Showing results by author "Kevin S.W. Baxster" in All Categories

Billy Powell’s piano gave Southern rock its soul. From the haunting grace of “Free Bird” to the rollicking fire of “Sweet Home Alabama,” his touch turned Lynyrd Skynyrd’s grit into something transcendent. Billy Powell: Skynyrd’s Piano Backbone delivers the first full-scale, documentary-grade portrait of the man behind the keys—his discipline, faith, and endurance across triumph and tragedy. Born in Corpus Christi, Texas, and raised in Jacksonville, Powell began as a classically trained prodigy who brought Chopin technique to barroom blues. His improbable journey from Skynyrd...

Doug Sahm never fit into one sound, one scene, or one story—and that’s exactly why his music endures. Texas’ Eclectic King traces his remarkable life from a child prodigy on San Antonio radio to a global ambassador of roots music, capturing how he fused country, blues, rock, and Tex-Mex into a style decades ahead of its time. Through exhaustive research and vivid storytelling, the book reveals Sahm’s restless genius as he built bridges between cultures and genres. Readers will follow his evolution from the Sir Douglas Quintet’s British-invasion façade to his psychedelic ...

Freddy Fender’s story is the sound of two Americas meeting in one voice. Born Baldemar Garza Huerta in 1937 in San Benito, Texas, he rose from migrant fields to the top of the Billboard charts, proving that borderland identity could be a source of power, not limitation. This definitive biography follows his life from humble beginnings to Grammy-winning triumphs, capturing the full arc of a man who turned bilingual song into universal art. Drawing from decades of performances, recordings, and interviews, Freddy Fender: Tex-Mex Balladeer traces his evolution from a teenage singer in dusty ...

Born in San Antonio’s West Side barrios, Flaco Jiménez transformed the humble accordion into a voice heard around the world. From the dancehalls of South Texas to collaborations with The Rolling Stones and Ry Cooder, his journey embodies the evolution of Mexican-American music from local tradition to global art form. Drawing on seven decades of performance, recording, and cultural advocacy, this documentary-style biography traces the rise of conjunto music through Flaco’s hands. It follows him from childhood rehearsals under the guidance of his father, Santiago Jiménez Sr., to ...

Lowell George was one of the most inventive and least understood musicians of the 1970s—a guitarist, songwriter, and producer who built Little Feat into one of rock’s most admired yet enigmatic bands. Drawing on archival depth and cultural context, this biography traces George’s full life arc—from Hollywood childhood and early bands through the creation of Little Feat’s genre-defying sound and his tragic death on tour in 1979. Through vivid storytelling and rigorous documentation, it captures how George fused swamp funk, country lyricism, and studio precision into a sound that was...

Alejandro Escovedo’s life traces the full arc of American music—from the riotous energy of 1970s punk to the storytelling grace of modern Americana. Born in San Antonio and raised in California, he emerged from the chaos of San Francisco’s underground to forge a career defined by risk, honesty, and reinvention. Across five decades, Escovedo transformed himself from rebel guitarist to master songwriter, from survivor to mentor. This is the definitive portrait of an artist who never stood still. Drawing on interviews, archives, and first-hand accounts, this sweeping biography follows ...

For more than seven decades, John Mayall stood at the crossroads where American blues met British imagination. Bluesbreaker — John Mayall and the Birth of British Blues traces his extraordinary life from postwar Manchester to the world’s stages, revealing how one quiet craftsman became the mentor behind a generation of legends. Drawing on archival research, first-hand accounts, and meticulous chronology, this definitive biography follows Mayall’s path from a record-collecting art student to the creator of the Bluesbreakers, the band that launched Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and Mick ...

Buddy Guy’s life reads like the story of American music itself—rooted in the red clay of Louisiana, electrified in Chicago, and amplified across the world. Buddy Guy delivers the definitive, documentary-grade account of a man whose guitar changed everything. From his barefoot childhood in Lettsworth, where he practiced on a two-string homemade instrument, to his arrival in 1957 Chicago with thirty-five dollars and a dream, this biography traces Guy’s rise from sharecropper’s son to blues revolutionary. It chronicles the nights he played behind Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf at ...

Paul Butterfield was one of the most electrifying and uncompromising figures in American music. From the smoky clubs of Chicago’s South Side to the main stages of Newport and Woodstock, he transformed the harmonica into a lead voice that could stand alongside electric guitars and horns. This definitive biography traces Butterfield’s life in full—his classical beginnings, his apprenticeship under Muddy Waters’s generation of bluesmen, and his emergence as the first white bandleader to earn authentic respect in Chicago’s Black blues community. Drawing on extensive research, this ...

Willie Dixon’s story is the story of modern music itself. From his 1915 birth in Vicksburg, Mississippi, to his reign as the creative core of Chess Records, Dixon’s words and basslines shaped the language of blues, rock, and soul. Willie Dixon: Blues’ Master Songwriter traces his full journey—childhood rhymes turned to rhythm, Chicago’s postwar electricity, and the emergence of an artist who would define generations without ever seeking fame. Drawing from exhaustive historical sources, this documentary-grade biography reconstructs the world that birthed Dixon’s genius. Readers ...

Across five decades, Keb’ Mo’ transformed the blues from a museum piece into a living conversation. Gentle Revolution traces his journey from Kevin Roosevelt Moore, a curious child in 1950s South Los Angeles, to a Grammy-winning artist whose warmth, wit, and craftsmanship redefined American roots music. Blending deep archival research with cultural context, this biography follows his evolution from the church choirs and R&B bands of Compton to the acoustic renaissance of the 1990s. Each chapter unfolds the texture of his life: early trumpet lessons at Jefferson High, the long ...

Albert King’s music reshaped the emotional architecture of modern guitar playing. From his handmade Delta instruments to his signature Flying V, he transformed simplicity into mastery—each note deliberate, each silence alive. Albert King: The Velvet Bulldozer traces his journey from the cotton fields of Mississippi to the stages of Memphis, Chicago, and the world, revealing how one man’s tone defined generations. This definitive biography draws from studio archives, session logs, and eyewitness accounts to build a full portrait of the man behind Born Under a Bad Sign. It follows King ...

Freddie King’s story burns with the same voltage that charged every note he played. From his childhood in Gilmer, Texas, where gospel hymns filled the air, to his meteoric rise through Chicago’s South Side clubs, King reshaped the blues into a sound that could fill arenas and echo across continents. Freddie King: Texas Cannonball’s Electric Fire tells the complete story of a musician whose presence bridged the sacred and the electric—equal parts church and amplifier. This definitive biography traces King’s journey through decades of cultural change and musical innovation. It ...