A good title can do a lot of work. That's true for books, true for music, too.
Song titles like these, for example, are kind of irresistible: "Black Thoughts I Only See," "The Kid They Found by the Tracks," "A Burning Car on the Flats," "The Beating Outside the Ponderosa Casino," "Waking Up Outside of Bruno's," "I Hope You Don't Ever Have to See Me This Way" and more.
Those all come from one of the best books I read over the summer, Willy Vlautin's "The Horse." My colleague Michael Schaub had a terrific conversation with Vlautin a few months back, and the author took the Book Pages Q&A below.
The novel, written in clear, almost plainspoken prose, overflows with elements that make a compelling story: love, loneliness, luck (of both kinds) and more. It's about an aging musician living alone with his memories in a shack in the Nevada desert, surviving on canned soup, coffee and occasional visits from a concerned friend. One day, he looks out and sees an ailing horse outside his window.
And yes, I know that all sounds bleak, but it's not (and I'm leaving out a lot so you can discover it yourself).
The novel has something else, too: Music.
One of the most satisfying things a book can do is provide entry into another kind of life, and novelist Vlautin, a musician who's played with the Americana band Richmond Fontaine and now the Delines, evokes the rhinestone grind of the working musician: the endless nights playing the same songs; the broken-family band dynamics; the squalid nights in cheap hotels spent half-awake listening in case someone tries to break into the van to steal all your equipment.
"The Horse" may be one of the finest accounts of songwriting I've ever read - the mystery of reshaping fervent longings into three minutes of melody or transforming a deep regret by setting it to a danceable beat. (On a related note, that alchemy of turning something from dark to dynamic always makes me think of "Help!" by the Beatles, which sounds so fun until you consider the lyrics.)
Vlautin, who also narrates the audiobook with powerful restraint, writes in the acknowledgments that four songwriters helped inspire the book: X stalwart John Doe, the late Dallas Good of the Sadies, Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers and Scott McCaughey of the The Young Fresh Fellows and The Minus 5.
In those acknowledgments, Vlautin draws on his Southern California memories about several iconic L.A. bands and a music venue familiar to many here:
"I'd also like to thank my brother, JV. When I was thirteen he moved to Los Angeles and began sending me cassettes of bands he'd like and radio stations he listened to. Those cassettes of X, Los Lobos, Rank & File, and the Blasters changed my life. One of my favorite memories comes from a club in LA called the Palace. My brother had snuck me in to see Rank & File when I was fifteen. The band played, he had his arm around me, and let me drink his beer. I wish I could live inside that moment forever."
(In a bit of serendipity just hitting me as I type this, a pair of young brothers I know well took themselves to their first show together this week, and I may just spend the rest of the afternoon playing sad songs and staring out at the trees.)
So back to the novel's song titles: They cascade across the pages, each one aching and evocative, like short, self-contained tales we won't get to hear. There's something remarkably poignant about that - and about the entire novel.
Anyway, I liked the book and think some of you will, too. I hope you'll check it out, or if not, I hope you'll find something else that hits you the same way.
Music-related books out in September (and beyond)
And since we're talking about music and books - and you know how I feel about those two things- I wanted to share some that are out now or are on the horizon.
"Neu Klang: The Definitive History of Krautrock" by Christoph Dallach (translated by Katy Derbyshire): This engrossing oral history concerns the cosmic music composed by German bands Can, Neu!, Faust, Tangerine Dream,
Kraftwerk and others. More background on the scene and participants would have helped a newbie like me, but it's still a compelling piece of history.
"How to Run an Indie Label" by Alan McGee: L.A.'s Rare Bird is publishing this memoir by the former honcho of U.K.'s Creation Records, which signed bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, Teenage Fanclub and a little combo that's been back in the news, Oasis.
"Who's That Girl? A Memoir" by Eve and Kathy Iandol: Twenty-five years after Eve released her first album, the Ruff Ryder rapper and actress is publishing a memoir about her experiences with music, movies and motherhood.
"Talkin' Greenwich Village: The Heady Rise and Slow Fall of America's Bohemian Music Capital" by David Browne: New York City's Greenwich Village has long been a gathering place for outsiders, and Browne conducted 150+ interviews about its effect on artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Sonny Rollins, the Roches, Suzanne Vega and more.
"And the Roots of Rhythm Remain: A Journey Through Global Music" by Joe Boyd: The music producer and spotter of talent documented an incredible career in his earlier book, "White Bicycles," telling stories about Bob Dylan, Nick Drake, Pink Floyd and more. Here, the former owner of the Hannibal record label, looks at the phenomenon of cross-cultural creativity often called "world music."
"I Wouldn't Say It If It Wasn't True: A Memoir of Life, Music and the Dream Syndicate" by Steve Wynn: The memoir moves from Wynn's 1960s-era Southern California childhood through his iconic work with The Dream Syndicate during the days of LA's 1980s-era Paisley Underground.
More coming in October: Neneh Cherry's memoir, "A Thousand Threads"; the massive "Depeche Mode: Live"; the late Robert Hunter's "The Silver Snarling Trumpet: The Birth of the Grateful Dead - The Lost Manuscript of Robert Hunter"; Alex Van Halen's "Brothers"; Robert Hilburn's Randy Newman biography "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country: The Biography of Randy Newman"; and "Now You're One of Us: The Incredible Story of Redd Kross" by the band's Jeff and Steven McDonald and writer (and occasional SCNG contributor) Dan Epstein.
Willy Vlautin likes 'simple language, but written with soul'
Willy Vlautin, novelist and musician with Richmond Fontaine and the Delines, spoke to Michael Schaub about his novel "The Horse" earlier this summer and answered our questions in the Book Pages Q&A.
Q: How do you decide what to read next?
I have a stack by my bed, a stack next to my records, and a stack at my desk. I look through them all and hem and haw and then usually go to a bookstore, buy one there, and read that. I'm the worst.
Q: Do you remember the first book that made an impact on you?
As a kid it was "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George. I was 11, and it's about a boy who runs away and lives in a tree with a falcon. I'd always wanted to run away but wasn't quite tough enough. The boy in the book was never scared, he wasn't beat up, he just wanted to be on his own. The power of that, the dream of that, really changed me. I had no idea novels held that sort of comfort and that sort of hope. They became heaven to me after that.
Q: Do you have any favorite book covers?
I'm a sucker for those old 1930s paperbacks with color-illustrated covers. I have stacks of them at home. In my early 20's I lost my mind over the Black Lizard novels of Jim Thompson, David Goodis, and Charles Willeford. The covers were all the same: colored font and black and white photos of either a lunatic ex-con or a grifter woman on the lam. I bought them at first just because of that and then stories, my god I was hooked. At one time I owned the whole collection.
Q: Is there a genre or type of book you read the most - and what would you like to read more of?
I've always been drawn to working-class novels. In high school, I was taught most of John Steinbeck's major works and that along with cowpunk, Tom Waits, and Bruce Springsteen records I was forever hooked on those stories. Plus they were the only stories I related to. I wish I was more diverse in my reading. I tend to shy away from everything but novels. Once in a while I'll read a biography or a history but always I'll be halfway through when I find myself cheating with a novel.
Q: Is there a person who made an impact on your reading life - a teacher, a parent, a librarian or someone else?
In my twenties, I lived in Reno and took a night class in creative writing. The teacher, Gailmarie Pahmeier, was the coolest. She told everyone how lucky they were to love books. "We're the chosen people, the champions, not the weirdos we all think we are." She also took me aside and said, "I know you, man" and gave me a list: Larry Brown, Flannery O'Connor, Barry Hannah, William Kennedy, and Barry Gifford. Those writers changed my life.
Q: What do you find the most appealing in a book: the plot, the language, the cover, a recommendation? Do you have any examples?
I'm drawn to novels with simple language but written with soul, almost with blood. "Fat City" by Leonard Gardner is one I think about a lot. "The Death of Jim Loney" by James Welch is another and Lucia Berlin's "A Manual for Cleaning Women."
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Did you read anything you really liked lately? Email epedersen AT scng.com and we may include your comments in an upcoming newsletter.
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