As summer dies, the first boy is found in a shallow grave. More will follow. His hometown has a serial child killer in its midst.... At seventeen, John Ray has silently survived years of molestation at the hands of a respected coach and mentor. When younger boys start disappearing, found sexually abused and murdered in the same woods where he was once victimized, John must confront not only his own past but an interwoven set of characters, some evil, some desperate and some both, who share his memories in one way or another. What John must do, who he must open up to, and the corpses he must unearth-- literally and figuratively in order to stop the madness around him-- is what drives this intense story to its heart-pounding conclusion. In addition to its pace and rich character development, Copperhead Road features an eerie and remarkable sense of place; its setting is the Northern Virginia suburbs of the mid-1980s, pre-cell phone, and pre-Internet, and will carry any reader back to a simpler but sometimes darker recent past. Please don't forget to check the "Look Inside" feature for more detail as well. Author's note: I am a former special victims prosecutor and myself a victim of chronic child sexual abuse. There are touches of my personal story in this book, but more an amalgamation of the thousands of stories I came face to face with while prosecuting and eventually consulting on child abuse cases worldwide. I remain in awe of every child who had the courage to work with my teams on the investigation and prosecution of the horror they endured. This book was written for all of them. And for every boy and girl still silent, helpless, and alone.

"Along the way we see the growth of Earle's political consciousness and his courage in tackling thorny topics such as "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh (in the song "John Walker's Blues"), his opposition to the death penalty, and his recent appearance in support of Iraq war protester Cindy Sheehan. Author David McGee also examines the early '70s east Texas singer-songwriter scene - where Earle met his future mentors Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt - and the rise of the New Traditionalist and Americana movements.".

1920. Life was simple for Billy Bronson. Living in the country outside of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, he and his father Frank were secluded and happily reclusive. Fishing, hunting, and farming were enough to keep Billy satisfied. That is until a hideous man named Clayton and his young partner murdered his father and torched his home to the dirt over a territorial moonshining dispute. Capone isn't a name the folks fear. It's Sinclair. After the prohibition, under the roof of his neighbors, the Campbell's, Billy works almost hard enough to forget. But when Frank Bronson's killer stops at their farm in need of gas, Billy must face his harrowing past. With his identity unknown to the entire Sinclair organization, he investigates their illegal operations with hopes of finding his way to the man they call Sinclair and the truths he holds. Revenge might be just down the road. Question is, where is this road?

This illustrated A-Z guide covers more than 700 country music artists, groups, and bands. Articles also cover specific genres within country music as well as instruments used. Written in a lively, engaging style, the entries not only outline the careers of country music's greatest artists, they provide an understanding of the artist's importance or failings, and a feeling for his or her style. Select discographies are provided at the end of each entry, while a bibliography and indexes by instrument, musical style, genre, and song title round out the work. For a full list of entries, a generous selection of sample entries, and more, visit the Country Music: A Biographical Dictionary website.

The greatest albums of all time . . . and how they happened. Organised chronologically and spanning seven decades, The MOJO Collection presents an authoritative and engaging guide to the history of the pop album via hundreds of long-playing masterpieces, from the much-loved to the little known. From The Beatles to The Verve, from Duke Ellington to King Tubby and from Peggy Lee to Sly Stone, hundreds of albums are covered in detail with chart histories, full track and personnel listings and further listening suggestions. There's also exhaustive coverage of the soundtrack and hit collections that every home should have. Like all collections, there are records you listen to constantly, albums you've forgotten, albums you hardly play, albums you love guiltily and albums you thought you were alone in treasuring, proving The MOJO Collection to be an essential purchase for those who love and live music.

An anecdotal, rollicking tour through America's most colorful region. From the Tidewater through Appalachia, down the Blue Ridge country and into the sunbelt, B.C. Hall and C.T. Wood take us through the American South, inviting us to listen to its music -- blues, country, gospel, and rock -- and to the voices that have shaped its extraordinary, distinctive literature. Interweaving interviews with people both ordinary and famous with thought-provoking reflections on Southern life, history, politics, humor, religion, and cultural icons, The South is a matchless, impressionistic portrait of a people and a place.

The first time I see my high school crush since graduation, I’m a thirty-year-old woman laying on the table for a pap smear. He’s the hot, newly single doctor who just moved back to his hometown, hoping to find some stability for his daughter. Meanwhile, I’m a hot mess, just fired from my job and ousted from company housing. I’m living in my old bedroom and trying to get my appointments in before my insurance runs out along with what little is left of my money. That’s when Fletcher tells me we may be able to help each other out. He needs a live-in nanny for his daughter over the summer, and the last three have quit after a day. With no other job options in my small hometown, I quickly accept. After all, I’ve dealt with pigheaded, balding middle managers. I can handle an eight-year-old girl… right? If I can’t help her and set aside my feelings for this hot single dad, I’ll need to find a new job away from my family and outside of the town I love. Hello Doctor is full of sweet moments with a firecracker of a little girl, her dad with a heart of gold, and the woman who brings them both together. Grab your copy of this spicy contemporary romance between a nanny and her smoldering boss today!

Part recovery narrative and part love story, interwoven with the latest research on the brain, Fallen describes the aftermath of a life-threatening brain and spinal cord injury. In 2008, Simon Paradis stepped backward on the scaffolding where he was doing construction work and fell two stories to the hard stone tile below. Landing on his back, head, and spine, he suffered a severe brain and spinal cord injury. Doctors warned his wife, Kara Stanley, that he probably would not survive, and that if he did, his mind and his body would never be the same. In Fallen, Kara Stanley chronicles the effect of this catastrophic accident on both Simon and her and on their marriage. Combining the heart-wrenching narrative of Simon’s recovery with the latest research on the brain, the book elucidates the resilience of both the human heart and the human mind. It also describes the transformative role of music in Simon’s life both before and during his continuing rehabilitation and his hard-fought battle to return to work as a professional musician. At the heart of the story is the relationship between the author and her husband, as she explores what is essential in a marriage to allow it to grow and thrive even amid life’s inherent chaos and uncertainty.

An insightful and wide-ranging look at one of America’s most popular genres of music, Walking the Line: Country Music Lyricists and American Culture examines how country songwriters engage with their nation’s religion, literature, and politics. Country fans have long encountered the concept of walking the line, from Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line” to Waylon Jennings’s “Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line.” Walking the line requires following strict codes, respecting territories, and, sometimes, recognizing that only the slightest boundary separates conflicting allegiances. However, even as the term acknowledges control, it suggests rebellion, the consideration of what lies on the other side of the line, and perhaps the desire to violate that code. For lyricists, the line presents a moment of expression, an opportunity to relate an idea, image, or emotion. These lines represent boundaries of their kind as well, but as the chapters in this volume indicate, some of the more successful country lyricists have tested and expanded the boundaries as they have challenged musical, social, and political conventions, often reevaluating what “country” means in country music. From Jimmie Rodgers’s redefinitions of democracy, to revisions of Southern Christianity by Hank Williams and Willie Nelson, to feminist retellings by Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton to masculine reconstructions by Merle Haggard and Cindy Walker, to Steve Earle’s reworking of American ideologies, this collection examines how country lyricists walk the line. In weighing the influence of the lyricists’ accomplishments, the contributing authors walk the line in turn, exploring iconic country lyrics that have tested and expanded boundaries, challenged musical, social, and political conventions, and reevaluated what “country” means in country music.

Many books and essays have addressed the broad sweep of Texas music—its multicultural aspects, its wide array and blending of musical genres, its historical transformations, and its love/hate relationship with Nashville and other established music business centers. This book, however, focuses on an essential thread in this tapestry: the Texas singer-songwriters to whom the contributors refer as “ruthlessly poetic.” All songs require good lyrics, but for these songwriters, the poetic quality and substance of the lyrics are front and center. Obvious candidates for this category would include Townes Van Zandt, Michael Martin Murphey, Guy Clark, Steve Fromholz, Terry Allen, Kris Kristofferson, Vince Bell, and David Rodriguez. In a sense, what these songwriters were doing in small, intimate live-music venues like the Jester Lounge in Houston, the Chequered Flag in Austin, and the Rubaiyat in Dallas was similar to what Bob Dylan was doing in Greenwich Village. In the language of the times, these were “folksingers.” Unlike Dylan, however, these were folksingers writing songs about their own people and their own origins and singing in their own vernacular. This music, like most great poetry, is profoundly rooted. That rootedness, in fact, is reflected in the book’s emphasis on place and the powerful ways it shaped and continues to shape the poetry and music of Texas singer-songwriters. From the coffeehouses and folk clubs where many of the “founders” got their start to the Texas-flavored festivals and concerts that nurtured both their fame and the rise of a new generation, the indelible stamp of origins is inseparable from the work of these troubadour-poets. Please see the listing for the print edition to view the table of contents for this title.