All Over the Map: True Heroes of Texas Music (Volume 11)

North Texas Lives of Musicians Series

by Michael Corcoran

A lavishly illustrated collection of forty-two profiles of Texas music pioneers, most underrated or overlooked, All Over the Map: True Heroes of Texas Music covers the musical landscape of a most musical state. The first edition was published in 2005 to wide acclaim. This second edition includes updated information, a bonus section of six behind-the-scenes heroes, and fifteen new portraits of Lefty Frizzell, Janis Joplin, and others, spanning such diverse styles as blues, country, hip-hop, conjunto, gospel, rock, and jazz.

D.J. Stout and Pentagram designed the reborn edition, with photographer Scott Newton providing portraits. Michael Corcoran has been writing about Texas music for more than thirty years, for the Dallas Morning News and Austin American Statesman, as well as in such publications as Texas Monthly and Spin. These pieces are based on his personal interviews with their subjects as well as in-depth research. Expertly written with flair, the book is a musical waltz across Texas.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, History

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2005

About the author

There is more than one author in the Goodreads catalog with this name. This entry is for Michael ^ Corcoran.

Michael Corcoran has written seven previous books, including Duel in the Sun, an account of the 1977 British Open, and For Which It Stands: An Anecdotal Biography of the American Flag. He's written for numerous magazines and been the editor of a few. He lives with his wife and their children in Springtown, Pennsylvania.

Reviews

[George Bradford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Texas Music is as big, bold and diverse as the Lone Star State itself. And it sounds implausible that one book could possibly do justice to the deep, rich and complex history of Texas Music. But that is the miracle of "All Over The Map: True Heroes of Texas Music." This single volume does for Texas Music what no book has done before: It reveals the breathtaking history of the women and men from disparate backgrounds, communities and traditions who made the Music -- their Music -- for which Texas is known.

I had the pleasure of reading the first edition of this book in 2006. That was a very good book. And I enjoyed it. The author is a thorough historian and a magnificent story teller. Very few non-fiction writers are as enjoyable to read as Michael Corcoran. And everything that made the earlier edition terrific is present here.

But this new edition for 2017 is much more than an update. The name may be the same, but this is a new book with additional histories and incredible features. If you liked the previous edition you will love the new one. "All Over The Map: True Heroes of Texas Music" is outstanding.

I recommend this extraordinary book without hesitation or reservation to anyone interested in Texas, Music or American History. It very well may be the best Texas Music history book ever written.

(Here is my review of the 2005 edition of this great read:

"Michael Corcoran is one of the greatest writers of all time. Hands down, bar none, he's one of the greats. His skills are on display in this essential history of Texas music. And, on top of that, he shares his personal list of the forty greatest Texas songs of all time AND the twenty-five essential CDs for Texas music fans. I don't entirely agree with either list. But I won't argue too vehemently with Corcoran, either. He knows his stuff." )

[Jay Clement · Rating 3 out of 5]

39-2020. A survey of Texas musicians and songwriters, this book skims across most of the folks you’d expect to see. Not the megastars, but all those that made the Texas music scene what it is. Each entry was no more than 6 pages, but you get the flavor of these people, and now I’ve got a list of people for further study.

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. First of all some of the musicians I have heard about or listen to already. Some like Janis Joplin I did not know that she grew up in Texas or even some of the struggles that she went through, so I can understand why she left to California the bay area and the way some of her music was. The author takes you through Jazz, Blues, rock, gospel, country, hip-hop, and conjunto. But it was finding out about King Curtis, Ella Mae, Arizona Dranes, Cindy Walker, Washington Philips, Billy Joe Shiver to just name a few I had never heard of. But pick up this book and look for some of the people that are mentioned in this book because all of them have some way been part of music history. Blind Willie Johnson lead to so many blues players along with T- Bone Walker, who are both in the book and Walker who wrote a great blues song “Stormy Monday”, also influenced B.B King. There are others of course Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Selena. Anyway you get what I am trying to say about this book. It is a very good book and a must read for any music fan. I got this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 5 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

All Over the Map, True Heroes of Texas Music by Michael Corcoran

Thirty-two profiles of texas musicians, basically a collection of some of Corcoran's articles from various publications. Corcoran has an interest and eye for overlooked and forgotten musicians, but this collection also includes some icons, as well. It's not comprehensive--it's not meant to be an encyclopedia or comprehensive overview and there are plenty of legends that are not covered at all. However everyone it includes is important, so, in a way, it does provide something of an overview.

This is really a gem of a book, imo. Corcoran’s profiles are brief, but he has an eye for the telling detail and the salient fact. The profiles of the well-known artists are not full-scale bios, but hone in on specific moments or aspects of their lives.

Corcoran comes to texas music as an outsider, he didn’t know much about it before he moved to Austin in 84. This is to his benefit, he is able to approach a lot of this material with a freshness and perspective that can be difficult for those who are much closer to it.

My favorite profiles are those of the more obscure artists and those that involved a little sleuthing: Rebert Harris, Harry Choates, Washington Phillips (which features a case of mistaken identity), Arizona Dranes, Blind Willie Johnson. In no particular order, some other favorites: Gatemouth Brown, DJ Screw, Cindy Walker, Butthole Surfers, Billy Joe Shaver, Selena and Lydia Mendoza, Steve Jordan. Unlike so many other books about musicians, it’s not just the research or facts that make this interesting, Corcoran is an excellent writer and excels at the brief profile.

[RTB: Review of Texas Books]

by Sarah Ridley

Only in a book on Texas musicians could DJ Screw rub shoulders with the elegant country songstress Cindy Walker while the Austin enfants terrible Butthole Surfers jostle the stately Tejano icon Lydia Mendoza. All Over the Map: True Heroes of Texas Music is an apt title for the second edition of Michael Corcoran's book that crosses genres, decades, cultures, and county lines. Throughout the book, Corcoran encourages Texans' (already cocksure) regional pride in local talent and gives hidden-in-plain-sight heroes, like Gulf Coast musicians and Texas music scene movers and shakers, the write-up they deserve.

The book’s structure takes the form of a Texas road trip with sections devoted to regions and large cities in Texas; the chapters, which comprise these sections, focus on the performers from those towns and cities. In this edition, Houston musicians and East Texas musicians receive their own sections, and Barbara Lynn represents Beaumont in style in the East Texas section. Eschewing a lengthy bibliography and a flurry of footnotes, Corcoran hits the high notes of the musician or band’s biography in each chapter while also highlighting the musical feats and accomplishments that make a musician a pioneer in his or her genre. Often pulling from interviews, Corcoran puts the musician’s own words front-and-center and teases out the details die-hard fans want to read. For example, Lynn’s fans won’t want to miss Lynn’s stories about her first electric guitar and her inspiration for her Top 40 hit song. Along with the stories behind the music makers, each chapter includes photographs, the staple of every fan club and merch table.

All Over the Map is a book Texans will want to display and not just because it features homegrown heroes. Each chapter includes several, often full page, black and white photographs of the titular musician or band thanks to Scott Newton, the contributing photographer. The pictures reveal Texas musicians as the patchwork family that they are. Sly Stone, whose chapter didn’t make it into the second edition, leans towards the camera, a leather vest open across his bare chest, while on another page, Lydia Mendoza in a gorgeous silken dress evokes the Virgin Mary. Stage lights glint off of Steve Jordan’s eye patch, and melancholy Townes Van Zandt stares into a sad future with shadowy eyes. A cowboy hat tips over someone’s forehead on almost every other page. In a surprising turn, Corcoran takes the focus off of the stars and superstars, and turns the camera around.
The true surprise in the book is not that Texas is the home of so many musicians in such a variety of genres: the book’s best surprise is that the true heroes of Texas music are not just musicians. Corcoran brings the behind-the-scenes heroes into the spotlight alongside the musicians. Producer Tom Wilson, responsible for hits by Bob Dylan and Simon Garfunkel, gets his own chapter under the Waco Area section. All the photographers, label managers, club owners, writers, and music festival directors who worked countless hours to put and keep musicians on stages get their own Behind-the-Scenes Heroes section.

While a cowboy hat is optional, All Over the Map is best enjoyed while listening to a soundtrack. In the back of the book, Corcoran provides a playlist of thirty-four of the greatest recordings by Texans or about Texas. This mixtape menagerie includes Pantera, Destiny’s Child, Toadies, Blind Willie Johnson, and Jeannie C. Riley to name a few. Through this playlist and throughout the book, Corcoran combines two things that unite Texans and non-Texans of all ages, colors, and tastes: a passion for music and love of the Lone Star State.

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[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Texas has its faults (so many faults), but one thing I never find fault in is the music. Even if it's music I don't fully understand the appeal of (Bob Wills), that's more my issue than the music's.

Corcoran's book focuses on the slightly less well-known or prolific Texas musicians, so there's no Wills or Buddy or Willie, but there is Gatemouth and Stevie Ray. There's Townes and Guy. There are Boys from the Geto and a group of Buttholes. Oh, he talks about the titans. There's no way he couldn't. But they don't have their own entries. It's made up of articles that he wrote throughout his career, sometimes including interviews with the artists themselves before they passed from the mortal coil. It's always fascinating and informative. While country and blues take up most of the entries, there's plenty of rock and jazz to go around, too. A little bit of hip-hop, too. If there's one thing that Texas music is, it's diverse.

There's also a section about the artists who were struck down just before they were able to really become the stars that they deserved to be.

Apparently, this is part of a series of books about Texas music that I didn't realize I already have two of (A Deeper Blue about Townes and Living In The Woods In A Tree about Blaze Foley). I'll be looking for more of these books. I loved this one.

[Bruce Raterink · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well researched, enthusiastically written overview of lesser known, sometimes obscure, Texas musicians. I thoroughly enjoyed the encyclopedia style, short entries about each of the featured artists ranging from blues, rockabilly, hip-hop, pop, country, metal, jazz, gospel, and everything in between. With my favorite streaming service, I discovered new artists and revisited forgotten gems while I read.

Like the other book I read in this series, "Soul Serenade," some date checking was needed (Billy Joe Shaver's son Eddy was referenced to be in rehab in 2002, two years after he died). But that's a minor issue with such a engaging book. Highly recommended

[S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

For work. A coffee table book, no doubt, but I'll definitely be checking out several of the musicians that were featured in this collection of mini biographies.

[Tyler Ferguson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of biographies provides any reader with a great understanding of the history and influences behind what makes Texas the breeding ground for the best music on the planet. From traditional country music and Western Swing by Ernest Tubb or Bob Wills, to the Outlaw movement spearheaded by Waylon and Willie, or the Tex-Mex/Western music of Doug Sahm and Freddy Fender, or Folk Singer Songwriters such as Townes Van Zandt. You will be well informed and knowledgeable in the State of Texas’s diverse and ever evolving pigeon-hold on musical diversity.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is actually a 2017 second edition of the anthology published in 2005. It includes 15 additional artists. A few have been dropped without explanation (I remember pieces on Blind Willie Johnson and Washington Phillips were in the first edition, though I loaned my copy and never got it back, so I cannot compare the two editions). The second edition is a very good, though not exhaustive coverage of Texas music in the later half of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Although some of the write-ups have an amateurish, fanzine quality, and some appear t have been hastily edited (for example, several pieces mention sidemen or others late in the piece only by last name, suggesting an earlier, full mention in the piece; however, re-reading the piece disclosed no mention). But, overall, a good read.

[Phil Overeem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended! The pieces are mostly brief, but they're written with passion, humor, and intelligence, and any book that educates the general reader on Blaze Foley, Washington Phillips, Steve Jordan, and Arizona Dranes belongs on a music lover's shelf. Unfortunately, I bought mine used from the Houston Public Library....

[Noah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This had some interesting stuff in it, particularly the chapter on Washington Phillips.

[Kerry Pickens · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was familiar with Michael Cochoran's work at the Austin Chronicle and Austin American Statesman. I believe he has found his place in the world as a music historian rather than a music critic. The Austin of the past that we both knew (I moved there in 1975) is long gone, and at least those memories have been collected by Michael and other writers like Ed Ward. I would like to read a book about the current musicians in Texas, but I don't think Michael Cochoran will be the person to write that book.