Jude Warne

Boz Scaggs has always been a musical artist of complexity. Boz Scaggs founded his connection to music through the blues, but his lasting legacy is one of glamourous and romantic pop songwriting. He possessed a somewhat shy and sensitive demeanor never totally at home in the public eye, yet his claim to several chart-topping singles and albums, particularly the millions-selling and critically acclaimed Silk Degrees (1976) demanded constant exposure. The persona he expressed through his music was laid-back, effortlessly cool, sophisticated, stylish, romantically charming, and suave. But the immense success he achieved in his career pointed in part to the driven and determined artist within him who was moved to create uniquely authentic records. Lowdown: The Music of Boz Scaggs examines the uniqueness of these contradictions and Boz Scaggs's sixty-years-plus long career and musical catalogue. Over those years, Scaggs collaborated with an array of talented heavies: from the Steve Miller Band to the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (which included a young Duane Allman) on Boz Scaggs (1969), from the session players who would form hit band Toto on Silk Degrees (1976), to Donald Fagen and Michael McDonald on the Dukes of September Rhythm Revue tour (2008). This first-ever book on Boz, released in conjunction with his eightieth birthday year, is constructed around intensely thorough analysis of his complete discography, and new and exclusive in-depth interviews with a selection of Scaggs's associated colleagues from his vast career.

As if recovering from a raucous dream of the 1960s, Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and Dan Peek arrived on 1970s American radio with a sound that echoed disenchanted hearts of young people everywhere. The three American boys had named their band after a country they’d watched and dreamt of from their London childhood Air Force base homes. What was this country? This new band? Classic and timeless, America embodied the dreams of a nation desperate to emerge from the desert and finally give their horse a name. Celebrating the band’s fiftieth anniversary, Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell share stories of growing up, growing together, and growing older. Journalist Jude Warne weaves original interviews with Beckley, Bunnell, and many others into a dynamic cultural history of America, the band, and America, the nation. Reliving hits like “Ventura Highway,” “Tin Man,” and of course, “A Horse with No Name” from their 19 studio albums and incomparable live recordings, this book offers readers a new appreciation of what makes some music unforgettable and timeless. As America’s music stays in rhythm with the heartbeats of its millions of fans, new fans feel the draw of a familiar emotion. They’ve felt it before in their hearts and thanks to America, they can now hear it, share it, and sing along.

Lex Whitman--senior at Walker High in Wickenburg, Arizona--lives by the Cowboy Code. At school, rumor has it that Lex's crush, Laurel Penn, has come between the school's resident dream couple. Soon Lex comes to Laurel's rescue at the ranch, but can she recover from recent drama and connect with Lex? And when Lex starts doubting the value of the Cowboy Code, can Laurel help him see its true worth? Rules of the Range is from Crushing, an EPIC Press series.