Rock and Roll Book Club

At The Current, we love music — and we love reading books about music. That’s why we created The Current’s Rock and Roll Book Club. Every week, we pick a book about music and share a review online; you can also hear Jay Gabler talk about each week's book with Oake & Riley in the Morning on The Current at 8:30 a.m. every Wednesday. We’d love it if you read along with us — and let us know what you think, using the hashtag #RockandRollBookClub.

Rock and Roll Book Club: Music Matters series takes on Beach Boys, Ramones

October 17, 2018

The first two books in the 'Music Matters' series.

A new series from the University of Texas Press launches with titles on 'Why the Beach Boys Matter' and 'Why the Ramones Matter.'

Rock and Roll Book Club: 'Bruce Springsteen: An Illustrated Biography'

October 10, 2018

Meredith Ochs's 'Bruce Springsteen: An Illustrated Biography.'

Does the world need another Bruce Springsteen book? Well, for those who haven't read one yet, Meredith Ochs's illustrated biography is a fine place to start.

Rock and Roll Book Club: Dessa's 'My Own Devices'

October 3, 2018

There's never been a music memoir quite like Dessa's.

Rock and Roll Book Club: Dorothy Carvello's 'Anything for a Hit'

September 26, 2018

Dorothy Carvello's memoir is subtitled 'an A&R woman's story of surviving the music industry.'

Rock and Roll Book Club: Jessica Hopper's 'Night Moves'

September 19, 2018

Jessica Hopper's 'Night Moves' is as much a book of prose poetry as a memoir, about the texture of being in love with a city (Chicago) and its music scene in the first decade of this century.

Rock and Roll Book Club: 'Country Music USA' turns 50

September 12, 2018

50th anniversary edition of 'Country Music USA.'

A new edition marks the 50th anniversary of 'Country Music USA,' the book regarded as the genre's definitive history.

Rock and Roll Book Club: 'She Begat This' celebrates 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill'

September 5, 2018

In 'She Begat This,' Joan Morgan explores the legacy of 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,' two decades after that landmark album's release.

Rock and Roll Book Club: 'Trouble in Mind' spotlights Bob Dylan's gospel years

August 29, 2018

In 'Trouble in Mind,' Clinton Heylin promises to tell readers 'what REALLY happened' during Bob Dylan's gospel years.

Rock and Roll Book Club: 'Closer You Are' tells the Guided By Voices story

August 22, 2018

'Closer You Are' is an authorized biography of Robert Pollard, the famously shambolic center of Guided By Voices.

Rock and Roll Book Club: 'Paul Weller: Sounds from the Studio'

August 15, 2018

Ian Snowball's 'Paul Weller: Sounds from the Studio.'

A strange and largely useless new book spotlights the long career of a post-punk legend.