What a Week!

Taylor Swift in "Love Story" video

This is a sneak peek at an illustration I did in collaboration with Bobby Braddock in our new book Country Music's Greatest Lines. Just this week we have had interviews and articles in Nashville Scene and Rolling Stone, plus an article in Billboard about Bobby's song He Stopped Loving Her Today, recognized as the most honored country song of all time. 

Amazon has sold out a couple of times, but books are available there again, also at arcadiapublishing.com, barnesandnoble.com, and your local bookstore.

Here are some blurbs about our book:

“One of country music’s greatest songwriters has given us his own private tour of the collective genius of his profession.  I read his book, then I realized how much wonderful music I’ve missed.”

-Malcolm Gladwell, best-selling author and host of the Revisionist History podcast

“This is the best book about songs and songwriters I’ve ever read.  Bobby Braddock lived the history he writes about, which is really what makes this so compelling.”

-Bart Herbison, Executive Director, Nashville Songwriters Association International

“Braddock and Beecher evoke the mythology of country without sentimentalizing the music or its creators.  It’s a remarkable achievement...It also sent me to a dozen records I wanted to hear immediately.”

Edd Hurt, Nashville Scene

“A firsthand witness to some of Nashville’s most iconic songwriting moments.”

-Rolling Stone

Big News!

Announcing the publication of a new book, Country Music's Greatest Lines: Lyrics, Stories & Sketches from American Classics, written by Bobby Braddock, with over 80 illustrations by yours truly. We are so excited to have our hard work come to fruition!

Bobby Braddock is a longtime friend, and a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Country Music hall of Fame, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York, with many notable hits, such as “Time Marches On,” “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” “Wanna Talk About Me,” and “People Are Crazy.” Braddock is the only living person to have #1 songs in five consecutive decades. Also notable, he discovered Blake Shelton and produced several #1 one hits with him. Naturally, when he presented his idea for the book I jumped at the chance to illustrate it.  

Available July 6 on amazon.com and arcadiapublishing.com, the book gives an insider's view of classics from Hank Williams, Roger Miller, Kris Kristofferson, Taylor Swift, Eric Church and more, and spans decades from the 1940s to present. 

To quote Bobby: “ By featuring songs and song lyrics that span the early days of country radio to present-day downloading and live-streaming on the Internet, hopefully there's a little something here for everyone: an illustrated brief history of the words of country music, and the songwriters who created those words and made them sing.” 

Book signings at the Country Music Hall of Fame and elsewhere had to be canceled because of the pandemic, but thankfully, we have the internet.

Here is a sample illustration. Can you guess the song? Hint: It's by Marty Robbins.

Carmen