Music Everywhere: The Rock and Roll Roots of a Southern Town

by Marty Jourard

Florida Book Awards, Bronze Medal for Florida Nonfiction When the Beatles launched into fame in 1963, they inspired a generation to pick up an instrument and start a band. Rock and roll took the world by storm, but one small town in particular seemed to pump out prominent musicians and popular bands at factory pace. Many American college towns have their own story to tell when it comes to their rock and roll roots, but the story of Gainesville, Florida, is dozens of resident musicians launched into national prominence, eight inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and a steady stream of major acts rolled through on a regular basis. From Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers to Stephen Stills and the Eagles’ Don Felder and Bernie Leadon, Gainesville cultivated some of the most celebrated musicians and songwriters of the time. Marty Jourard―a member of the chart-topping band the Motels―delves into the individual stories of the musicians, businesses, and promoters that helped foster innovative, professional music and a vibrant creative atmosphere during the mid-sixties and seventies. The laid-back southern town was also host to a clash of cultures. It was home to intellectuals and rednecks, liberals and conservatives, racists and civil rights activists, farmers, businessmen, students, and hippies. Although sometimes violent and chaotic, these diverse forces brought wild rock and roll energy to the music scene and nourished it with an abundance of musical fare that included folk, gospel, soul, country, blues, and Top Forty hits. Gainesville musicians developed a sound all their own and a music scene that, decades later, is still launching musicians to the top of the charts. Music Everywhere brings to light a key chapter in the history of American rock and roll―a time when music was a way of life and bands popped up by the dozen, some falling by the wayside but others leaving an indelible mark. Here is the story of the people, the town, and a culture that nurtured a wellspring of talent.

Genres: Music

224 pages, Hardcover

First published April 11, 2016

Reviews

[Richard Gartee · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Gainesville, Florida, We like it here," was the motto for many years on the masthead of the local daily newspaper. This book is a love letter to Gainesville, Rock & Roll, and days gone by. It will be of particular interest to two groups of people, those who lived in Gainesville during the sixties and seventies, and the many fans of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Jourard does a good job chronicling the rise of many bands in and from Gainesville. But he returns to Gainesville's biggest success story, Tom Petty again and again. So Petty fans are going to revel in all the tidbits Jouard includes. Two other major musical forces with roots in Gainesville, Stephen Stills and the Eagles are also given heavy rotation in the book.
Fans of the city itself and the period covered will relish the details he drops in like how the local head shop came about. Remembered nightclubs and Halloween parties are all included. An appendix gives a chronology of concerts by local bands and big name musical acts. A musician in several bands himself, the author is careful not to toot his own horn. The book names bands you danced to in those years, and tells how they came together and fell apart.
It is apparent that Marty Jourard, echos the newspaper's former motto, he loves Gainesville. If you've been a longtime resident, or are a huge Tom Petty fan, this is the book for you.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an interesting history! I had not known much about the relationships of musicians with Gainesville, FL and each other. Excellent regional history and it’s musical influence. I would love to see a map of how some of these folks related with each other.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started out being interesting, but the depth of information became too much for me. I gave up about a third of the way through the book.

[Allyson Samiljan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed reminiscing about some of the bands I heard in Gainesville from the late 60s until the early 70s--roots of so many bands...even a mention of a festival, Duserah, I attended. Fun read!

[Brian Beatty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm usually not into histories of pop culture, as they're often repetitive or self-aggrandizing. This was different.
Jourard really spoke to the origins of the music scene in my hometown, Gainesville, FL. It was really good to learn about the early stages of it from the 60s and 70s, as it certainly explains much of the scene that I took for granted in my experience with it in the 90s. I was a big fan of and friends with many local bands, and never really knew much of the origins of the cultural setting of Gainesville that allowed for that to start. I worked at Babalou's (a local record shop near my parents house), and got to know the people at Hyde and Zeke's some then.
There is something different about Gainesville that I didn't recognize then, but since moving to DC, Athens OH, Lawrence KS, Chicago, and NY, I can say that I've not yet encounters anywhere else like it. This book has done a great deal of good providing a background to where that all comes from.

[Steve]

Quit after 60 pages because I just don’t really care quite enough about the Gainesville rock scene in the sixties, even though that’s where Tom Petty, Stephen Stills, and many others started out. But that’s no slam on the book, it’s really well done, I’m just reading other stuff right now that seems more pressing.