{"id":47007,"date":"2023-03-17T06:00:39","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T11:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/?p=47007"},"modified":"2023-03-06T17:00:12","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T23:00:12","slug":"im-with-the-band","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/im-with-the-band\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m with the Band"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>To celebrate the release of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s book Daisy Jones & the Six<\/em><\/strong><\/a> as a television miniseries on Amazon Prime, we have gathered a list of some of our favorite music themed novels! Let us know your favorite music novels in the comments below!<\/p>\n

Have you read Daisy Jones & The Six<\/a> <\/strong><\/em>? If not, check out the previous blog<\/a> written by one of our librarians about this book.<\/p>\n

The descriptions listed below were provided by the publishers.<\/p>\n

Music Themed Novels!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Final Revival of Opal & Nev<\/a><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>by Dawnie Walton<\/p>\n

Opal is a fiercely independent young woman pushing against the grain in her style and attitude, Afro-punk before that term existed. Coming of age in Detroit, she can\u2019t imagine settling for a 9-to-5 job\u2014despite her unusual looks, Opal believes she can be a star. So when the aspiring British singer\/songwriter Neville Charles discovers her at a bar\u2019s amateur night, she takes him up on his offer to make rock music together for the fledgling Rivington Records.<\/em><\/p>\n

In early seventies New York City, just as she\u2019s finding her niche as part of a flamboyant and funky creative scene, a rival band signed to her label brandishes a Confederate flag at a promotional concert. Opal\u2019s bold protest and the violence that ensues set off a chain of events that will not only change the lives of those she loves, but also be a deadly reminder that repercussions are always harsher for women, especially black women, who dare to speak their truth.<\/em><\/p>\n

Decades later, as Opal considers a 2016 reunion with Nev, music journalist S. Sunny Shelton seizes the chance to curate an oral history about her idols. Sunny thought she knew most of the stories leading up to the cult duo\u2019s most politicized chapter. But as her interviews dig deeper, a nasty new allegation from an unexpected source threatens to blow up everything.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>The Violin Conspiracy<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em> by Brendan Slocumb<\/p>\n

Growing up Black in rural North Carolina, Ray McMillian\u2019s life is already mapped out. But Ray has a gift and a dream\u2014he\u2019s determined to become a world-class professional violinist, and nothing will stand in his way. Not his mother, who wants him to stop making such a racket; not the fact that he can\u2019t afford a violin suitable to his talents; not even the racism inherent in the world of classical music. <\/em><\/p>\n

When he discovers that his beat-up, family fiddle is actually a priceless Stradivarius, all his dreams suddenly seem within reach, and together, Ray and his violin take the world by storm. But on the eve of the renowned and cutthroat Tchaikovsky Competition\u2014the Olympics of classical music\u2014the violin is stolen, a ransom note for five million dollars left in its place. Without it, Ray feels like he\u2019s lost a piece of himself. As the competition approaches, Ray must not only reclaim his precious violin, but prove to himself\u2014and the world\u2014that no matter the outcome, there has always been a truly great musician within him.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Utopia Avenue<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by David Mitchell<\/p>\n

Utopia Avenue is the strangest British band you\u2019ve never heard of. Emerging from London\u2019s psychedelic scene in 1967, and fronted by folk singer Elf Holloway, blues bassist Dean Moss and guitar virtuoso Jasper de Zoet, Utopia Avenue embarked on a meteoric journey from the seedy clubs of Soho, a TV debut on Top of the Pops, the cusp of chart success, glory in Amsterdam, prison in Rome, and a fateful American sojourn in the Chelsea Hotel, Laurel Canyon, and San Francisco during the autumn of \u201968.<\/em><\/p>\n

David Mitchell\u2019s kaleidoscopic novel tells the unexpurgated story of Utopia Avenue\u2019s turbulent life and times; of fame\u2019s Faustian pact and stardom\u2019s wobbly ladder; of the families we choose and the ones we don\u2019t; of voices in the head, and the truths and lies they whisper; of music, madness, and idealism. Can we really change the world, or does the world change us?<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Songs in Ursa Major<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Emma Brodie<\/p>\n

A scintillating debut from a major new voice in fiction, Songs in Ursa Major is a love story set in 1969, alive with music, sex, and the trappings of fame.<\/em><\/p>\n

Raised on an island off Massachusetts by a mother who wrote songs for famous musicians, Jane Quinn is singing in her own band before she\u2019s old enough to even read music. When folk legend Jesse Reid hears about Jane\u2019s performance at the island\u2019s music festival, a star is born\u2013and so is a passionate love affair: they become inseparable when her band joins his on tour. Wary of being cast as his girlfriend\u2013and haunted by her mother\u2019s shattered ambitions\u2013 Jane shields her relationship from the public eye, but Jesse\u2019s star power pulls her into his orbit of fame. Caught up in the thrill of the road and the profound and lustful connection she has with Jesse, Jane is blind-sided by the discovery she makes about the dark secret beneath his music. Heartbroken and blackballed by the industry, Jane is now truly on her own: to make the music she loves, and to make peace with her family Shot through with the lyrics, the icons, the lore, the adrenaline of the early 70s music scene, Songs in Ursa Major pulses with romantic longing and asks the question so many female artists must face: What are we willing to sacrifice for our dreams?<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>The Ensemble<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Aja Gabel<\/p>\n

Jana. Brit. Daniel. Henry. They would never have been friends if they hadn\u2019t needed each other. They would never have found each other except for the art which drew them together. They would never have become family without their love for the music, for each other.<\/em><\/p>\n

Brit is the second violinist, a beautiful and quiet orphan; on the viola is Henry, a prodigy who\u2019s always had it easy; the cellist is Daniel, the oldest and an angry skeptic who sleeps around; and on first violin is Jana, their flinty, resilient leader. Together, they are the Van Ness Quartet. After the group\u2019s youthful, rocky start, they experience devastating failure and wild success, heartbreak and marriage, triumph and loss, betrayal and enduring loyalty. They are always tied to each other \u2013 by career, by the intensity of their art, by the secrets they carry, by choosing each other over and over again.<\/em><\/p>\n

Following these four unforgettable characters, Aja Gabel\u2019s debut novel gives a riveting look into the high-stakes, cutthroat world of musicians, and of lives made in concert. The story of Brit and Henry and Daniel and Jana, The Ensemble is a heart-skipping portrait of ambition, friendship, and the tenderness of youth.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Mary Jane<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Jessica Anya Blau<\/p>\n

In 1970s Baltimore, fourteen-year-old Mary Jane loves cooking with her mother, singing in her church choir, and enjoying her family\u2019s subscription to the Broadway Showtunes of the Month record club. Shy, quiet, and bookish, she\u2019s glad when she lands a summer job as a nanny for the daughter of a local doctor. A respectable job, Mary Jane\u2019s mother says. In a respectable house.<\/em><\/p>\n

The house may look respectable on the outside, but inside it\u2019s a literal and figurative mess: clutter on every surface, Impeachment: Now More Than Ever bumper stickers on the doors, cereal and takeout for dinner. And even more troublesome (were Mary Jane\u2019s mother to know, which she does not): the doctor is a psychiatrist who has cleared his summer for one important job\u2014helping a famous rock star dry out. A week after Mary Jane starts, the rock star and his movie star wife move in.<\/em><\/p>\n

Over the course of the summer, Mary Jane introduces her new household to crisply ironed clothes and a family dinner schedule, and has a front-row seat to a liberal world of sex, drugs, and rock and roll (not to mention group therapy). Caught between the lifestyle she\u2019s always known and the future she\u2019s only just realized is possible, Mary Jane will arrive at September with a new idea about what she wants out of life, and what kind of person she\u2019s going to be.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>The Unsinkable Greta James<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Jennifer E. Smith<\/p>\n

Right after the sudden death of her mother\u2014her first and most devoted fan\u2014and just before the launch of her high-stakes sophomore album, Greta James falls apart on stage. The footage quickly goes viral and she stops playing, her career suddenly in jeopardy\u2014the kind of jeopardy her father, Conrad, has always predicted; the kind he warned her about when he urged her to make more practical choices with her life. <\/em><\/p>\n

Months later, Greta\u2014still heartbroken and very much adrift\u2014reluctantly agrees to accompany Conrad on the Alaskan cruise her parents had booked to celebrate their fortieth anniversary. It could be their last chance to heal old wounds in the wake of shared loss. But the trip will also prove to be a voyage of discovery for them both, and for Ben Wilder, a charming historian, onboard to lecture about The Call of the Wild, who is struggling with a major upheaval in his own life. As Greta works to build back her confidence and Ben confronts an uncertain future, they find themselves drawn to and relying on each other.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s here in this unlikeliest of places\u2014at sea, far from the packed city venues where she usually plays and surrounded by the stunning scenery of Alaska\u2014Greta will finally confront the choices she\u2019s made, the heartbreak she\u2019s suffered, and the family hurts that run deep. In the end, she\u2019ll have to decide what her path forward might look like\u2014and how to find her voice again.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>The Music Shop<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Rachel Joyce<\/p>\n

It is 1988. On a dead-end street in a run-down suburb there is a music shop that stands small and brightly lit, jam-packed with records of every kind. Like a beacon, the shop attracts the lonely, the sleepless, and the adrift; Frank, the shop\u2019s owner, has a way of connecting his customers with just the piece of music they need. Then, one day, into his shop comes a beautiful young woman, Ilse Brauchmann, who asks Frank to teach her about music. Terrified of real closeness, Frank feels compelled to turn and run, yet he is drawn to this strangely still, mysterious woman with eyes as black as vinyl. But Ilse is not what she seems, and Frank has old wounds that threaten to reopen, as well as a past it seems he will never leave behind. Can a man who is so in tune with other people\u2019s needs be so incapable of connecting with the one person who might save him? The journey that these two quirky, wonderful characters make in order to overcome their emotional baggage speaks to the healing power of music\u2014and love\u2014in this poignant, ultimately joyful work of fiction.<\/em><\/p>\n

____________________________________<\/p>\n

If you have any favorite music books, let us know below! We can’t wait to see what you’ve read and what you plan to read!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To celebrate the release of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s book Daisy Jones & the Six as a television miniseries on Amazon Prime, we have gathered a list of some of our favorite music themed novels! Let us know your favorite music novels in the comments below! Have you read Daisy Jones[Read more]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[361,10,13,5,1,8],"tags":[6765,6764,402,5002,2266,3253,6771,5817,6772,6769,6773,6774,6768,6770],"class_list":["post-47007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio-books","category-books","category-news-you-can-use","category-read-a-likes","category-reference","category-staff-picks","tag-band","tag-daisy-jones-and-the-six","tag-fiction","tag-mary-jane","tag-miniseries","tag-music","tag-songs-in-ursa-major","tag-taylor-jenkins-reid","tag-the-ensemble","tag-the-final-revival-of-opal-nev","tag-the-music-shop","tag-the-unsinkable-greta-james","tag-the-violin-conspiracy","tag-utopia-avenue"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd0CXx-ceb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47007"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47142,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47007\/revisions\/47142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}