On The Record Book

Back in the '60s, at age 38, the author tested the water by writing a bold and provocative memoir (currently in print as "The Reluctant Exhibitionist), an exploration of pushing the envelope of convention in his search for personal authenticity. Now, 33 year later, at age 69, he's written another book, not a challenge this time, but a meditation on the journey from then to now, a study of what has changed for him and what has endured. It is his first new book in twenty-nine years ("Dying: A Guide to Helping & Coping, published in 2000, was a update and revision of a book he originally wrote in 1975). Part Memoir and part assessment of the state of the world today (including his thoughts about music, medicine, education, politics, dishonesty, the law, book publishing, religion, love serendipity, family, and serenity), "On The Record is unique in that Shepard marries his music to his prose with an accompanying CD: each of the seven chapters is matched by a song he wrote and recorded between February 2003 and August 2004 that highlights his reflections. One acquaintance, who read the Manuscript, told Martin that she thought of it as "a spiritual book, without the traditional trappings." In response, Shepard quipped that he saw it as "the literary equivalent of an Off-off Broadway musical in seven acts." No matter how one interprets it. "On The Record travels down a path that invites all of us to think for ourselves, to write what we please, live how we please, and love how we please.