Jerry Lee Lewis

In "Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found", author Joe Bonomo delves deeply into the accidental intersection between fading American Rockabilly and the ascending Beatlemania. By first taking a look at the critical years before his famed night in 1964 at West Germany's Star-Club, then the tumultuous years that follow, culminating in his years on the American Country charts in the late 60s/early 70s, Bonomo brings Jerry Lee Lewis to life in new and fascinating ways. By now it's an old story, as indelible as Juliet on the balcony or Paul Bunyan in the forest, bearing in this case the imagery of trashy southern culture, a sinning young man, and the myth of the commercial rise-and-fall. The story of Louisiana hellcat Jerry Lee Lewis and his 1958 wedding scandal - it was discovered that at 22 he'd married his 13-year old second cousin, Myra, before he was divorced from his second wife - took precedence long ago over the man himself and the music he makes. Because scandal is sexier than toiling in long shadows, the incident will forever taunt and haunt Lewis as he plays and performs, and after his death will likely be the lead in each of his obituaries. In "Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found" author Joe Bonomo deigns to let others focus on the scandal and delves more deeply into the accidental intersection between fading American Rockabilly and the ascending Beatlemaina. By first taking a look at the critical years before his famed night in 1964 at West Germany's Star-Club - what that meant not only for him but the entire live album-making world - then the tumultuous years that follow, culminating in his years on the American Country charts in the late 60s/early 70s, Bonomo brings Jerry Lee Lewis to life in new and fascinating ways. In spite of plummeting record sales and concert fees, a media savaging of his personal character, a change of record labels and management, and a considerable upturn in drug and alcohol abuse, Jerry Lee Lewis persevered. In between being betrayed and ignored, he would record one of the greatest rock & roll performances in history. This book examines and explains the almighty impact of the Father of Rock'n'Roll.

Joe Bonomo teaches in the English Department of Northern Illinois University. He is the author of Sweat: The Story of the Fleshtones, America's Garage Band (Continuum 2007), and Installations (Penguin), a collection of prose poems. His personal essays and prose poems have appeared in numerous literary journals.