The Journey (and Music) of Elvis Costello

Rock stars that write their autobiographies face a difficult prospect. Countless authors, politicians, scientists, athletes, and actors have done it with varying degrees of success. While a person's life and accomplishments are often worthy of note, crafting an enthralling and relatable narrative that a reader can empathize with is often difficult. But it's not an impossible task. Bruce Springsteen's powerful Born To Run, Patti Smith's transcendent Just Kids, and Keith Richards' enjoyable, supremely Keith-esque Life have all garnered acclaim from both readers and reviewers. I recently caught up with Elvis Costello's Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, which was originally published in 2015, and it's a captivating, engrossing read.

I'm a long-time fan of Costello's, and the book (like his music) is literate, witty, dark, joyous and yet it's often laced with a bit of melancholy, as well as the weight of lessons learned. He shares his life story in a non-linear fashion, jumping around in time to detail pivotal moments, while simultaneously telling the story of his father, who was also a musician. Costello also recounts the creation of those memorable early records with the Attractions, such as This Year's Model, Armed Forces and Get Happy!! as well as sharing his fascinating recollections of his meetings (and musical collaborations with) George Jones, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and Jerry Lee Lewis. You may want to have a notebook (or iPad) handy while you read, as throughout the book he talks about the songs, music and artists that he loves, and which still inspire him.

Costello openly discusses his failings, and doesn't shy away from the fact that in his earlier years he was drinking too much, and often looking for trouble. He touches on the infamous incident where he allegedly made racist comments about Ray Charles and James Brown in a bar in Ohio, for which he later apologized. As he says in the book: “I’ll have to take the word of witnesses that I really used such despicable racial slurs in the same sentence as the names of two of the greatest musicians who ever lived, but whatever I did, I did it to provoke a bar fight and finally put the lights out.” He briefly touches on his marriages and his personal life, and acknowledges that his reckless side and "angry young man" persona had finally quieted down by the time he married his third wife, singer Diana Krall, in 2003. While he shies away from writing too much about his current family life, what he does share is filled with emotion, as are the moving passages about his early life.

There are other compelling stories in the book, including Costello's recollections of his work on non-rock and roll projects with Allen Toussaint, The Brodsky Quartet, The Roots and his marvelous collaboration with Burt Bacharach, Painted from Memory. He also talks about Spectacle, the short-lived but insightful music-themed television show that he hosted, which featured artists like Levon Helm, Bruce Springsteen and his long-time pal Nick Lowe. The book's six hundred plus page length may seem daunting at first, but Costello is as talented a wordsmith on the page as he is on record. Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink is a comprehensive, fascinating and engrossing look at the journey (and the music) of Elvis Costello. If you're a fan, I highly recommend it.