Here are 100 books that Brothers and Sisters fans have personally recommended if you like
Brothers and Sisters.
Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
An academically trained historian, I'm a Music Obsessive/History Geek/Southerner/Guitarist/Public Historian/Teacher/Interpreter/Writer/Fan who studies the intersection of music, culture, history, and place. I grew up devouring Mom’s Beatles and Dad’s country records. My life changed in 6th grade when I got my first guitar and discovered the blues. In 7th grade I wrote a research paper on the hippies. That’s when I fell in love with the counterculture. Throughout my life I’ve interwoven my love of the blues, punk rock, the Allman Brothers Band, and the Jam Depression collective as a historian, fan, and musician. My enduring passion culminated in a Ph.D. and the publication of Play All Night! Duane Allman and the Journey to Fillmore East.
I dearly love this book by the daughter of Duane and Donna Allman, my favorite on the Allman Brothers Band. Part biography and part memoir, it’s heartfelt story of Galadrielle Allman’s quest to get to know her famous father as a human being and artist.
Through the lives of Donna and Linda Oakley, the two young widows at the center of the story, it is also one of the very few music history books that addresses rock & roll’s impact on families. Throughout the book, Allman connects with a father she never knew through her relationships with those who did—an extended family network that carried and shared Duane’s memory.
Her conclusion that Duane’s story was a love affair with the guitar helped me frame my own understanding of Duane’s artistry as I began writing my book.
Crossroads: Postwar American South, American youth culture, counterculture
A deeply personal, revealing, and lyrical portrait of Duane Allman, founder of the legendary Allman Brothers Band, written by his daughter
“Duane Allman was my big brother, my partner, my best friend. I thought I knew everything there was to know about him, but Galadrielle’s deep and insightful book came as a revelation to me, as it will to everyone who reads it.”—Gregg Allman
In 1969, Duane Allman had a vision for a band with two drummers, two guitarists, and a bass player, anchored by his brother’s soulful lead vocals—and the Allman Brothers Band was born. Their fiery, mesmerizing performances…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
Stuart Coupe is an Australian music journalist, author, band manager, promoter, publicist, and music label founder. He's best known for his work as a rock writer with Roadrunner, RAM (Rock Australia Magazine), The Sun Herald, and Dolly magazine; the music labels, GREEN Records and Laughing Outlaw; and the author of books including The Promoters, Gudinski, Paul Kelly and Roadies. Coupe is a former manager of the Australian bands the Hoodoo Gurus and Paul Kelly and is currently a presenter on Sydney radio stations 2SER and FBi Radio. He's also known for his writing as a reviewer of crime fiction for the Sydney Morning Herald and for founding the Australian crime fiction magazine, Mean Streets.
A controversial book amongst Deadheads as Selvin takes a critical and insightful look at the machinations of the post-Garcia band and things don’t always come up smelling roses. Selvin’s not a card-carrying member of the Dead Fanclub – but he can write superbly and has dug very deep and uncovered all sorts of fascinating maneuvering and powerplays between the key participants in the band. It’s not always pretty but it’s certainly fascinating. If you don’t want to know then maybe look away.
A tell-all biography of the epic in-fighting of the Grateful Dead in the years following band leader Jerry Garcia's death in 1995The Grateful Dead rose to greatness under the inspired leadership of guitarist Jerry Garcia, but the band very nearly died along with him. When Garcia passed away suddenly in August of 1995, the remaining band members experienced full crises of confidence and identity. So long defined by Garcia's vision for the group, the surviving 'Core Four,' as they came to be called, were reduced to conflicting agendas, strained relationships, and catastrophic business decisions that would leave the iconic band…
I describe myself as equal parts Deadhead and student of the Bible. I have been active in a Presbyterian church for twenty years, which, being adjacent to a seminary, takes a very thorough approach to Bible study. We were deep into the Book of Acts during the Fare Thee Well events (2015), where I was re-acquainted with the intensity of the Deadheads’ devotion and their unfailingly positive spirit. My good wife, new to the scene, commented on how nice everyone was, that no one present was a stranger to any other. It occurred to me that these would all make good church members if only someone would reach out.
I love the conversational style of Bill Kreutzmann’s memoir, completed just before the Fare Thee Well concerts were announced in 2015.
The mood is both of a time completed (the interim) and the tense unexpectedness just before a new age was to begin (the era of Dead and Company). His frank assessments provide a valuable viewpoint on the band’s many ups and downs, as well as an entirely unique perspective on the two-drummer dynamics. His own personal challenges, and those of his bandmates, get serious consideration.
He repeats his statement that he was the “first Deadhead”, recalling the occasion when he was mesmerized by a solo banjo performance by Jerry Garcia. That transformation took place long before Kreutzmann was asked to be the drummer in Garcia’s first electric band.
The Grateful Dead are perhaps the most legendary American rock band of all time. For thirty years, beginning in the hippie scene of San Francisco in 1965, they were a musical institution, the original jam band that broke new ground in so many ways. Bill Kreutzmann, one of their founding members and drummer for every one of their over 2,300 concerts, has written an unflinching and wild account of playing in the greatest improvisational band of all time. Everything a rock music fan would expect is here, but what sets this apart is Bill's incredible life of adventure that was…
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…
I describe myself as equal parts Deadhead and student of the Bible. I have been active in a Presbyterian church for twenty years, which, being adjacent to a seminary, takes a very thorough approach to Bible study. We were deep into the Book of Acts during the Fare Thee Well events (2015), where I was re-acquainted with the intensity of the Deadheads’ devotion and their unfailingly positive spirit. My good wife, new to the scene, commented on how nice everyone was, that no one present was a stranger to any other. It occurred to me that these would all make good church members if only someone would reach out.
I love the thematic organization of this collection of interview excerpts.
This is a great concept for pulling together the varying recollections of each of the different participants in the same events and time periods. The editors did a masterful job of collecting material from a variety of sources and putting them side-by-side, allowing a fuller understanding to be gained than would be had by reading one interview at a time.
Among the gems is Garcia owning the identity of a Deadhead for himself when he said that yes, there was, in fact, a Deadhead who had been to every Grateful Dead concert: him.
In This Is All a Dream We Dreamed, two of the most well-respected chroniclers of the Dead, Blair Jackson and David Gans, reveal the band's story through the words of its members and their creative collaborators, and a number of diverse fans, stitching together a multitude of voices into a seamless oral tapestry. Woven into this musical saga is an examination of the subculture that developed into its own economy, touching fans from all walks of life, from penniless hippies to celebrities, and at least one U.S. vice president. The book traces the band's evolution from its folk/bluegrass beginnings through…
I describe myself as equal parts Deadhead and student of the Bible. I have been active in a Presbyterian church for twenty years, which, being adjacent to a seminary, takes a very thorough approach to Bible study. We were deep into the Book of Acts during the Fare Thee Well events (2015), where I was re-acquainted with the intensity of the Deadheads’ devotion and their unfailingly positive spirit. My good wife, new to the scene, commented on how nice everyone was, that no one present was a stranger to any other. It occurred to me that these would all make good church members if only someone would reach out.
I think this is the most thorough history of the band, which is likely the result of it being written by a trained historian.
McNally had a very privileged access by travelling with the band for many years as their principal press contact. One chapter after another is chockfull of invaluable insights into the behind-the-scenes workings of the band, both in its artistic development and business decisions.
I listen to some of their songs differently now after learning more about the context that produced them.
The complete history of one of the most long-lived and legendary bands in rock history, written by its official historian and publicist—a must-have chronicle for all Dead Heads, and for students of rock and the 1960s’ counterculture.
From 1965 to 1995, the Grateful Dead flourished as one of the most beloved, unusual, and accomplished musical entities to ever grace American culture. The creative synchronicity among Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, and Ron “Pigpen” McKernan exploded out of the artistic ferment of the early sixties’ roots and folk scene, providing the soundtrack for the Dionysian revels…
Stuart Coupe is an Australian music journalist, author, band manager, promoter, publicist, and music label founder. He's best known for his work as a rock writer with Roadrunner, RAM (Rock Australia Magazine), The Sun Herald, and Dolly magazine; the music labels, GREEN Records and Laughing Outlaw; and the author of books including The Promoters, Gudinski, Paul Kelly and Roadies. Coupe is a former manager of the Australian bands the Hoodoo Gurus and Paul Kelly and is currently a presenter on Sydney radio stations 2SER and FBi Radio. He's also known for his writing as a reviewer of crime fiction for the Sydney Morning Herald and for founding the Australian crime fiction magazine, Mean Streets.
As good a history of the Dead as you’re likely to find. Scully spent nearly two decades as close to the band as you could get without actually being a member. Great stories and anecdotes and a wonderfully drawn and evocative history of the band from their very early acid-drenched days in the 1960s through to their evolution as one of the most important and loved bands in American music history.
As a manager for the Grateful Dead, Rock Scully was with the band from its early days in San Francisco to the years it spent touring the globe as one of the most enduring legends in music history. In Living with the Dead , Scully gives a complete account of his outrageous experiences with the band, during years that saw the Grateful Dead transform from a folksy revivalist band to psychedelic explorers of outer space. In addition to close-up portraits of band members Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Pigpen, Phil Lesh, Micky Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, Scully brings into the story…
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…
Stuart Coupe is an Australian music journalist, author, band manager, promoter, publicist, and music label founder. He's best known for his work as a rock writer with Roadrunner, RAM (Rock Australia Magazine), The Sun Herald, and Dolly magazine; the music labels, GREEN Records and Laughing Outlaw; and the author of books including The Promoters, Gudinski, Paul Kelly and Roadies. Coupe is a former manager of the Australian bands the Hoodoo Gurus and Paul Kelly and is currently a presenter on Sydney radio stations 2SER and FBi Radio. He's also known for his writing as a reviewer of crime fiction for the Sydney Morning Herald and for founding the Australian crime fiction magazine, Mean Streets.
This is a big, sprawling biography of the heart and soul of The Grateful Dead - guitarist, songwriter, and troubled musical genius Jerry Garcia. Jackson did his research, interviewing over a hundred people including Garcia, his friends, lovers, and bandmates. Plus he went through thousands of source material documents and probably listened to thousands of concert tapes and recordings. He knows the Dead. He loves the Dead. And he captures the essence of Garcia superbly. It’s been called a definitive portrait and it is.
Examines the life and times of Jerry Garcia, capturing the psychedelic world of the musician and songwriter, his relationship with members of the Grateful Dead, his battle with drug addiction, and his lasting influence on popular music.
An academically trained historian, I'm a Music Obsessive/History Geek/Southerner/Guitarist/Public Historian/Teacher/Interpreter/Writer/Fan who studies the intersection of music, culture, history, and place. I grew up devouring Mom’s Beatles and Dad’s country records. My life changed in 6th grade when I got my first guitar and discovered the blues. In 7th grade I wrote a research paper on the hippies. That’s when I fell in love with the counterculture. Throughout my life I’ve interwoven my love of the blues, punk rock, the Allman Brothers Band, and the Jam Depression collective as a historian, fan, and musician. My enduring passion culminated in a Ph.D. and the publication of Play All Night! Duane Allman and the Journey to Fillmore East.
Since their 1965 founding, the Grateful Dead have been one of the counterculture’s most enduring institutions.
No Simple Highway answers why, placing the band in the context of its times through three utopian ideals central to the band and its fans: Ecstasy (not just drugs, but an “urge to transcend”), Mobility, and Community. The band, Richardson argues, is “the American experiment in action.”
You’ll learn how the band wove multiple strands of American music with literature, folklore, the counterculture, and the visual arts into a truly unique musical tapestry whose express purpose was as part of a live music experience.
This music-as-participation dynamic meant the audience was as important to the Dead as the music they played. This book had a major impact on how I approached the band/audience story for my own Allman Brothers research.
Crossroads: Postwar America, youth counterculture, audience, San Francisco
For almost three decades, the Grateful Dead was America's most popular touring band. No Simple Highway is the first book to ask the simple question of why―and attempt to answer it. Drawing on new research, interviews, and a fresh supply of material from the Grateful Dead archives, author Peter Richardson vividly recounts the Dead's colorful history, adding new insight into everything from the Acid Tests to the band's formation of their own record label to their massive late career success, while probing the riddle of the Dead's vast and durable appeal.
Arguing that the band successfully tapped three powerful utopian…
Stuart Coupe is an Australian music journalist, author, band manager, promoter, publicist, and music label founder. He's best known for his work as a rock writer with Roadrunner, RAM (Rock Australia Magazine), The Sun Herald, and Dolly magazine; the music labels, GREEN Records and Laughing Outlaw; and the author of books including The Promoters, Gudinski, Paul Kelly and Roadies. Coupe is a former manager of the Australian bands the Hoodoo Gurus and Paul Kelly and is currently a presenter on Sydney radio stations 2SER and FBi Radio. He's also known for his writing as a reviewer of crime fiction for the Sydney Morning Herald and for founding the Australian crime fiction magazine, Mean Streets.
Researching a book on the lives and work of road crew was a fascinating, eye-opening, and thoroughly enjoyable, and enlightening experience. It also made me realise how few of those people have told their own stories. In fact, not nearly enough of them start writing road crew folk! But this book was a delightful revelation – a road crew guy, with a great way with words and insights – and telling us about his experiences with one of my favourite rock’n’roll bands of all time. What’s not to like. This may not be the easiest book to find – but like a Grateful Dead show, the reward is often the journey and what you find at the end.
This is a look at one of America's legendary rock bands: The Grateful Dead. It is the tale of a man who lived the dream, rising from roadie to manager. It tells a story of music, friendship and redemption, and is filled with stories of memorable shows and the sometimes insane life on the road.
This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.
In these and other intimate conversations, the book…
I describe myself as equal parts Deadhead and student of the Bible. I have been active in a Presbyterian church for twenty years, which, being adjacent to a seminary, takes a very thorough approach to Bible study. We were deep into the Book of Acts during the Fare Thee Well events (2015), where I was re-acquainted with the intensity of the Deadheads’ devotion and their unfailingly positive spirit. My good wife, new to the scene, commented on how nice everyone was, that no one present was a stranger to any other. It occurred to me that these would all make good church members if only someone would reach out.
I find this book particularly intriguing because Phil Lesh was the first of the Grateful Dead band members to produce a full memoir.
In it he recalls his unlikely path from young symphonic composition student to rock star, with all the attendant joys and sorrows. He writes of his heartfelt appreciation for his bandmates, as well as for those devoted fans that supported them.
The timing of the publication also presents an interesting perspective: his reflections were committed to a writing at a time when it was not at all clear how robust the Deadhead movement would be after Jerry Garcia had left this Earth.
The legendary bass player tells the full, true story of his years with Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead in this "insightful and entertaining" (Austin Chronicle) memoir of life in the greatest improvisational band in American history.
In a book "as graceful and sublime as a box of rain" (New York Times Book Review), the beloved bassist tells the stories behind the songs, tours, and jams in the Grateful Dead's long, strange trip from the 1960s to the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995 and beyond. From Ken Kesey's "acid tests" to the Summer of Love to bestselling albums and…
