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<\/a>A forthcoming new book, Tastykakes, Soul Songs and Shining Stars<\/em>, written by longtime music industry executive Joe McEwen, will be published April 28, 2026, by ZE Books. The book features what\u2019s described in a press release as \u201cvivid, compelling, up-front and personal profiles (predominantly written by McEwen while working as a music journalist in the 1970s) with a host of indelible figures: Pops and Mavis Staples, George Clinton, Allen Toussaint, Betty Wright, Michael Jackson<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, Gamble and Huff, Don Covay and many more.<\/p>\n \u201cA Philadelphia native and an A&R executive for Columbia, Sire\/Warner Brothers, Verve and Concord Music Group, McEwen gathers a lifetime\u2019s worth of encounters, essays and reveries into one radiant collection, a love letter to rhythm-and-blues and soul music,\u201d says the announcement.<\/p>\n It\u2019s available to order in the U.S. here<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, in Canada here<\/strong><\/span><\/a> and in the U.K. here<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis book is meant to be a fan\u2019s notes with, as its heart and soul, a collection of profiles all written between 1973 and 1978,\u201d it continues. \u201c\u2018While rereading these during Covid downtime, the vitality of the voices and the vivid memories reconnected me with feelings and emotions that had been long stored in my mental attic. I thought they deserved a second airing,\u2019\u201d says McEwen.<\/p>\n \u201cAlongside these portraits of legends at the peak of their powers are heartfelt musings spanning the 1960s through the \u201980s, illuminating the creative processes behind the songs that defined a generation,\u201d says the press release. \u201cInterwoven throughout are reflections on basketball, memory and movement\u2014parallel sources of rhythm, improvisation and joy.\u201d The book culminates in an extended 2024 conversation with music author and longtime confidant Peter Guralnick (who has written books on Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke and others), \u201ca fitting finale to a collection that captures the soul of a lifetime in music.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\nby Best Classic Bands Staff<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>
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