m a lifelong music freak for many genres, album reviewer and longtime DJ, so the majority of my library consists of musician’s biographies plus books about music. After devouring Matyas & Jones’s previous volume Chasing The Blues (a genre I love as much as rock & roll) I eagerly awaited The Music Lover’s Guide To North America. Took me awhile to read (even at 68 life is obscenely busy), been thinking on it for a week and am ready to spill.
TMLGTNA is a crisply written compendium that leads you into a wider scene as it talks about the many museums and historical sites available to us all, mostly across the USA, with a section devoted to places in Alberta, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The writing is informative yet enthusiastic, with detailed descriptions of the many museums, some devoted to a particular genre in general (like Cleveland’s Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame) while others focus on individual artists. It’s fair to call this book a travel guide and should you hit the highway on your own musical odyssey, it will help you plan your voyage; better take it with you too. The book is divided into specific regions (Northeast. Midwest, etc.), with various sites detailed within.
Those of us surviving paycheck to paycheck can ill afford such an adventurous undertaking, but The Music Lover’s Guide has you covered there too; the end of each section on any given particular museum or site, website addresses have been thoughtfully included… so if you can’t make the trip physically, a virtual tour awaits at the end your fingertips.
There a few things here that make this book a winner. Matyas & Jones’s writing style is as informative as ever, making the pages sing for anyone that’s more than a passive listener. I also like the way the book is laid out regionally with various museums and historical places in mainly brief and descriptive sections, making it comfortable to read in short bursts, allowing you to absorb and consider the material. As informative as this is, trying to blast through from front to back would feel more like a dry, academic exercise… smaller bites go down much easer.
As anyone deeply into a music jones (no pun intended) can tell you, the more you know about it the more you realize you don’t know. The Music Lover’s Guide To North America hit me with so many things I was not aware of that it was necessary to stop, catch my breath and consider before diving back in again, and that’s exciting. That includes genres and artists I only had a passing knowledge of as well those I know more fully, yet not as well as I thought.
On Stephen Colbert’s final broadcast May 21st Paul McCartney told him that it was music from the Americas that reached Britain and inspired him, his fellow Beatles, The Rolling Stones and so many more. The Music Lover’s Guide To North America is perfect for the serious music fan. If you buy a few copies for gifts, don’t forget one for yourself too.
