New York Times Bestseller
The greatest Southern storyteller of our time, New York Times
bestselling author Rick Bragg, tracks down the greatest rock and roller
of all time, Jerry Lee Lewis--and gets his own story, from the source,
for the very first time.
A monumental figure on the American landscape, Jerry Lee Lewis spent his
childhood raising hell in Ferriday, Louisiana, and Natchez, Mississippi;
galvanized the world with hit records like "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin'
On" and "Great Balls of Fire," that gave rock and roll its devil's edge;
caused riots and boycotts with his incendiary performances; nearly
scuttled his career by marrying his thirteen-year-old second cousin--his
third wife of seven; ran a decades-long marathon of drugs, drinking, and
women; nearly met his maker, twice; suffered the deaths of two sons and
two wives, and the indignity of an IRS raid that left him with nothing
but the broken-down piano he started with; performed with everyone from
Elvis Presley to Keith Richards to Bruce Springsteen to Kid Rock--and
survived it all to be hailed as "one of the most creative and important
figures in American popular culture and a paradigm of the Southern
experience."
Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story is the Killer's life as he lived it,
and as he shared it over two years with our greatest bard of Southern
life: Rick Bragg. Rich with Lewis's own words, framed by Bragg's richly
atmospheric narrative, this is the last great untold rock-and-roll
story, come to life on the page.
