Michael Lydon: Press

Nashville City Paper March 6, 2006

Famed author, songwriter Michael Lydon comes to Nashville
By Ron Wynn, rwynn@nashvillecitypaper.com

 
Michael Lydon’s accomplishments as an author and journalist are so exceptional that even many of his most ardent fans might not realize that he’s also been a longtime guitarist and singer-songwriter who’s been writing and playing jazz-flavored compositions in New York City clubs for decades.

Lydon will be making the rounds of Nashville all this week in both capacities. He is playing Wednesday at the Commodore Lounge and Friday at the French Quarter. He’s also doing a lecture and signing copies of his highly praised biography Ray Charles: Man and Music (Routledge) Friday at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum as part of this week’s opening ceremonies for the new Ray Charles exhibit.

“Ray told me how he’d grown up listening to the Grand Ole Opry,” Lydon said, and he always paid attention to country music.”

Lydon became a major figure in political/cultural journalism during the ‘60s, covering the civil rights movement for the Boston Globe and the musical revolution in London for Newsweek,interviewing Stokely Carmichael, John Lennon, Janis Joplin, and Jerry Garcia. He was a co-founding editor of Rolling Stone and followed the Rolling Stones across America on the way to Altamont.

His first book Rock Folk reported those adventures, while his second book, Boogie Lightning, updated the scene. “I was more a reporter than a critic,” Lydon said. “I wrote about music I liked. After seeing Mick Jagger and Keith Richards up close, I figured that I too could express myself in music.”

Lydon is thrilled to be performing this week in Nashville. “There’s no other city in America like Nashville when it comes to the art of the song,” Lydon said. “The craftsmanship and excellence of the writers in this city are unique. Anyone who loves songwriting wants to play in Nashville.”