It's the real stories, not the publicists' confections, that concern Colin Escott. We hear Perry Como's story in his own words: it wasn't all smooth. We learn about the astonishing twists and turns in Roy Orbison's life, and the stories behind the songs we know so well. And we go down with Vernon Oxford, the last great honky tonk singer, who came to Nashville just a little too late. These are stories for anyone who loves what Escott calls "little songs from great sorrows." They will fascinate even the most casual fan of popular music, and they're told here in sympathetic, engaging, and illuminating prose.

Colin Escott lives outside of Nashville, TN. He is the author of Tattooed on Their Tongues: Journeys through theBackrooms of American Music and Hank Williams: TheBiography, and coauthor of Hank Williams: Snapshots fromthe Lost Highway, and Good Rockin' Tonight: The SunRecords Story. He has annotated over 500 recordings, and has won numerous awards for his writing, including a Grammy for historic documentation and an Lifetime Achievement Award from the ARSC (Association for Recorded Sound Collections), a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving the history of recorded sound.