LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG
Live Fast, Die Young
Misadventures in Rock & Roll America
Chris Price & Joe Harland
UK & Commonwealth rights: Summersdale
UK publication: May 2010
All other rights available
'A thoroughly enjoyable ride through the American musical wilderness.It brings out the inner geek in every rock 'n' roll dreamer' - Zane Lowe, BBC Radio 1
'A book that shows how your obsessions can shape and change your life ... Excellent' - James Dean Bradfield, Manic Street Preachers
'A road trip like no other, inspired by rock 'n' roll and hugely entertaining' - Huw Stephens, BBC Radio 1
Two men sit on a jetty by an alligator–infested lake in Winter Haven, Florida and sing Happy Birthday to little known (and long dead) country-rock musician Gram Parsons. It is the last in a series of utterly pointless gestures made to celebrate a string of faded and forgotten stars. The slightly confused expressions on their faces make it obvious that they aren't entirely sure how they've ended up there. Those two men are Christopher Price and Joe Harland.
Chris Price is Director of Music at MTV. Joe Harland is an Executive Producer at BBC Radio 1. Pop music – what’s happening right now, and what’s coming next – is their stock in trade. So why was it that they chose to spend a month of their lives on the road in search of music heroes who were long dead, of places they weren't even sure existed? And why was it they were the only two people on the entire planet celebrating the sixtieth birthday of a singer most people have never heard of, having just completed a journey spanning both coasts of the United States to mark the occasion?
Well, no-one else was going to.
Chris and Joe have loved music since before they can remember. As long-standing members of the Radio 1 playlist committee, their relationship is built on a shared passion for finding and breaking new music. Listening to it, talking about it, and then playing it on the radio. But instead of just listening to the tunes they loved, they wanted to live them. They wanted to see the places that inspired the music, get close to the people that made those timeless tunes. They wanted to stand on the crossroads where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil, taste the deep fried sandwich that finally finished off the King, buy their booze from the same store as Jim Morrison.
So they went on a 4500 mile road trip in pursuit of people and places that would put them in touch with the spirit of Gram, Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jeff Buckley, Robert Johnson and more. Along the way they found out many things; about America, music, and each other. They met people whose music had changed lives and the people whose lives it had changed. They tasted the loneliness of the Wichita Lineman, tried to sell their souls to the devil at the crossroads, hung out with the spirit of Johnny Cash in his own front room, went down to Georgia with the Devil, felt the presence of Jeff Buckley, cosied up with Gram's DNA, and got advice on how to burn corpses from an expert.
But LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG is not just a story of dead heroes. It's a tale of true friendship tested to the limit, great melodies, noble myths, love lost and found, and a broken CD player. It's about perfect lyrics, good times, bad punctuation, about people and places struggling to live up to a reputation. Most of all though it's about music and how it can touch you ... and how sometimes it can't.
www.missingparsons.com
