A Music Lover's Gift Guide

Everyone needs a good book under the Christmas tree

Last month, I published a list of the ten greatest music books of the 21st century as voted on by critics, artists, and readers. Some of those voters were kind enough to let me share their ballots. If you’re looking for a gift for that music lover in your life, any of these would be a great place to start. If that’s not enough, you can gift a subscription to this newsletter to someone. Paid subscribers get access to interview with musical luminaries, collections of the most important stories in music, and so much more.

---

Nate Sloan: Host of Switched on Pop and Professor at UCLA

• Bass Cathedral by Nathaniel Mackey (2006): A great American novel about jazz.

• Exile in Guyville by Gina Arnold (2014): A critical look at Liz Phair’s classic album Exile in Guyville.

• The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic by Jessica Hopper (2015): A collection of essays by the inimitable Jessica Hopper

• Go Ahead in the Rain by Hanif Abdurraqib (2019): An homage to the rap group A Tribe Called Quest and the era that they emerged in.

• How Music Works by David Byrne (2012): Talking Heads’ frontman David Byrne takes you on a tour of how music and the music industry work.

• Let's Talk About Love by Carl Wilson (2007): One man’s attempt to understand the popularity of Celine Dion and how we decide what is good and bad.

• The Oxford History of Western Music by Richard Taruskin (2005): A history of music from earliest notated sheet music to the end of the 20th century.

• Pops by Terry Teachout (2010): The life and times of Louis Armstrong.

• Tune In: The Beatles All These Years by Mark Lewisohn (2016): The first part of a massive, detailed biography of The Beatles.

• Why Karen Carpenter Matters by Karen Tongson (2019): A reconsideration of one-half of the popular 1970s duo The Carpenters.

Mark Richardson: Rock/Pop Critic at the Wall Street Journal and the former Editor-in-Chief at Pitchfork

• Electric Eden by Rob Young (2010): History of British folk music in the 1960s and 1970s