More Miles Than Money

September 15, 2010

After spending a year in the Balkans with Romany musicians, New Zealander Cartwright (Princes Amongst Men: Journeys with Gypsy Musicians) sets off on "an insane American quest" to see if the roots music that continues to inspire the world--specifically blues, country, folk, and soul--is still alive in the United States. His odyssey takes him from a San Francisco church that worships John Coltrane as a saint to Burning Man, through the Navajo nation, Texas honky-tonks, Nashville, and blues bars in south Chicago. Cartwright is a captivating writer with his own 21st-century Kerouacan rhythm. He places music firmly in the relevant historical, social, and political contexts and introduces captivating characters he meets along the way. This is a no-holds-barred study of a diminishing American resource, a "disaster on the scale of cutting down the rainforest," as the artist R. Crumb tells the author. But Cartwright does find some amazing music--in the streets and cities and on the airwaves. He includes a discography of essential recordings. VERDICT This compelling on-the-road search for living American roots music is a trip worth taking.--Bill Baars, Lake Oswego P.L., OR

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