This is a pretty remarkable collection of essays and stories from a music critic who has befriended Dylan, Cash, Springsteen, and U2 over the years. He's interviewed Janis, Elvis, Cobain, and Jack White. He enjoyed lunch with Stevie Wonder and shared Cornflakes and Hershey Bars with John Lennon. He takes us through his career by presenting the landmarks that interviews, encounters, and friendships with the royalty of rock allowed him.

We learn how he earned the trust of guarded artists like Dylan, and why musicians such as George Harrison and Garth Brooks put him on their "no interview" list. He makes you feel like you really know guys like Kris, Waylon, and Willie. He invites us inside the music and the lives of these artists, and if he ever sounds like he's bragging, well…he may be, though for someone who intimately knew so many of the music industry's titans, he almost sounds modest about it.

What he never appears to have done is cave in to egos. He would tell artists to their face why he felt a certain way about their songs, albums, or career. He hurt Michael Jackson's feelings (which apparently didn't take much) by praising Prince in front of him. Likewise, Hilburn had Prince so shaken up by a routine interview process, Prince cancelled all remaining interviews with journalists for that week and flew home to MN.

It's a fascinating look at how close music journalists can get to their subjects, how much their writing means to their subjects, and how much trust an artist will provide a writer when they present themselves as knowledgable and earnest.

This is a book well worth reading if you like any of the artists mentioned above, or just good music journalism. ( )

Good read, but the parts about rap and Bono went on for too long. ( )

This is a fascinating look at the evolution - and some might say subsequent devolution - of rock music. We begin with early Johnny Cash and John Lennon, and progress to the modern sound of Jack White. Hilburn shares stories of the personal time he spent with many of the artists he followed and interviewed. I found these pieces to be both compelling and entertaining.

My one complaint is that Hilburn dedicates a lot of space throughout the book to Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. While there is no doubt these two men were and are important to the rock scene, at times it felt as if I was reading a book on the life and times of these two artists alone. These pieces also took on the feel of a fan's enthusiasm, rather than a journalistic account. Of course, this is to be expected to some degree, and gives us insight into Hilburn's preferences and personal taste. But I do think other artists shrunk in comparison, maybe unnecessarily so.

In all, this is a well-written, captivating look at some of the greatest contributors to rock music. ( )

This book was outstanding. While I am a huge fan of some of the artists he covered, I definatly was not one of all of them. It didn't matter! Reading what he wrote made me want to give them all a second chance. ( )