Wounds to Bind: A Memoir of the Folk-Rock Revolution - Hardcover

Burgan, Jerry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810888610 ISBN 13: 9780810888616

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2014

Synopsis

The birth of folk rock comes to life in Wounds to Bind: A Memoir of the Folk Rock Revolution, Jerry Burgan's unforgettable memoir of the pre-psychedelic 1960s. As a naive folksinger from Pomona, California, Burgan would find himself thrust in his teenage years to the forefront of the counterculture and its aftermath. The Rolling Stones, The Byrds, Bo Diddley, Otis Redding, The Righteous Brothers, The Ohio Players, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Herman's Hermits, Judy Henske, Barry McGuire, and the Kingston Trio all make appearances in this tale told by the cofounder of We Five, the San Francisco electro-folk ensemble that soared to the top of the charts with its recording of the million-selling "You Were On My Mind."

About this title

Review:

Folksinger Burgan, with assistance from Rifkin, recounts his life as a founding member of the San Francisco electro-folk band We Five ('You Were on My Mind'). This memoir brings together his experiences at a time, the 1960s and 1970s, when the folk and rock music cultures were undeniably going through a transformation. Regardless of your prior knowledge of music or desire to read explicitly about We Five, this book tactfully delves much deeper than band history. It integrates stories of growth and maturity of a group of musicians from teens through adulthood with tales of drugs, religion, relationships, love, and discrimination as seen through Burgan's eyes. The final chapters include recent updates on the band and its members; for several it was the final days of life among longtime friends. VERDICT This excellent, well-written chronicle of the folk-rock revolution from an active band member of that time will be enjoyed by general readers and fans of music memoirs.--Library Journal

An intimate portrait of a boyhood friendship ripening into rivalry and then redemption. . . .The vivid profile of cultural maven [Frank] Werber may alone be justification for the book. . . .Burgan treats each [of his bandmates] with unfailing tenderness and perception.--San Francisco Examiner

Burgan tells the story of the band's coming together through the drive and vision he shared with co-founder Michael Stewart; the band's success that ran parallel to the surge of folk-rock, the departure of original lead singer Beverly Bivens after their second album in 1966 and the collapse of the original band by 1970. The most intriguing - and pleasing thing - about this story is that it isn't filled with regret or bitterness. Burgan delivers the narrative as matter-of-fact and quite humorous. . . .While . . . We Five have kept going throughout the decades, it's for [their] 1965 hit single they will always be remembered. This book . . . [is] . . . a nice and worthy companion piece.--Popdose

I'm not sure I have enjoyed a personal memoir more than Wounds to Bind: A Memoir of the Folk-Rock Revolution. This is Jerry Burgan's account (written with help from writer Alan Rifkin) of his time as songwriter/singer/guitar player and co-founder of We Five, a San Francisco "electro-folk" group that scored the hit "You Were On My Mind." Smack dab in the 60's changes of music and culture as Burgan was, his account couldn't be more thrilling. What Burgan manages here is what makes for the best mix with these type of books (but not something accomplished all that often); he weaves his personal story of his life in the band and beyond by writing rich descriptions of the days passed by and his feelings about it all. There is so much heart in this account that I really can't even pick my favorite sections, of which there are many. But if you were alive at that time or ever wondered about it-a time when everything was a'changin' for sure-this book is a must.--Short and Sweet NYC

It might seem a stretch for a member of a one-hit wonder (We Five, who did "You Were On My Mind") to carry a 200-page autobiography - especially when Mike Stewart, brother of the Kingston Trio's John Stewart, was the group's visionary, not the author. But...Burgan['s]...observations regarding the birth of folkrock are illuminating.--Vintage Guitar

Over these beautifully written pages, we track the history of We Five as the group converged on the 1960s California folk-rock scene, burst to national prominence with its first hit (the phrase 'wounds to bind' comes from 'Mind's' lyrics) and then disintegrated rapidly as inexperience, trends and haphazard management took their toll. . . .We Five, in [Jerry Burgan's] estimation, was once 'in a leading position to redraw the rules of both folk and rock, ' and critics may debate whether that's truth or just ecstatic hype. But then, why not be ecstatic about it? Here in the suit-yourself 2010s, when Facebook has trumped balladeering as a tool of social change and the very notion of a song becoming an anthem feels quaint, it's intoxicating to imagine a time when a single's debut would gather spellbound listeners around a radio. Burgan, and others of his generation, emerged from the 1960s with plenty of wounds. Maybe time doesn't always heal them. But sometimes, an up-tempo tune can make them smart a little less.--Daily Pilot

Written with insight and wit, Burgan's empathy chiming perfectly with those heady times.--Shindig! Magazine

Burgan tells the story, and it's a good one, of the way success doesn't last and how difficult it is to adapt when it's gone. It is also the story of two fascinating individuals: Mike Stewart and Frank Werber. Stewart was the tormented fire in We Five, Werber a San Francisco giant, the 1950s hipster who discovered the Kingston Trio and managed them to a long run as the most popular folk-pop group in the world. When the Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead began creating the very San Francisco sound he was after, he didn't recognize it for what it was. Wounds to Bind is the story of these people, those times and that music, all of which Jerry Burgan acknowledges he was lucky to be associated with. As readers, we are lucky, too, because he has given us a fine book about it all.--Rambles.NET

[B]rilliant detail, with much shade, light and color. . . .Burgan is at his rhapsodic best when writing about the arrangement and recording of 'You Were on My Mind'. . . .Mike Stewart and company created lyrical emphases that didn't exist in the original, and added instrumental flourishes that made the song a timeless, transcendent piece of earnest folk-pop-rock. Burgan's recounting of his time on the road in Dick Clark's traveling revue is also a richly rewarding read [that] rightly highlights the significance of having drummer John Chambers in the band in a time when mixed-race groups were highly unusual (to say the least). And his stories about We Five (by then on the downhill side of success) performing in front of ultraconservative audiences in Texas and Utah are well-told and (rare within the context of the book) simply hilarious. The fact of the matter remains that We Five never capitalized on the success of their lone hit single. . . .Verdict: a qualified recommendation. Parts One and Two are well-written, essential reading, and those who get that far will want to read the rest.--Musoscribe

[A] fascinating tale of a band that paddled to the crest of a huge new wave in popular music and then got wiped out by it....The excitement of a first recording session is captured as brilliantly as the chagrin of having to gig at a conservative university in Texas, where the group's long hair and black drummer put them way beyond the pale....[T]here's more than enough to make this a recommended read.--Record Collector

About the Author:

When not performing with We Five, the 1960s folk-rock group that bridged the gulf between Peter, Paul & Mary and The Jefferson Airplane, Jerry Burgan and his wife, Debbie, appear in Folk Songs & Stories, a show built on the Americana that shaped him, blended with anecdotes about how the music of the past evolved into the forms we know today. His first solo CD, Jerry Burgan: Reflections, Songs & Stories, on the Global Recording Artists label, is based on material from his show. Jerry is available for classroom and community appearances and may be contacted through the website www.woundstobind.com. Alan Rifkin is a former contributing editor to Details and L.A. Weekly and has written for The Los Angeles Times, Premiere, The San Francisco Bay Guardian and Black Clock. His short-story collection, Signal Hill (City Lights), was a finalist for the Southern California Booksellers Award in Fiction. He teaches creative writing at California State University, Long Beach.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0810888610
• ISBN 13: 9780810888616
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272