Nobody Knows I'm Famous

by Shawn Persinger

"Nobody Knows I’m Famous" is a frank and insightful book that illustrates what it means to be a prolific, eccentric, successful, and unknown musician in the twenty-first century. Guitarist Shawn Persinger came of age in the post-Warholian, pre-Internet 1980s. It was a time when success was measured by bank accounts and record sales, video airplay and magazine covers, home square footage and gossip column romances; a time when fame and fortune seemed promised to anyone who played guitar – though it didn’t turn out that way for most. Fast forward 30 years: While producing a far-from-commercial, guitar quartet entitled Halloween Baptizm, Persinger began documenting his creative process with hopes of clarifying some of his long-held beliefs regarding art and achievement; beliefs that seemed to be losing validity or were in need of more than flippant rationalizations. His introspection led to this refreshing and whimsical book that goes far beyond an artist’s everyday routine. Filled with practical advice gleaned from firsthand knowledge, Persinger provides a glimpse into the providential workings of creativity and accomplishment: The importance of always following the Muse; finding the balance between self-confidence and self-doubt; questioning preconceived notions; and understanding that there are no absolutes, objectivity is a myth, and everything is relative.

204 pages, Paperback

Published October 31, 2017

About the author

Shawn Persinger, a.k.a. Prester John, is an unusual author (and musician). He has written several music books; one children's book; and a myriad of articles, essays, and lessons for a variety of music magazines and blogs, not to mention two unpublished novellas and countless short stories.

"Outsider," "fringe," "avant-garde," "quirky," are all terms that have been used to describe Persinger's music, but his writing is direct, lucid, educational, and decidedly mainstream.

As a composer and performer he has had his music performed innumerable times, in varying ensembles, on five continents, in 36 countries, and countless cities. He continues to tour and perform around the world. Persinger has also been featured, reviewed, and/or interviewed in Guitar Player, Guitar Shop, Guitar World, and Premier Guitar. In 2004, Acoustic Guitar magazine named his solo recording "The Art of Modern Primitive Guitar" one of the best CDs of the year. His 2010 recording with mandolinist David Miller, "Desire for a Straight Line," was included on that year's Grammy nomination ballot for "Best Contemporary Jazz Recording."

Reviews

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was one I ordered a long time ago from my old friend Shawn. I’d picked it up and read some then got distracted and read other books in the meantime, coming back to it. But I wanted to read this one start to finish so I did that. It was easy to reading in journal entry form. I enjoyed reading Shawn’s insights on how he composes his songs and compositions. I enjoyed learning more about his parents and family background and pondering how it all influenced him as a creative person, as artist and musician. Although I haven’t heard his Halloween compositions that the book focuses on I have been privileged to have been able to listen to much of his music with Boyd Deun and got to see them perform together a few times. I also have heard much of his music with Prester John and his solo music. I’ve also seen many of the videos he’s posted with his various bands over the years. Although AC/DC-loving Shawn would likely consider my musical tastes to be on the more lowbrow side (joke) I also share a deep passion and love for odd time pieces and dissonance and syncopation and repetitive themes. I love outsider art. So I can relate to Shawn both as an artist/musician and a fan of progressive music and other genres like so-called “new age” and “avant-garde”, as well as classical and folk and hard rock and metal and punk and pop. Shawn’s writing is full of challenging words and names of what seemed to me to be obscure artists and writers and filmmakers. He can give off a pretentiousness, with his use of the word “loquacious” and his adoption of neck scarves and his opinions about the difference between art music and pop music but the guy learned all the Angus Young solos! He likes to make sure his music is “danceable.” He likes to include “Easter eggs” in his album concepts and puts all kinds of thought into his song titles and the way they are arranged. He transcribes his music. He creates MIDI files in his writing process. He’s as fascinating and intriguing an artist/musician/teacher there ever was, and I highly recommend checking out this book if you like anything I described above. He is a true craftsman when it comes to making and recording and performing music, a musician’s musician, and I think he’d probably be able to fit in anywhere he wanted to fit in — even a symphony orchestra. Shawn: I hope you know that it’s a good thing that nobody knows you’re famous, my friend. To be great one need not be famous. One needs only to heed the call, to obey what is commanded, to give everything, to sacrifice, to compromise but remain uncompromising, and never settling unless it calls for settling, and never giving up — unless you want to. I was privileged to meet you on one of, if not THE first day of classes at MI, Hollywood, in 1990, having traveled thousands of miles across the country, only to meet a guy from a town about 40 miles from Charlottesville, Virginia, where I hailed from. We both had a mutual drummer friend who is a great guy too. We got to jam once or twice and maybe didn’t quite hit it off but we did find some common musical ground. Boud Deun is still one of my most favorite groups ever to exist. Your music with them is legendary. And everything I’ve heard from you since has been on the same caliber, including your writing. Congratulations on another fantastic book!