Written in My Soul: Rock's Great Songwriters Talk about Creating Their Music

Flanagan, who has written about music for Rolling Stone and the Boston Globe, and is executive editor of Musician magazine, has interviewed 28 singer-songwriters ""out of the rock tradition anteceded by Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly, the tradition that narrowed to Bob Dylan before expanding again as a result of Dylan's great impact.'' This tradition, at least as depicted here, covers an amazing amount of territory, encompassing Elvis Costello and Kris Kristofferson, Yoko Ono and Keith Richard. Flanagan has produced a book of interesting though unsurprising interviews that, with the biographical introductions, tell us a good deal about the influences and experiences affecting the musicians' creating and performing. Among the artists interviewed are: Chuck Berry, Jackson Browne, David Byrne, Dylan himself, Mick Jagger, Rickie Lee Jones, Mark Knopler, Joni Mitchell, Tom Petty, Lou Reed, Paul Simon, Sting, James Taylor, Pete Townshend, Tom Waits and Neil Young. Photos. Major ad/promo. (October)