Songs to Fill the Air: Tales of the Grateful Dead is my follow-up to Aces Back to Back: The History of the Grateful Dead. Songs to Fill the Air is a collection of my essays on the Dead: never-before-told tales that reach across far-ranging, and fascinating, topics and individuals. Vital players in the band's history, never before given their due, come to life on the pages of my new and exciting tome. Important concerts in Grateful Dead history are analyzed, and there are two different essays that connect the Dead's history to the Beatles, and others connecting Dead lore to David Bowie, Pink Floyd and rapper Tupac Shakur. There are also musings on the Grateful Dead song "Jack Straw" and songs such as "Morning Dew." Included are a number of tales about my on-the-road experiences hitchhiking and traveling to see the Dead - everywhere from San Francisco to Philadelphia, from Texas to Manhattan! I've also detailed the last four years of Garcia's life (1992-95) as never detailed before. Songs to Fill the Air: Tales of the Grateful Dead is an engaging and compelling read that completes the story, and history, of the Dead in an informative and captivating manner.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE PENDERYN MUSIC BOOK PRIZERoots, Radicals & Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World is the first book to explore this phenomenon in depth - a meticulously researched and joyous account that explains how skiffle sparked a revolution that shaped pop music as we have come to know it. It's a story of jazz pilgrims and blues blowers, Teddy Boys and beatnik girls, coffee-bar bohemians and refugees from the McCarthyite witch-hunts. Billy traces how the guitar came to the forefront of music in the UK and led directly to the British Invasion of the US charts in the 1960s.Emerging from the trad-jazz clubs of the early '50s, skiffle was adopted by kids who growing up during the dreary, post-war rationing years. These were Britain's first teenagers, looking for a music of their own in a pop culture dominated by crooners and mediated by a stuffy BBC. Lonnie Donegan hit the charts in 1956 with a version of 'Rock Island Line' and soon sales of guitars rocketed from 5,000 to 250,000 a year. Like punk rock that would flourish two decades later, skiffle was a do-it-yourself music. All you needed were three guitar chords and you could form a group, with mates playing tea-chest bass and washboard as a rhythm section.

A high-energy collection of children's songs, activities and recipes is complemented by the Grammy Award-nominated performer's renditions of five favorite songs, including "Turn it Down" and "Monster Stomp."

"A handbook for compassion... a Must-Read Music Book.” —Rolling Stone Country "Generous and big-hearted, Gauthier has stories to tell and worthwhile advice to share." —Wally Lamb, author of I Know This Much Is True "Gauthier has an uncanny ability to combine songwriting craft with a seeker’s vulnerability and a sage’s wisdom.” —Amy Ray, Indigo Girls From the Grammy nominated folk singer and songwriter, an inspiring exploration of creativity and the redemptive power of song Mary Gauthier was twelve years old when she was given her Aunt Jenny’s old guitar and taught herself to play with a Mel Bay basic guitar workbook. Music offered her a window to a world where others felt the way she did. Songs became lifelines to her, and she longed to write her own, one day. Then, for a decade, while struggling with addiction, Gauthier put her dream away and her call to songwriting faded. It wasn’t until she got sober and went to an open mic with a friend did she realize that she not only still wanted to write songs, she needed to. Today, Gauthier is a decorated musical artist, with numerous awards and recognition for her songwriting, including a Grammy nomination. In Saved by a Song, Mary Gauthier pulls the curtain back on the artistry of songwriting. Part memoir, part philosophy of art, part nuts and bolts of songwriting, her book celebrates the redemptive power of song to inspire and bring seemingly different kinds of people together.

From Grammy-winning musical icon and legendary bassist Victor L. Wooten comes an inspiring parable of music, life, and the difference between playing all the right notes…and feeling them. The Music Lesson is the story of a struggling young musician who wanted music to be his life, and who wanted his life to be great. Then, from nowhere it seemed, a teacher arrived. Part musical genius, part philosopher, part eccentric wise man, the teacher would guide the young musician on a spiritual journey, and teach him that the gifts we get from music mirror those from life, and every movement, phrase, and chord has its own meaning...All you have to do is find the song inside. “The best book on music (and its connection to the mystic laws of life) that I've ever read. I learned so much on every level.”—Multiple Grammy Award–winning saxophonist Michael Brecker

(Guitar Recorded Versions). 20 of the very best from the Grateful Dead in note-for-note guitar transcriptions, including: Bertha * Box of Rain * Casey Jones * Fire on the Mountain * Friend of the Devil * Ramble on Rose * Shakedown Street * Sugar Magnolia * Touch of Grey * Truckin' * Uncle John's Band * and more.