Lonesome Town: The Real Story of America's Favorite Family [Paperback]

I have been a fan of Rick Nelson's music for a few years. I wasn't around when he first hit the big time and I was young when he died in the plane crash at the end of 1985, however, I have always admired his music and from what I learned about him - he seemed a genuine and humble and sincere man with an incredible talent. I have been looking for a while for a biography on this great singer but there seemed to be very little written about the great man. I then came across this one and at over 700 pages long, I thought this must give the definitive version of his life and career etc.

The first thing is to say that this book certainly seems to do that. It is a thick book to get through but I have to admit I was engrossed from the beginning and I read it in a week. Read during a recent doze of the flu, I spent several hours every day on the sofa with this book and it was a compelling read. It doesn't make for comfortable reading in places and, for me, I was a little bit shocked that Rick and his band certainly did live the rock n roll lifestyle in many ways. That is not something I have always heard in relation to Rick Nelson but here we have details of alleged affairs, drug taking, bitterness, anger etc and all of a sudden we see that the "perfect" Nelsons and the perfect image they loved to portray were not that perfect after all. Rick's serious financial problems as a result of his divorce and the demands of lawyers, accountants and rather suspect managers etc are outlined in detail and it is sad to think that after all the years on the road and making records, Rick Nelson was virtually broke at the end of his life - hence the reason for touring in the first place year in year out (200 dates a year etc). You will certainly find out a lot about Rick and his famous family and from that point of view, Jim Brady has done a great job here. Some of the information does appear to be from official court records and accounting records etc so he has certainly carried out his research. Yet I have a few gripes about this book.

First of all, it is a self published book and it shows in many places. There are a few pages of photographs throughout the book but they are so badly photocopied that you can hardly see who is in the picture. A lovely set of proper photos from throughout Rick's career would have added to this book. Instead, a page here and there of obviously photcopied photos from magazines adds nothing to this book but instead highlights its amateur status.

Secondly, the text is littered with spelling and grammatical errors. More care and work could have been carried out here - a simple spell check would have been able to correct half of these errors. However, Jim Brady also gets names wrong too and sometimes the main personnel go through different spellings of their names. This is just careless and should not have happened. Also, some basic research could have corrected some of these errors. For example, the legendary Memphis producer Chips Moman is referred to throughout as Chips Moorman. Lack of research or spelling error and not able to read handwriting when typing up material etc? The layout of the book leaves a lot to be desired too - I am sure you can download that manuscript template from Microsoft Office.

One last criticism is that although there is enough information in the book to suggest that a lot of work and research has gone into this, there is no list of footnotes or references anywhere in the book. At times we are treated to "actual conversations" in the book between different people but I have to ask - what are these based on? Did that conversation really take place? How does Jim Brady know what was exactly said at that particular time - we need back up in many of these areas and I think footnotes or references to interviews or other sources would have given some of the information here more credibility.

So how do I rate this book then? Well, despite the irritations above - I enjoyed it. It was the first real book I had found and read on Rick Nelson and I came away knowing and understanding the man much better. The chapter on the lead up to his death in the plane crash is heart breaking and does not make for easy reading. Jim Brady took on a mammoth task I think in writing this book and he has done a great job. I am sure if this was picked up by a proper publisher, the mistakes were rectified, some wonderful pictures were added and Brady beefed up his sources a bit more - then we may have the definitive biography on one of the most successful entertainers from that rock n roll era.

John