Music bestsellers

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The critically acclaimed singer-songwriter, producer, and six-time Grammy winner opens up about a life shaped by music in this candid, heartfelt, and intimate story.

“One of the great memoirs of our time . . . a gift from Brandi’s soul.”—Glennon Doyle • “Brandi’s story is about perseverance, humor, forgiveness, and... Read more »

Nominated for the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Award

The National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Heartland focuses her laser-sharp insights on a working-class icon and one of the most unifying figures in American culture: Dolly Parton.

Growing up amid Kansas wheat fields and airplane factories, Sarah Smarsh... Read more »

**Winner of the 2021 Audie Award for Narration by Author or Authors**
**An AudioFile Earphones Award-winning production**

This program is read by Alicia Keys, with special guest appearances by family and friends, including Oprah Winfrey, Jay-Z, and Michelle Obama.

An intimate, revealing look at one artist’s journey from self-censorship to full... Read more »

A Recorded Books Audio Original production of songs and stories performed by Dolly herself, Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics goes beyond the glitz, glamour, and rhinestones to the warmth, heart, and soul of a treasured pop-culture icon. In this exclusive audio performance, the ten-time Grammy Awardwinning artist weaves her words with... Read more »

This program is read by the author, and includes excerpts from Richard Wagner's musical compositions throughout.

A New York Times Notable Books of 2020

Alex Ross, renowned New Yorker music critic and author of the international bestseller and Pulitzer Prize finalist The Rest Is Noise, reveals how Richard Wagner became the proving ground for... Read more »

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"A memoir as fierce, freewheeling, and passionate as her music."
--O, the Oprah magazine

A memoir by the celebrated singer-songwriter and social activist Ani DiFranco

In her new memoir, No Walls and the Recurring Dream, Ani DiFranco recounts her early life from a place of hard-won wisdom, combining personal expression,... Read more »

An acclaimed music scholar presents an accessible introduction to the art of listening to jazz

In How to Listen to Jazz, award-winning music scholar Ted Gioia presents a lively introduction to one of America's premier art forms. He tells us what to listen for in a performance and includes a guide to today's leading jazz musicians. From Louis... Read more »

Named a Best Book of 2017 by NPR and GQ

Joining the ranks of the classics Please Kill Me, Our Band Could Be Your Life, and Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, an intriguing oral history of the post-9/11 decline of the old-guard music industry and rebirth of the New York rock scene, led by a group of iconoclastic rock bands.

In the second half of the... Read more »

Performed by Russ with his music featured throughout.

Instant National Bestseller! Wall Street Journal bestseller; USA Today bestseller; Publishers Weekly bestseller; international bestseller.

An inspirational book by self-made musical superstar, Russ, reminding you that it starts with YOU, to believe in yourself, and to get out of your own... Read more »

“You won’t leave this hypnotic book without feeling that James Brown is still out there, howling.”—The Boston Globe
 
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Good Lord Bird, winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction, Deacon King Kong, and Five-Carat Soul
 
Kill ’Em and Leave is more than a book about James Brown. Brown embodied... Read more »

“An oral history is only as good as its sources, and ‘Texas Flood’ is thorough and far-reaching, with Vaughan's bandmates, crew and family taking center stage.” — New York Times Book Review

This program is read by a full cast and features exclusive bonus material, including a never-before-heard conversation between Stevie Ray Vaughan and his... Read more »

Grammy Award–winning musician Rickie Lee Jones tells all in this electrifying, intimate memoir about how a little girl grew up to be one of the most legendary, groundbreaking artists of her time. Read—and sung—by Rickie Lee Jones!

This troubadour life is only for the fiercest hearts, only for those vessels that can be broken to smithereens and... Read more »

Music can move us to the heights or depths of emotion. It can persuade us to buy something, or remind us of our first date. It can lift us out of depression when nothing else can. It can get us dancing to its beat. But the power of music goes much, much further. Indeed, music occupies more areas of our brain than language does–humans are a... Read more »

The revelatory and wildly bestselling memoir by legendary rock star Bruce Springsteen: “Glorious…a philosophically rich ramble through a rock ’n roll life…It’s the lyric he was born to write” (USA TODAY, 4 out of 4 stars).

Over the past seven years, Bruce Springsteen has privately devoted himself to writing the story of his life. The result is... Read more »

An intimate look at a period of great cultural tumult, chronicling the early years of one of the world's most significant and influential guitarists and songwriters.

Known for his brilliant songwriting, his extraordinary guitar playing, and his haunting and lovely songs, Richard Thompson has garnered a longtime cult following and is considered... Read more »

There are few creative acts more mysterious and magical than writing a song. But what if the goal wasn't so mysterious and was actually achievable for anyone who wants to experience more magic and creativity in their life? That's something that anyone will be inspired to do after reading Jeff Tweedy's How to Write One Song. 
 
Why one song?... Read more »

Presenting an original audiobook performance of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, starring the cast of the National Theatre's 2018 Broadway revival.

In this production, adapted especially for the listening experience, Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane, and the entire cast recreate their acclaimed performances from the 2018 Tony Award-winning National... Read more »

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A panoramic experience that tells the story of Beastie Boys, a book as unique as the band itself—by band members ADROCK and Mike D, with contributions from Amy Poehler, Colson Whitehead, Wes Anderson, Luc Sante, and more.
 
The inspiration for the Spike Jonze “live documentary” Beastie Boys Story, coming soon to IMAX... Read more »

"This captivating audiobook purports to be about the musical development of the multitalented Lenny Kravitz... As he draws listeners into his world, however, listeners begin to see that he's talking about something broader than music: This deeply thoughtful man is talking about how his passion for learning and expressing himself was shaped." --... Read more »

In this breathtaking cultural history filled with exclusive, never-before-revealed details, celebrated rock journalist Joel Selvin tells the definitive story of the Rolling Stones’ infamous Altamont concert in San Francisco, the disastrous historic event that marked the end of the idealistic 1960s.

In the annals of rock history, the Altamont... Read more »

Writing to his brother, G'Ra Asim reflects on building his own identity while navigating Blackness, masculinity, and young adulthood--all through wry social commentary and music/pop culture critique

How does one approach Blackness, masculinity, otherness, and the perils of young adulthood? For G'Ra Asim, punk music offers an outlet to express... Read more »

Can’t Stop Won’t Stop meets Girls to the Front in this essential and long overdue history of hip-hop’s female pioneers and its enduring stars.

Every history of hip-hop previously published, from Jeff Chang’s Can’t Stop Won’t Stop to Shea Serrano’s The Rap Yearbook, focuses primarily on men, glaringly omitting a thorough and respectful examination... Read more »

FEATURING A FOREWORD BY SLASH
A BEHIND-THE-SCENES LOOK AT THE MAKING OF MEGADETH'S ICONIC RECORD, RUST IN PEACE, BY THE BAND'S LEAD VOCALIST AND GUITARIST

When Rust in Peace was released in 1990, the future of Megadeth was uncertain. Fresh off their performance at the record-breaking Monsters of Rock festival, and with knockout new albums... Read more »

For many of us, classical music is something serious—something we study in school, something played by cultivated musicians at fancy gatherings. In Language of the Spirit, renowned music scholar Jan Swafford argues that we have it all wrong: classical music has something for everyone and is accessible to all. Ranging from Gregorian chant to... Read more »

Passata in pochi anni da ragazzina emarginata nel profondo Texas a simbolo di una stagione musicale irripetibile, Janis Joplin è riuscita a brillare e bruciare molto, troppo in fretta. Sempre senza riuscire a lasciarsi alle spalle la sensazione di dovere essere qualcosa di più. Più rock, più blues. Più brava, più bella. Il desiderio di... Read more »

In this New York Times bestselling follow-up to her critically acclaimed memoir, Home, Julie Andrews reflects on her astonishing career, including such classics as Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, and Victor/Victoria.
In Home, the number one New York Times international bestseller, Julie Andrews recounted her difficult childhood and her... Read more »

With "virtuosic vulnerability" (The Atlantic), the iconic bassist and Red Hot Chili peppers co-founder pens a love letter to a youth spent wild in Los Angeles in his raw and riveting coming-of-age memoir.
In Acid for the Children, Flea takes readers on a deeply personal and revealing tour of his formative years, spanning from Australia to the... Read more »

A backstage pass to the groundbreaking, hit musical Hamilton, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Eleven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, including the award-winning libretto, behind-the-scenes photos and interviews, and exclusive footnotes from composer-lyricist-star Lin-Manuel Miranda, now streaming on Disney+ with the original... Read more »

This program is read by the author.

From one of the most lyrically gifted, socially conscious rappers of the past twenty years, Vibrate Higher is a firsthand account of hip-hop as a political force

Before Talib Kweli became a world-renowned hip hop artist, he was a Brooklyn kid who liked to cut class, spit rhymes, and wander the streets of... Read more »

From their beginnings as teenagers experimenting in a San Fernando Valley garage dubbed "The Hell Hole" to headlining major music festivals around the world, discover the whole story of Bad Religion's forty-year career in irreverent style.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Grammy Award–nominated, platinum-selling musician Halsey is heralded as one of the most compelling voices of her generation. In I Would Leave Me If I Could, she reveals never-before-heard poetry of longing, love, and the nuances of bipolar disorder.

In this intimate audio performance of her debut collection, Halsey bares... Read more »

Two iconic bands. An unforgettable life.

**This program is read by Chris Frantz**

One of the most dynamic groups of the ‘70s and ‘80s, Talking Heads, founded by drummer Chris Frantz, his girlfriend Tina Weymouth, and lead singer David Byrne, burst onto the music scene, playing at CBGBs, touring Europe with the Ramones, and creating hits like... Read more »

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The first in-depth biography of Nipsey Hussle, the hip hop mogul, artist, and activist whose transformative legacy inspired a generation with his motivational lyrics and visionary business savvy—before he was tragically shot down in the very neighborhood he was dedicated to building up.

In the ten years since he first... Read more »

This first cultural biography of rap superstar and “master of storytelling” (The New Yorker) Kendrick Lamar explores his meteoric rise to fame and his profound impact on a racially fraught America—perfect for fans of Zack O’Malley Greenburg’s Empire State of Mind.

Kendrick Lamar is at the top of his game.

The thirteen-time Grammy Award­–winning... Read more »

Named One of the Best Books of 2011 by NPR – Spin - USA Today – CNBC - Pitchfork - The Onion - The Atlantic - The Huffington Post – VEVO - The Boston Globe - The San Francisco Chronicle

For fans of VJ: The Unplugged Adventures of MTV's First Wave

Remember the first time you saw Michael Jackson dance with zombies in "Thriller"? Diamond Dave karate... Read more »

The singer, guitarist, and songwriter, best known for his work with Wilco, opens up about his past, his songs, the music, and the people that have inspired him.

Few bands have inspired as much devotion as the Chicago rock band Wilco, and it's thanks, in large part, to the band's singer, songwriter, and guiding light: Jeff Tweedy. But while his... Read more »

Read the New York Times Bestselling memoir that is "revealing, humble, and cool-aunt chatty" about the incredible life that inspired the hit Broadway musical Beautiful (Rolling Stone).

Carole King takes us from her early beginnings in Brooklyn, to her remarkable success as one of the world's most acclaimed songwriting and performing talents of... Read more »

***READ BY THE AUTHOR***
THE TOP FIVE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

The memoir of international music icon Richard Thompson, co-founder of the legendary folk rock group Fairport Convention.

'I encourage everyone to read this wonderful book.'
ELVIS COSTELLO

'Thompson could be said to be an English Dylan - only in some ways he's even better than... Read more »

From his early, crazy days as a founding member of Metallica, Dave Mustaine has seen and experienced everything in the world of rock n’ roll. From his young triumphs and ignominious ouster from the band for his hard-partying ways to his later rule over Megadeth, one of the most successful heavy metal bands of all time, Mustaine tells it all.... Read more »

A publishing event from music legend Paul Simon: an intimate, candid, and definitive biography written with Simon’s full participation—but without his editorial control—by acclaimed biographer and music writer Robert Hilburn.

For more than fifty years, Paul Simon has spoken to us in songs about alienation, doubt, resilience, and empathy in ways... Read more »