News — Store news

My delight at hearing that finally someone had written a book on Wilson Pickett was initially dampened on reading the author's background which appeared predominately pop oriented and very rock orientated slanted; soulless to be frank.  However reading the preface alone won me over. His enthusiasm for the subject was obvious and his summary sounded like he had done his homework. I think all good books should tell a convincing story, including biographies. This book excels in that it tells a number of stories concurrently. The key thread is obviously Pickett’s story and his evolution from cotton picking family to...

One of the biggest and rarest 1960s girl group 45 discoveries with northern soul appeal is without a doubt The Passions for their “If You See My Baby” (Elvitrue & Satelite 177). Elvitrue was an independent record label out of 1108 (1-2) South 7th Street, Wilmington NC. Set up in 1959, it was owned by John Lewis Jones and possibly James Wheeler. It had a most sporadic recording history with around ten releases, with the label closing in 1976. The repertoire included pop, soul, gospel, country and funk. Elvitrue essentially seems to have been a vanity outlet, with its random...

This book is a description of what made Bobby into the man he was. His strict upbringing and lack of money was always a problem in the Womack household during his younger years. The family were very religious and feeding their preacher seemed more important to them than ensuring their own kids got enough decent food to eat. If it had been up to his father, Bobby would never have developed into an accomplished guitarist. He defied his father on many occasions, usually coming off worse for his actions.   The beginnings of the Womack Brothers group are covered in...

The Northern Soul of a Southern City Date of publication 1 April 2017 (pre-order available now).  Regarding what has been pretty much an obsession with 1960s southern soul themes since I started writing a few years ago, the latest project was undertaken in an attempt to resolve one nagging omission. A fair chunk of my travels (virtual and otherwise) has been spent researching the Carolinas, Virginia, Louisiana and a wee bit of Texas, to cover beach music, soul influenced garage bands and black vocal groups for It’s Better To Cry and then Rhythm Message. But I was always conscious that one particular...

The latest title to arrive at the bookstore is Adam White's heavily applauded book Motown: The Sound of Young America, putting a refreshingly different spin on the Motown yarn. Adam explains all exclusively for A Nickel And A Nail here... "Another Motown book? It’s a fair question, because there have been more than fifty to date, ranging from autobiographies to historical accounts, from biographies to encyclopaedias. Yet the goal of this one was to add to the sum of knowledge of this most celebrated music company, while also presenting the visual power of Hitsville U.S.A. in a manner which hasn’t previously...