Field Recordings from the Inside: Essays

by Joe Bonomo

Using as its epigraph and unifying principle Luc Sante’s notion that “Every human being is an archeological site,” Field Recordings from the Inside provides a deep and personal examination at the impact of music on our lives. Bonomo effortlessly moves between the personal and the critical, investigating the ways in which music defines our personalities, tells histories, and offers mysterious, often unbidden access into the human condition. The book explores the vagaries and richness of music and music-making-from rock and roll, punk, and R&B to Frank Sinatra, Nashville country, and Delta blues-as well as the work of a diverse group of artists and figures-Charles Lamb, music writer Lester Bangs, painter and television personality Bob Ross, child country musician Troy Hess, and songwriter Greg Cartwright.Mining the often complex natures and shapes of the creative process, Field Recordings from the Inside is a singular work that blends music appreciation, criticism, and pop culture from one of the most critically acclaimed music writers of our time.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Essays

274 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 1, 2017

About the author

Joe Bonomo's books include Play This Book Loud: Noisy Essays, No Place I Would Rather Be: Roger Angell and a Life In Baseball Writing, Field Recordings from The Inside (essays), AC/DC’s Highway to Hell (33 1/3 Series), Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found, Installations (National Poetry Series), Sweat: The Story of The Fleshtones, America’s Garage Band, and Conversations With Greil Marcus. A five-time "Notable Essays" selection at Best American Essays, he's the Music Columnist at The Normal School and Professor of English at Northern Illinois University.

Reviews

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Silly me, I thought this would be a book about Field Recording from an inside perspective. What I got was part memoir centered around songs remembered in the first part, which was ok, and in the second part just history type info on old bands and their songs told, with what felt to me, like Joe-Buck faux enthusiasm.

Now, the author talks about growing up as a teen in the 1980s, as I also did... but the music he revels in is so old I felt like he was my Dad.

The reminiscing part in the first third was okay. The later parts were boring and I increasingly skimmed through the book and eventually abandoned it because I don't really care about those old bands -- and after researching, it appears those are derived from his other older music writing as far as I can tell.

So, 1 star because the book's title had nothing to do with the book, and I was really looking forward to a book about Field Recording from the Inside, which this was not. The writing itself was okay, but in the later two thirds of the book failed to be engaging.

[Renée · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Field Recordings from the Inside" is an exuberant romp through musical history, mostly since the Sixties, and personal history, of author Joe Bonomo. The “Origin Stories” sections provide a wonderful counterpart to the essays, helping to organize the progression of the entire book and to ground it in a child’s experience of musical formation. Primarily a collection of musical essays, this book shows how essays about one thing (music) are best when also about another thing (a young boy’s and man’s formation through music). The voice is fantastic, pulsing from the turntable, and the writing is confident, assured, and engaging. I never expected myself to love a book of essays about music, so the book, for me, also offers the extra pleasure of learning about a subject that I didn’t know much about, because I am willing to follow this writer. I would follow Joe Bonomo's writing anywhere; he's fantastic. I even started listening to some of the music via YouTube—songs and musicians I didn’t know and wanted to discover because of Bonomo's book. (Is a listening playlist included with publication?) That said, I also recognized many song titles, so there’s an added layer of shared history for those of us who came of age during the decades this book covers. The writing about family is compassionate; overall, the writing is robust. [And of course, I love the family dog Molly.]

Update: There is a playlist created by Joe Bonomo on Spotify, here:
https://play.spotify.com/user/jwbonom...

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This books is not so much centered on music in a music journalism sense (for the most part), but rather as using music as the underpinnings to the topics of individual, personal essays. Like any great book that discusses music, I left with a handful of new tunes to look up on youtube and found some new gems. Worth the price of admission alone for the fantastic piece on Greg Cartwright of whom not nearly enough is about.

[Dan Woessner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took Joe Bonomo's creative nonfiction class at NIU (longer ago than I want to admit), and it was something that really helped as I worked in journalism and continue to write. I enjoyed this collection of essays relating to music and how music shapes people and/or shaped the author. I've always wanted to write about music, but have never been able to find the right tone. Hopefully this will help. Music lovers would enjoy this one.

[Kevin Mckinney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joe Bonomo believes in Rock n Roll a bit more than I do but the way he writes about music is personal and touching. I think he’s more compelling when he’s writing about weird old records, dated novelties, and other trash than when he’s writing about canonical artists or more recent rock revivalists like Greg Oblivian but that’s probably just my taste speaking

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this in a Goodreads giveaway.
I really enjoyed this book. So much of the music the author has written about in these essays parallel what I heard while growing up. the theme songs of life are brought forward and it was a enjoyable journey.