Guitar Man: A Six-String Odyssey, Or, You Love That Guitar More Than You Love Me

The guitar is the iconic instrument of modern popular music. It is portable, it has history, and it will always be hip. But why has the guitar become such a classic? Will Hodgkinson, a wannabe guitar player, whose only experience was an afternoon's bashing on a friend's guitar at the age of sixteen, set out to find out. Along the way he hoped to teach himself a few chords too. His goal was to get good enough to play before a live audience in just six months--even if it threatened to drive his wife and family to the point of insanity. His trip becomes an odyssey: He chats with British folk legend Bert Jansch, ex-Smith's guitarist Johnny Marr, and reclusive folk guitar legend Davey Graham, as well as Sufjan Stevens, PJ Harvey, and Cat Power's chanteuse Chan Marshall. He travels to America and with a hurricane brewing visits Roger McGuinn from the Byrds. He travels to the Deep South, looking for the spirit of Robert Johnson, and drops in on T-Model Ford, an old bluesman living in Mississippi. Gloriously readable and highly amusing, Guitar Man is classic obsessional nonfiction for a nation of guitar freaks.

Author: Will Hodgkinson
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Published: 12/26/2006
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.67lbs
Size: 8.26h x 6.34w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780306815140

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 01/29/2007

About the Author
Will Hodgkinson has written for the Guardian, Mojo, and the Daily Telegraph, among other publications. He lives with his wife and two children in London.