Pilgrims, Pickers and Honky-Tonk Heroes: My Personal Time with Music City Friends and Legends in Rock 'n' Roll, R&B, and a Whole Lot of Country

by Tim Ghianni, Peter Cooper (Foreword), Bobby Bare (Preface)

He didn’t know it at the time, but Tim Ghianni’s love affair with Nashville and its musical artists began on a steamy night in 1972, when the twenty-year-old author had unsolicited help from honky-tonkin’ legends Bobby Bare and Shel Silverstein during an after-midnight “salvation” of the city. It was the beginning of a lifelong urban romance that Ghianni would pursue during a career as a journalist in Middle Tennessee, interviewing Nashville’s biggest stars and developing friendships with musicians of all kinds.

With a preface by Bobby Bare and a foreword by Peter Cooper, Pilgrims, Pickers and Honky-Tonk Heroes is Tim Ghianni’s love letter and nostalgic swan song, recounting the storied musical history of Nashville as well as the dramatic changes the city has seen over the course of fifty years. The Nashville of today—with one hundred newcomers a day from places like Los Angeles and New York and fresh waves of musicians making up a new modern soundtrack—is not the same city he made his home in 1972, for better and for worse.

Time changes everything, even a beloved American city, but this briskly told and warmly remembered book recounts the countless friends, adventures, and anecdotes that capture the essence of Music City across a half-century.

378 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 15, 2023

Reviews

[Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of the book basically says it all. It is the memories of the author spending time with a variety of music people in Nashville. Each artist receives a chapter in the book. While it is somewhat interesting there is really nothing new about any of the individuals contained in the book.

I received a free ARC of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Facebook and my nonfiction book review blog.

[Kathy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although I did like the "story-telling" style that the author used, I couldn't finish the book. There was no story to tell. Every chapter consisted of an over-abundance of name-dropping. The author proclaimed that a large number of these country music personalities "liked him a lot". I found it sad.

[Tim Ghianni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tim’s writing provides a window into people you will treasure.
If you want to know who Tim Ghianni is, you’ll find that here, too. And, partially speaking, it’s a finding far worth the journey. -- Peter Cooper, musician and historian.