Product Description
A Tribute to Zed Beddington is a tale of sex and drugs and Transit vans, motorways, amplifiers, ripped-off lyrics, creative accountancy, Mozart, life after death, home improvements and finding love where you least expect it…
Published Reviews of A Tribute to Zed Beddington include:
“A Tribute to Zed Beddington is an absolute gem. Bass player Billy Silverthwaite, enigmatic drummer Otto Anderson and pretentious guitarist Danny McPhee make up the backing band for blues legend Zed Beddington. They tour non-stop, hauling up and down the UK in a battered van, churning out Zed's four chart hits to keep the audiences happy. Then, one evening, Zed doesn't show up for a gig. And Billy, who, by default, appears to be the brains behind this dysfunctional unit, has to think fast to keep the show on the road. The novel reeks of authenticity – of struggling bands whose members have never quite grown up, slogging country-wide in smelly vans to gigs in grotty pubs and living on past minor glories.”
Sharon Wheeler www.reviewingtheevidence.com/review
“Zed Beddington is the King of British Blues, still touring the UK’s pub scene despite not having a hit for several decades. He’s also a middle-aged, tight-fisted womanising heroin addict, loathed by his band-mates. So far, so rock and roll; however, when Zed doesn’t show for a gig, the story takes a number of unexpected turns. Told from the perspective of the band’s likeable (but slightly paranoid) bassist Bill Silverthwaite, Nick Wray crafts a compelling tale of sex, drugs and deceit around the faded glory of touring the country’s small pubs and dank function rooms in a Transit van. His avoidance of the clichés that plague a lot of musical anecdotes (both fiction and biography) makes the book extremely readable; even when you think you’ve sussed the next twist, Wray surprises you again.”
Pete Lamb Nottingham Left Lion Magazine
“Nick Wray was on the road for thirty years as a piano player, and in this book he has turned his hard-earnt knowledge of the blues scene into a fictional thriller about a blues band. This gripping tale of sex, drugs, Transit vans and life on the road is very close to the knuckle, and the thread of the storyline, with its twists and intrigues is superb. The book’s a splendid read – great satire and humour.”
Carol Borrington Blues Matters Magazine
“Zed Beddington, a junkie, egomaniac, skinny, spindly balding ex-miner and acclaimed King of British Blues misses his gig and is found dead by bass-player, Billy Silverthwaite, in the back of the band’s transit van. Billy – who relates this tale – realises that without Zed he’ll never be able to pay his mortgage or bills. But he has a plan – and one that works. How it works is the subject of the rest of the book; that and events around Zed, both before and after death. Wray writes well in a straightforward style and does a fine job of conveying the life on the road for a gigging band. I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Norman Darwen, Blues and Rhythm Magazine
Published Reviews of A Tribute to Zed Beddington include:
“A Tribute to Zed Beddington is an absolute gem. Bass player Billy Silverthwaite, enigmatic drummer Otto Anderson and pretentious guitarist Danny McPhee make up the backing band for blues legend Zed Beddington. They tour non-stop, hauling up and down the UK in a battered van, churning out Zed's four chart hits to keep the audiences happy. Then, one evening, Zed doesn't show up for a gig. And Billy, who, by default, appears to be the brains behind this dysfunctional unit, has to think fast to keep the show on the road. The novel reeks of authenticity – of struggling bands whose members have never quite grown up, slogging country-wide in smelly vans to gigs in grotty pubs and living on past minor glories.”
Sharon Wheeler www.reviewingtheevidence.com/review
“Zed Beddington is the King of British Blues, still touring the UK’s pub scene despite not having a hit for several decades. He’s also a middle-aged, tight-fisted womanising heroin addict, loathed by his band-mates. So far, so rock and roll; however, when Zed doesn’t show for a gig, the story takes a number of unexpected turns. Told from the perspective of the band’s likeable (but slightly paranoid) bassist Bill Silverthwaite, Nick Wray crafts a compelling tale of sex, drugs and deceit around the faded glory of touring the country’s small pubs and dank function rooms in a Transit van. His avoidance of the clichés that plague a lot of musical anecdotes (both fiction and biography) makes the book extremely readable; even when you think you’ve sussed the next twist, Wray surprises you again.”
Pete Lamb Nottingham Left Lion Magazine
“Nick Wray was on the road for thirty years as a piano player, and in this book he has turned his hard-earnt knowledge of the blues scene into a fictional thriller about a blues band. This gripping tale of sex, drugs, Transit vans and life on the road is very close to the knuckle, and the thread of the storyline, with its twists and intrigues is superb. The book’s a splendid read – great satire and humour.”
Carol Borrington Blues Matters Magazine
“Zed Beddington, a junkie, egomaniac, skinny, spindly balding ex-miner and acclaimed King of British Blues misses his gig and is found dead by bass-player, Billy Silverthwaite, in the back of the band’s transit van. Billy – who relates this tale – realises that without Zed he’ll never be able to pay his mortgage or bills. But he has a plan – and one that works. How it works is the subject of the rest of the book; that and events around Zed, both before and after death. Wray writes well in a straightforward style and does a fine job of conveying the life on the road for a gigging band. I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Norman Darwen, Blues and Rhythm Magazine
