I’m writing a collection of tour stories that’ll be published in 2014 by Bella Books. A few of you have asked about it.
First, I’ve got two books. The one tentatively titled Drive All Night has a publishing deal. My publisher suggested some changes so I’m making those now. I’ve also written some more chapters because, really, I can’t help myself. The manuscript gets sent soon. Publishing is a long process, though, so it won’t be out until sometime next year. I’ll keep y’all updated. You’ll definitely hear me screaming when that box of books arrives at the palatial offices of Tsunami Recordings.
I hope to do book signings while I’m on tour and make that appearance on The Tonight Show.
Just kidding. But hey, ya never know. Maybe Leno is a big folk fan. The book will have a chapter about my vehicles (and he’s a car fan) although I doubt he loves Toyota pickups as much as I do. My first two cars were vintage Mustangs, does that count?
I started Drive All Night ten years ago. I was at the wonderful Highlands Inn in New Hampshire in November. One morning at breakfast, I got into a conversation with a couple from Vermont. As it sometimes happens, I ended up telling them some entertaining road story and they warmly responded that I should write a book. They weren’t the first ones to tell me that. I had a few days off and it was too damn cold to do much outside, so I started writing down my stories. More chapters were added when I was between gigs.
Everyone thinks that being on tour is glamorous. Maybe it is if you’re Lady Gaga, or even Nanci Griffith. But for an indie performer like me, it means tooling around in a small pickup alone, trying to find good coffee and hoping the next housing doesn’t include a slobbering basset hound that wakes me up at 3 AM. I’ve shared the stage with exotic dancers, wrecked my truck on the way to a gig and driven through snowstorms only to find that the gig was canceled. This isn’t just my chance to vent – there’s also lots of upbeat stuff, like recieving an unexpected Christmas gift after getting a flat tire or meeting Melissa Etheridge. Then, there was the time I took off my shirt for Amy Ray. My publisher tells me that the Indigo Girls sometimes have books from Bella on their tour bus. Yikes. You mean, Amy may actually read my story? One of us may have to go into witness protection.
My first tour was in 1987 so there are a lot of stories.
Drive All Night, Tales from a touring folksinger is a working title. I’ve got an album with the same title so I thought it’d be cool to use. However, there might be some confusion since that album came out quite some time ago. At any rate, it’s a better title than Oh my god, Melissa Etheridge touched me.
The other book I’m writing is far from done. It’s about women’s music of the 70’s and 80’s. I’m writing it as a journalist and a fan. It’s definitely not a memoir. I’m doing the research for that one now. It probably won’t be done for a couple of years. You can read more about it here. If you’re interested in women’s music, you might be interested in a few of my other blog posts. Check them out here.
Keep an eye on www.jamieanderson.com and Facebook (JamieAndersonOttawa and JamieAndersonMusic) to track the progress of both books. Please buy them when they come out. And if you know Amy Ray, tell her I was just kidding.
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