New York Times BestsellerThe greatest Southern storyteller of our time, New York Times bestselling author Rick Bragg, tracks down the greatest rock and roller of all time, Jerry Lee Lewis—and gets his own story, from the source, for the very first time.A monumental figure on the American landscape, Jerry Lee Lewis spent his childhood raising hell in Ferriday, Louisiana, and Natchez, Mississippi; … childhood raising hell in Ferriday, Louisiana, and Natchez, Mississippi; galvanized the world with hit records like “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” and “Great Balls of Fire,” that gave rock and roll its devil’s edge; caused riots and boycotts with his incendiary performances; nearly scuttled his career by marrying his thirteen-year-old second cousin—his third wife of seven; ran a decades-long marathon of drugs, drinking, and women; nearly met his maker, twice; suffered the deaths of two sons and two wives, and the indignity of an IRS raid that left him with nothing but the broken-down piano he started with; performed with everyone from Elvis Presley to Keith Richards to Bruce Springsteen to Kid Rock—and survived it all to be hailed as “one of the most creative and important figures in American popular culture and a paradigm of the Southern experience.”
Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story is the Killer’s life as he lived it, and as he shared it over two years with our greatest bard of Southern life: Rick Bragg. Rich with Lewis’s own words, framed by Bragg’s richly atmospheric narrative, , this is the last great untold rock-and-roll story, come to life on the page.
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No one writes like Rick Bragg, and no one tells it like it is like Jerry Lee Lewis. To learn about the rock and roll – country music legends from the Killer’s perspective of ups and downs offers a telling story that is written so well you feel you were listening to Jerry Lee Lewis speaking the words to you. If you don’t know where Ferriday LA is and its significant role in musical history you’ll be amazed by what this book will reveal. It reads like a page-turning fiction story but it is true.
A little long but wonderful
Excellent biography – if you love music you will learn so much you do not know, but thought you did. Bragg is a wonderful wordsmith and as an Alabama native he knew the world Jerry Lee Lewis came from, although it was Faraday, Mississippi. Just so very, very good, that I cannot say enough about it – read it, and enjoy leaning about one of the best this country ever produced. He, a white musician, played the Apollo in NY more than once, and they loved him and invited him back.
Bragg is a masterful storyteller about the South and it’s people. He writes what he knows and feels, which can leave you laughing and crying within two pages. Great stuff!
I Think Jerry Lee Lewis liked himself more than anyone else liked him.
Really loved reading this. Super read!
Well written biography about a musical legend
A true glimpse into Jerry Lee’s life and struggles. The accounts of his life brought back many poignant memories of my teenage years. Well written…well researched.
loved it as it was real and my time of life.
I bought this book because it was written by Rick Bragg. For my money he is the premier living Southern journalist. Now, I didn’t find it to my taste. Jerry Lee Lewis is/was a Southern outlaw of the first water……….(even though he was a musician and not a bank robber). Not loving this one like I did Mr. Bragg’s other books.
No other Southern writer one knows the South better than Rick Bragg; so no one else could have written this biography with as much understanding of a man and the region that shaped him.
Good story about Jerry Lee but, a tremendous history of the origins of rock and roll. A textbook for students of Rock.
Interesting but wordy
I was interested in his life, but was not too impressed with his personality and character.
This is the best book on Jerry Lee Lewis ever written. I love it.
Excellent book that takes you back to a few / spectacularly interesting time in history.
Too much information.
I’m almost through with it, kept thinking it would get better, but no. Just not what I thought it would be
mediocre story but outstanding writing
Rick Bragg is a master in the gonzo style at capturing the essence of a place, an era, a people and a culture at its rawest and most revealing. His prose are lush and juicy, animating his subjects with vivid descriptions and storytelling that regale the imagination and draw the reader into a veritable tactile and sensory experience — a virtual reality. He is an earthy raconteur and storyteller of the first order, Reminiscent of Hunter Thompson and Norman Mailer. Immersed in the book, the reader experiences and inhabits the vibrating soul of Jerry Lee Lewis.