“After Chicago we played Miami again, and some one-nighters in northern Florida and Georgia, with a two-night stand at the famous Royal Peacock Club on Auburn Street in Atlanta…”
—Don Nix
Don Nix’s book Road Stories And Recipes contains personal music experiences from his career in Memphis, Muscle Shoals, dangerous juke joints, and traveling tales during the 50s, 60s, 70s as well as sixty recipes from some of the world’s most talented musicians. Published in 1997, it’s the first rock-n-roll cookbook. Nix, a talented songwriter/musician/producer, tells first hand experiences involving luminaries such as Freddie King, Albert King, Dewey Phillips, Elvis, Jim Stewart, Jerry Lee Lewis, Rufus Thomas, Stax Records, Leon Russell, Furry Lewis, Gram Parsons, Otis Redding, George Harrison, Jesse Ed Davis, Jimmy Page, Levon Helm and a long list of others.
John Mayall wrote the Foreword to Road Stories. Mayall wrote: “What you are about to get stuck into is the reminiscences of a truly humorous raconteur and participant in an exciting period of rock-n-roll that might have slipped your attention. Here you will find stories of the road that tell of an era of our musical history that will hopefully give you something to remember and have you on the phone urging your friends to go out and buy it. As if the memoir isn’t enough, you are also getting a cookbook full of recipes from a whole slew of musicians who often “don’t get to eat as handsomely on the road as they do in their own kitchens.”
The Black Crowes‘ Rich Robinson turned me onto to this gem. Many of the forty-five photographs in this book originate from Nix’s archive. Don Nix played an integral role in American music, and these pages verify his talent and influence in the community of first-class musicians. To carve a story out of the book, Nix describes working on George Harrison’s The Concert For Bangladesh:
“On the night before the concert, a rehearsal was held in the empty Madison Square Garden. We ran through the show a couple of times in front of thousands of empty seats. It was downright eerie. Right before rehearsals ended, his highness, Mr. Bobby Joe Dylan, appeared, but first made Pete Bennett collect everybody’s camera so no photographs could be taken…”
The music stories are top-shelf, no question. The recipes are a compelling reason why you should own this book. Some of the musicians that contributed recipes include: Tim Drummond (Green Chili Pork Stew), Butch Trucks (Sauteed Chicken & Kielbasa), David Hood (Louise’s Lemon Dessert), Lonnie Mack (Mexican Delight), Don Henley (Texas Chili), J.J. Cale (Quick Dinner), Bobby Bare (Biscuits & Gravy), Tom Dowd (Fettuccine), Delaney Bramlett (Delaney’s Stew), Dan Penn (San Francisco BBQ Chicken), Wayne Jackson (Low Fat Chicken Dish), Steve Cropper (Linguine with Cream Sauce), Little Milton (Catfish Head Stew), Sam The Sham (Chili Pie), Dickey Betts (Smoked Venison), Eddie Hinton (Tuna Helper Skillet Style), Donnie Fritts (Cornbread Dressing), John Hiatt (Vegetable Senegalese Stew), Jim Dickinson (Boiled Salad Dressing) and Nix’s own Chicken Pot Pie recipe among others.
Road Stories And Recipes celebrates southern music and cooking like no other book.
Excerpt from Insured Beyond The Grave Volume 2.
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