New This Week:

Johnny Cash: The Life
by Robert Hilburn
Little, Brown and Company

Hardcover

In Johnny Cash: The Life, Robert Hilburn conveys the unvarnished truth about a musical icon whose colorful career stretched from his days at Sun Records with Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis to the remarkable creative last hurrah, at age sixty-nine, that resulted in the brave, moving "Hurt" video. As music critic for the Los Angeles Times, Hilburn knew Cash well throughout his life: he was the only music journalist at the legendary Folsom Prison concert in 1968, and he interviewed Cash and his wife June Carter for the final time just months before their deaths in 2003. Hilburn's rich reporting shows the remarkable highs and deep lows that followed and haunted Cash in equal measure. A man of great faith and humbling addiction, Cash aimed for more than another hit on the jukebox, he wanted to use his music to life people's spirits and help promote what he felt was the best of the American spirit. 

Drawing upon his personal experience with Cash and a trove of never-before-seen material from the singer's inner circle, Hilburn creates an utterly compelling, deeply human portrait of one of the most iconic figures in modern popular culture - not only a towering figure in country music, but also a seminal influence in rock, whose personal life was far more troubled, and whose musical and lyrical artistry much more profound, than even his most devoted fans ever realized.

My Life with Deth: Discovering Meaning in a Life of Rock & Roll
by David Ellefson with Joel McIver
Howard Books / Simon & Schuster
Hardcover

In My Life with Deth, cofounder and bassist of Megadeth David Ellefson reveals the behind-the-scene details of life in one of the world's most popular heavy metal bands. If you're looking for revelations, they're here, including the drug habits that brought the band members to their knees. You'll learn of David's unsuccessful attempts at rehab and the period when he was strung out on methadone, cocaine, and heroin -- all at the same time.

But My Life with Deth is far more than just another memoir of debauchery. Ellefson also shares the story of his faith journey, which began when he decided his only choice for survival was to get free from his addiction. In his recovery, he returned to his childhood roots in the Lutheran church and embraced his Christianity that continues to inform his life and work today.

In the pages of this book, you'll find insightful comments from some of the biggest names in heavy metal, along with life lessons for every reader. Whether religious or not, you'll be enthralled, informed, and inspired by this tell-all book on discovering meaning in a life of rock and roll.

Jimi Hendrix - Starting at Zero: His Own Story
by Jimi Hendrix
Bloomsbury USA
Hardcover

It didn’t take long after Jimi Hendrix’s death for the artist to become a myth of American music. He has been surrounded by a shroud of intrigue since he first came into the public eye, and the mystery has only grown with time. Much has been written and said about him by experts and fans and critics, some of it true and some of it not; Starting at Zero will set the record straight in Hendrix's own words.

The lyricism and rhythm of Jimi Hendrix’s writing will be of no surprise to his fans. Hendrix wrote prolifically throughout his life and he left behind a trove of scribbled-on hotel stationary, napkins, and cigarette cartons. Starting at Zero weaves the scraps and bits together fluidly with interviews and lyrics. Here for the first time we see a continuous narrative of the artist’s life, from birth through to the final four years of his life, and the result is a beautifully poetic memoir as smooth as Hendrix’s finest songs.

The pieces of Starting at Zero came together in large part because of the inspiration of Alan Douglas. Douglas first met Jimi Hendrix backstage at Woodstock, and soon after became Hendrix’s producer and close friend. In creating the book he joined forces with Peter Neal, who edited Hendrix’s writing with the reverence and light touch it deserved. 

The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and His Son
by Pat Conroy
Nan A. Talese / Knopf Doubleday / Random House
Hardcover

Pat Conroy's father, Donald Patrick Conroy, was a towering figure in his son's life. The Marine Corps fighter pilot was often brutal, cruel and violent; as Pat says, "I hated my father long before I knew there was an English word for "hate." As the oldest of seven children who were dragged from military base to military base across the South, Pat bore witness to the toll his father's behavior took on his siblings, and especially his mother, Peg. She was Pat's lifeline to a better world - that of books and culture. But eventually, despite repeated confrontations with his father, Pat managed to claw his way toward a life he could only have imagined as a child.

Pat's great success as a writer has always been intimately linked with the exploration of his family history. While the publication of The Great Santini brought Pat much acclaim, the rift it caused with his father brought even more attention. Their long-simmering conflict burst into the open, fracturing an already battered family. But as Pat tenderly chronicles here, even the oldest of wounds can heal. In the final years of Don Conroy's life, he and his son reached a reapproachment of sorts. Quite unexpectedly, the Santini who had freely doled out physical abuse to his wife and children refocused his ire on those who had turned on Pat over the years. He defended his son's honor.

The Death of Santini is at once a heart-wrenching account of personal and family struggle and a poignant lesson in how the ties of blood can both strangle and offer succor. It is an act of reckoning, an exorcism of demons, but one whose ultimate conclusion is that love can soften even the meanest of men, lending significance to one of the most-often quoted lines from Pat's bestsellng novel The Prince of Tides: "In families there are no crimes beyond forgiveness."