Acoustic Stories: Playing Bass with Peter, Paul & Mary, Jerry Garcia, and Bill Monroe, and Eighteen Other Unamplified Tales

These insider stories about Bill’s experiences as “bass player to the stars” of folk, bluegrass, and acoustic music, are hilarious, insightful, sweet, thoughtful, humble, and generous in their real-life depictions of our best-loved entertainers. Here are true stories about Bill’s playing string bass with Peter, Paul & Mary, pickin’ bluegrass with Jerry Garcia, and concertizing with the Father of Bluegrass music, Bill Monroe. Aretha Franklin reveals yet another of her powers when Bill interviews her for Rolling Stone magazine. Bob Dylan is seen backstage, utterly lost, as he makes his way to his first gig in Philadelphia. And Stephane Grapelli, at age 74, on being introduced to the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia, admits that he is just grateful to be alive. These stories show an inside view of the specific and rarefied culture of the folk musician, but also stand as pieces of literature, full-fledged stories of deep humanity and sensitivity that give us a tasty sampling of the stew of human interaction both on stage and off. The book is richly illustrated with 35 graphics, drawing and photos. There is a beautiful portrait of Aretha Franklin by the world’s most famous photographer, Annie Leibovitz, a drawing of Beach Blanket Babylon’s Steve Silver by the late Al Hershfeld, and photos of Jerry Garcia by Jon Sievert.