Overview

In a tender and uproarious memoir that is reminiscent of Rick Bragg's All Over but the Shoutin', country music star Rodney Crowell reveals the good, the bad, and the ugly of a dirt-poor southeast Texas boyhood. In a tender and uproarious memoir, singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell reveals the good, the bad, and the ugly of a dirt-poor southeast Texas boyhood. The only child of a hard-drinking father and a holy-roller mother, acclaimedmusicianRodney Crowell was no stranger to bombast. But despite a home life always threatening to burst into violence, Rodney fiercely loved his mother and idolized his blustering father, a frustrated musician who took him to see Hank Williams, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash perform. Set in 1950s Houston, a frontier-rough town with icehouses selling beer by the gallon on payday, pest infestations right out of a horror film, and the kind of freedom mischievous kids dream of, Chinaberry Sidewalks is Rodney's tribute to his parents and his remarkable youth. Full of the most satisfying kind of nostalgia, it is hardly recognizable as a celebrity memoir. Rather, it's a story of coming-of-age at a particular time, place, and station, crafted as well as the perfect song.

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9780307740977

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Reviews

<p> Personal and profound, an epic remembrance of his parents' honky-tonk romance, delivered with the same hallmarks of Crowell's best songwriting: expert pacing, gritty detail, and humor by the bottle. --Austin Powell, The Austin Chronicle <br> <br> Thoroughly readable, unblinkingly frank, laugh-out-loud funny and as profane as any Ship Channel longshoreman, it's a literary triumph that will rank along with Mary Karr's The Liar's Club as one of the finest pieces of Gulf Coast nonfiction. --William Michael Smith, Houston Press <br> <br> [Crowell's] childhood memories of Jacinto City outside of Houston vary from uproarious to heartwarming, all told with a sharp wit and a Lone Star flair [and] brought to life in a manner that's simple, eloquent, and endlessly entertaining. --Jim Caligiuri, The Austin Chronicle <br> A loving, affectionate tribute...Crowell's parents remain his heroes not in spite of their flaws, but because of them, and because of their son's proud refusa

Author Information

Born in Houston in 1950, Rodney Crowell has released nearly twenty albums in four decades, with five consecutive number-one hits, and has also worked widely as a songwriter and a producer. His honors include a Grammy, an ASCAP lifetime achievement award, and membership in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He lives in Nashville. www.rodneycrowell.com

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