Graham Parker’s Howlin’ Wind

In the Village Voice’s year-end 1976 Pazz & Jop Critics’ Poll, Graham Parker’s Howlin’ Wind placed fourth. In second place was his sophomore album, Heat Treatment. Number one was Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, and in third place was Jackson Browne’s The Pretender. Among that titanic company, it’s fair to say Parker more than held his own.

I’ve written a book about the making of Howlin’ Wind, Graham Parker’s Howlin’ Wind. The book surveys Parker’s musical influences and those of the members of his backup band, The Rumour, against a backdrop of the British and American music scenes of the 1960s and 1970s.

You can find out more about the book and and a link to purchase it at this site: https://grahamparkershowlinwind.net/.

The book includes stories about iconic musicians and bands like Jimi Hendrix, The Band, The Grateful Dead, Van Morrison and Paul McCartney and Wings. American soul singer J.J. Jackson, whose song “But It’s Alright” was a 1966 hit in England and the United States, is among other musicians who also appear in the book.

In his liner notes to Parker’s 2001 album, That’s When You Know, The Acoustic Demos & Live at Marble Arch, writer Nigel Williamson claimed, “Graham Parker and The Rumour had revitalized British music with their debut album Howlin’ Wind. Released in April 1976 to a wave of enthusiastic reviews that had compared Parker to Van Morrison and Bruce Springsteen, his raw and energetic vocals combined with his intelligently crafted songwriting had come at just the right moment. Indeed, at the time Parker appeared to be the savior of British music.”

I hope you’ll check it out.