{"title":"Country \u0026 Folk Composer Biographies","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"merlehaggardsmyhouseofmemories-fortherecord","title":"Merle Haggard's My House of Memories : For the Record","description":"\u003cp\u003eCountry music's award-winning and best-selling recording artist, Merle Haggard, brings us his long-awaited new autobiography, Merle Haggard's My House of Memories--a riveting account of Haggard's extremely turbulent and successful life. Picking up where his 1982 autobiography, Sing Me Back Home, left off, Haggard recounts his earliest childhood memories, revealing previously untold stories about his birth and troubled upbringing in a converted railroad boxcar. He recalls the innocence of the 1950s, when a boy could safely ride the rails with hobos and share their transient camps. He talks about his father's death when Merle was nine and how his childish disobedience soon erupted into full-blown delinquency.\u003cbr\u003e\nIn a thrilling narrative, he takes us on several high speed getaways from the California law and straight inside the state's homes for the criminally delinquent. On his nineteenth birthday, we follow him inside San Quentin and read a chilling account about a cellmate who begs Merle to join him in an escape that ultimately ends with the man's death. Haggard also recalls his befriending of Caryl Chessman, the notorious 1950s serial rapist, and the time they shared before Chessman's execution.\u003cbr\u003e\nHaving lived a life marked by violence, gambling, and drugs, Merle shares the lessons he learned and how he continues to pay for decades of reckless living. He discloses that after earning more than a hundred million dollars, he's virtually broke. Merle reflects on how he felt at that bittersweet hour seven years ago, as he stood at his wife's bedside during the delivery of their son--and was served bankruptcy papers. And he recalls his family's move into a house so decayed that cattle literally roamed inside. He still lives there, amid improvements, today.\u003cbr\u003e\nHaggard relives the painful memory of the death of his mother, who a year earlier, unbeknownst to him, had written her life story in longhand. He reveals his astonishment at learning of her 1906 covered-wagon journey at age four, from Arkansas to Oklahoma, and of how she had to live underground in an earthen dugout. Merle had never known of his mother's life in the Southwest and the fears and hardships she faced.\u003cbr\u003e\nAs one of the industry's most respected artists, Merle Haggard still makes music for music's sake and does it with the enthusiasm of an apprentice. He plays several hours a day, every day, on and off the stage and speaks of the emotional salvation the eight notes of the music scale afford him.\u003cbr\u003e\nMy House of Memories captures the triumph of the human spirit through the power of persistence, through the power of love he finally discovered during his fifth marriage, and through the unsurpassed the joy of reentering fatherhood at age fifty-four. It is an exciting and moving account of the tumultuous life of a songwriter, singer, guitarist, and arranger whose words have earned him international renown as the poet of the common man., ISBN13: 9780060193089 ISBN10: 0060193085 Material Type: hardcover\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CheapBookDepot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46107833237667,"sku":"A-STR_UBD_H00011IW","price":13.82,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0607\/9227\/5107\/files\/71NrJ7N-vrL.jpg?v=1754537431"},{"product_id":"paul-simon-the-life-deckle-edge","title":"Paul Simon: The Life [Deckle Edge]","description":"\u003cp\u003eA publishing event from music legend Paul Simon: an intimate, candid, and definitive biography written with Simon’s full participation—but without his editorial control—by acclaimed biographer and music writer Robert Hilburn.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor more than fifty years, Paul Simon has spoken to us in songs about alienation, doubt, resilience, and empathy in ways that have established him as one of the most beloved artists in American pop music history. Songs like “The Sound of Silence,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Still Crazy After All These Years,” and “Graceland” have moved beyond the sales charts and into our cultural consciousness. But Simon is a deeply private person who has resisted speaking to us outside of his music. He has said he will not write an autobiography or memoir, and he has refused to talk to previous biographers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFinally, Simon has opened up—for more than one hundred hours of interviews—to Robert Hilburn, whose biography of Johnny Cash was named by Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times as one of her ten favorite books of 2013. The result is a landmark book that will take its place as the defining biography of one of America’s greatest artists.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt begins in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, where, raised by a bandleader father and schoolteacher mother, Simon grew up with the twin passions of baseball and music. The latter took over at age twelve when he and schoolboy chum Art Garfunkel became infatuated with the alluring harmonies of doo-wop. Together, they became international icons, and then Simon went on to even greater artistic heights on his own. But beneath the surface of his storied five-decade career is a roller coaster of tumultuous personal and professional ups and downs. From his remarkable early success with Garfunkel to their painfully acrimonious split; from his massive early hits as a solo artist to the wrenching commercial failures of One-Trick Pony and Hearts and Bones; from the historic comeback success of Graceland and The Rhythm of the Saints to the star-crossed foray into theater with The Capeman and a late-career creative resurgence—his is a musical life unlike any other.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOver the past three years, Hilburn has conducted in-depth interviews with scores of Paul Simon’s friends, family, colleagues, and others—including ex-wives Carrie Fisher and Peggy Harper, who spoke for the first time—and even penetrated the inner circle of Simon’s long-reclusive muse, Kathy Chitty. The result is a deeply human account of the challenges and sacrifices of a life in music at the highest level. In the process, Hilburn documents Simon’s search for artistry and his constant struggle to protect that artistry against distractions—fame, marriage, divorce, drugs, record company interference, rejection, and insecurity—that have derailed so many great pop figures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePaul Simon is an intimate and inspiring narrative that helps us finally understand Paul Simon the person and the artist. “With train-wreck moments and tender interludes alike, it delivers a sharply detailed Kodachrome of a brilliant musician” (Kirkus Reviews)., ISBN13: 9781501112126 ISBN10: 1501112120 Material Type: hardcover\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CheapBookDepot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46111933202595,"sku":"A.5.1 CH_03-26-25_ART_H00002PG","price":19.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0607\/9227\/5107\/files\/71AFXMnTeEL.jpg?v=1754644514"},{"product_id":"roy-acuff-the-smoky-mountain-boy","title":"Roy Acuff: The Smoky Mountain Boy","description":"\u003cp\u003eFiddler Roy Acuff was the first living performer to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. A member of the Grand Ole Opry and premier figure in the growth of country music, his story is told through interviews with friends, family, and fellow performers., ISBN13: 9780882899329 ISBN10: 0882899325 Material Type: paperback\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CheapBookDepot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46114940092579,"sku":"B7.13.5 F_06-10-25_H0000ITP","price":57.52,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0607\/9227\/5107\/files\/71F_G-T4f-L.jpg?v=1754734896"},{"product_id":"comfort-from-a-country-quilt-finding-new-inspiration-and-strength-in-old-fashioned-values","title":"Comfort from a Country Quilt: Finding New Inspiration and Strength in Old-Fashioned Values","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhether you read it for instant warmth or lasting inspiration, Comfort from a Country Quilt is a book that will touch your life and make your spirits soar like the sweet high notes of a Reba McEntire song.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn a dazzling career that spans more than two decades, Reba McEntire has established herself as one of the hardest-working and most successful entertainers of our time. She is a country music superstar who has sold more than 40 million records, one of the highest-grossing concert performers of the decade, and a trailblazing businesswoman who established her own multimedia entertainment corporation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eYet Reba has still managed to become one of the rare celebrities who is also beloved by her millions of fans for the way she lives her life, for successfully balancing the demands of career and family, for competing in show business without sacrificing her values, and for managing to \"keep it country\" while keeping up with the times. She has done so, in large part, by drawing wisdom and strength from the precious traditions of her country past, finding inspiring new relevance in old-fashioned values.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNow, in a deeply personal, \"back-porch conversation\" of a book, Reba shares a generous helping of her life experiences. \"I hope some of the things I've gone through can make it just a little easier for the next person, because life is supposed to be about making the path a little gentler for the people traveling behind you.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReba writes about the roles a modern country woman tries to fulfill, roles as many and varied as the fabric pieces of an heirloom quilt. Facing the challenges of being a wife, mother, stepmother, daughter, sister, performer, executive, community member, and Christian, Reba shows how she has coped by carrying forward lessons and a guiding spirit from her roots as a ranch girl growing up in Chockie, Oklahoma, as well as from the powerful heritage of classic country music. Rather than proving quaint and stale, Reba demonstrates again and again the ways that you can make traditional values remain fresh and vital in your search for a fulfilling life today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eComfort from a Country Quilt is a book of wisdom and encouragement and a celebration of what is true and lasting in our lives, a gift for yourself and for those you love to cherish., ISBN13: 9780553107944 ISBN10: 0553107941 Material Type: hardcover\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CheapBookDepot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46124613206179,"sku":"TN_STR_UBD_H0000WCE","price":10.69,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0607\/9227\/5107\/files\/8169hvCbYgL.jpg?v=1754815609"},{"product_id":"a-str_ubd_h0000qv2","title":"Cash: The Autobiography","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe country singer looks back over his life from his childhood on an Arkansas cotton farm, to his battle with drugs, to his myriad musical successes, ISBN13: 9780062515001 ISBN10: 0062515004 Material Type: hardcover\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CheapBookDepot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46124710264995,"sku":"A-STR_UBD_H0000QV2","price":35.12,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0607\/9227\/5107\/files\/81nQmVYDjvL_0a712988-6d49-4584-9498-43a7a8758906.jpg?v=1754820257"},{"product_id":"ubd-6-4-f_str_h0000f4c","title":"Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die: Musings from the Road","description":"\u003cp\u003eYou won't see no sad and teary eyes when I get my wings, and it's my time to fly\u003cbr\u003e\nJust call my friends and tell them there's a party, come on by\u003cbr\u003e\nSo just roll me up and smoke me when I die\u003cbr\u003e\nIn Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die, Willie Nelson muses about his greatest influences and celebrates the family, friends, and colleagues who have blesses his remarkable journey. Willie riffs on music, wives, Texas, politics, horses, religion, marijuana, children, the environment, poker, hogs, Nashville, karma, and more. He shares the outlaw wisdom he has acquired over eight decades, along with favorite jokes and insights. Rare family pictures, beautiful artwork created by his son Micah Nelson, and lyrics to classic songs punctuate these charming and poignant memories.\u003cbr\u003e\nAt once a road journal and a fitting tribute to America's greatest traveling bard, Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die—introduced by Kinky Friedman, another favorite son of Texas—is a deeply personal look into the heart and soul of one of the greatest artists of our time., ISBN13: 9780062293312 ISBN10: 0062293311 Material Type: paperback\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CheapBookDepot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46124711903395,"sku":"UBD.6.4 F_STR_H0000F4C","price":11.14,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0607\/9227\/5107\/files\/91ulHF7fkjL.jpg?v=1754820352"},{"product_id":"u1-7-1-k_str_h00007oy","title":"Seeds of man: An experience lived and dreamed","description":"\u003cp\u003eSeeds of Man is based on Woody Guthrie’s adventurous 1931 trip through Texas. Nineteen-year-old Woody, accompanied by family members, drives from Pampa in the Panhandle to the rugged Big Bend country in a wheezing Model-T Ford truck. They are searching for a silver mine that Uncle Jeff had discovered and then lost. This autobiographical novel, originally published in 1976—nearly ten years after Woody Guthrie’s death—shows how his father’s search for riches was a dead-end street. The characters dare and do, drink Papa’s high-proof whiskey, eat out of cans, meet real characters, make love, and sing the lively songs composed by Woody along the way., ISBN13: 9780525199366 ISBN10: 0525199365 Material Type: paperback\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CheapBookDepot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46124847268003,"sku":"U1.7.1-K_STR_H00007OY","price":29.25,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0607\/9227\/5107\/files\/617-tonwXiL.jpg?v=1754827797"},{"product_id":"public-cowboy-no-1-the-life-and-times-of-gene-autry","title":"Public Cowboy No. 1: The Life and Times of Gene Autry","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe only performer to earn 5 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame--for film, recordings, TV, radio, and live performance--Gene Autry was the singing cowboy king of American entertainment. Now, in Public Cowboy No.1, Holly George-Warren offers the first serious biography of this singular individual, in a fascinating narrative that traces Autry's climb from small-town farm boy to multimillionaire.\u003cbr\u003e\nHere for the first time Autry the legend becomes a flesh-and-blood man--with all the passions, triumphs, and tragedies of a flawed icon. George-Warren recounts stories never before told, including revelations about Autry's impoverished boyhood, his adventures as an up-and-coming singer, and the impact his unbelievable success had on his personal life. She describes Autry's loving but doomed mother, who died on the brink of her son's success, and his ne'er-do-well father, who married five times and wandered the west. Autry battled his own demons but emerges here in a positive light, an immensely personable man, one of America's most charitable benefactors, known for his boundless generosity, and a patriot who enlisted during World War II. The book provides equally colorful details of Autry's lengthy radio and recording career, which included such classics as \"Back in the Saddle Again\" and \"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer\"; his movie career, where he breathed new life into the Western genre; and his role in early television, being the first movie star to develop his own TV shows. And along the way, we see how he invested shrewdly in radio, real-estate, and television, becoming the owner of the California Angels and the only entertainer listed among 1990's Fortune 400.\u003cbr\u003e\nBased on exclusive access to Gene Autry's personal papers, as well as interviews with more than 100 relatives, employees, colleagues, and friends, this engaging biography brings to life a major Hollywood star--a man who, more than anyone else, put Western music and style on the American cultural map., ISBN13: 9780195177466 ISBN10: 0195177460 Material Type: hardcover\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CheapBookDepot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46126595637411,"sku":"TN_STR_H0000B55","price":13.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0607\/9227\/5107\/files\/91_204yDS_L.jpg?v=1754895319"},{"product_id":"memories-the-autobiography-of-ralph-emery","title":"Memories the Autobiography of Ralph Emery","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe host of \"Nashville Now\" documents his forty years in broadcasting, describing his four marriages, his drug addiction and recovery, and his contact with many of country music's most popular personalities, ISBN13: 9780025354814 ISBN10: 0025354817 Material Type: hardcover\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CheapBookDepot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46126832025763,"sku":"A_06-11-25_H0000JA0","price":21.17,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0607\/9227\/5107\/files\/819b3yDeKbL.jpg?v=1754902106"}],"url":"https:\/\/usedbookdepot.com\/collections\/country-folk-composer-biographies.oembed","provider":"Used Book Depot","version":"1.0","type":"link"}