Now that “Oh, Didn’t They Ramble” has been out in the world for a bit, I get asked on a regular basis some variation of the question: What’s your next book? And I have to admit that, as of right now, I don’t really know.
I do have American Music: New Roots, a series I’m editing for UNC Press, which is where most of my book-related time and energy is going nowadays. But as for a next project of my own, I have yet to come up with a subject or idea that’s burning a hole in me to get out. And that’s fine, honestly. I feel like I jumped into the Rounder Records book a little too quickly after 2020’s “Step It Up & Go,” even though immediately going into another project seemed like a good idea at the time. But right now, I’m feeling a bit burned out.
In the meantime, while I’m catching my breath, it’s fun to contribute to other writers’ books when the opportunity arises. I recently finished writing a bunch of reviews for a record guide of 1980s-vintage albums, which should appear sometime next year. And here’s a fun one that just came out, a collection called “An Ideal For Living: A Celebration of the EP — Extended Play” (HoZac Books, $23.99). Named after a 1978 mini-album by the uber-gloomy post-punk band Joy Division, this book traces the format’s history through mini-essay reviews of 200 key EPs of the rock era.
The person who made “An Ideal For Living” happen is Corey duBrowa, who I’ve known for years. Our first encounter came way back in 2001, when he was writing a feature about (gulp) Ryan Adams, then in the midst of his big mainstream breakthrough. So Corey came to me seeking perspective about Ryan’s pre-fame days in Raleigh, and also connections to some former bandmates. I gave him a few phone numbers and we talked, and Corey wrote one of that era’s few non-positive features about Ryan. Ryan’s then-manager seemed to blame me for the whole thing, even though Corey wrote the story. Good times.
Nevertheless, Corey and I remained friendly through the years. So when he was putting the EP book together, Corey enlisted me in his “& Friends” cast of 42 reviewers.
I wrote four entries (out of 200 total), so my part in “An Ideal For Living” was quite small. All the same, I’m always up for writing about my favorites. So I did entries on Crosby, Stills & Nash and Simon & Garfunkel, two formative acts in my world going back to the days of listening to music on eight-track tapes; North Carolina icon Nina Simone; and Big Star, a band I could happily listen to every day the rest of my life.
Britt Daniel of the band Spoon wrote the foreword, titled “Last Night An EP Saved My Life,” while Corey wrote introductory essays about the format’s evolution as well as the decades covered by each chapter. It’s a fine book that lends itself to skipping around, but also holds up if you just read it all in order.
I’m happy to add it to the shelf of books (and box set) that I’ve contributed to.
Losering Books 