Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story (Music in American Life) [Hardcover]

Diane Diekman (Author)

Book Description

Series: Music in American Life | Publication Date: August 13, 2007

As one of the best-known honky tonkers to appear in the wake of Hank Williams’s death, Faron Young was a popular presence on Nashville’s music scene for more than four decades. The Singing Sheriff produced a string of Top Ten hits, placed over eighty songs on the country music charts, and founded the long-running country music periodical Music City News in 1963. Flamboyant, impulsive, and generous, he helped and encouraged a new generation of talented songwriter-performers that included Willie Nelson and Bill Anderson. In 2000, four years after his untimely death, Faron was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

 

Presenting the first detailed portrayal of this lively and unpredictable country music star, Diane Diekman masterfully draws on extensive interviews with Young’s family, band members, and colleagues. Impeccably researched, Diekman’s narrative also weaves anecdotes from Louisiana Hayride and other old radio shows with ones from Young’s business associates, including Ralph Emery. Her unique insider’s look into Young’s career adds to an understanding of the burgeoning country music entertainment industry during the key years from 1950 to 1980, when the music expanded beyond its original rural roots and blossomed into a national (ultimately, international) enterprise. Echoing Young’s characteristic ability to entertain and surprise fans, Diekman combines an account of his public career with a revealing, intimate portrait of his personal life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Diekman has done such a thorough job that there is unlikely ever to be another Faron Young biography to compete with it. She has uncovered a great deal of information that will be news to even Faron Young’s most passionate fans and friends.”--Paul Kingsbury, editor of The Encyclopedia of Country Music and Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music in America

"I've never read a book on someone in the music business that inspired so many different feelings--laughter, sadness, pity, and even crying!" --Glenn Sutton, member of Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame

Book Description

As one of the best-known honky tonkers to appear in the wake of Hank Williams’s death, Faron Young was a popular presence on Nashville’s music scene for more than four decades. The Singing Sheriff produced a string of Top Ten hits, placed over eighty songs on the country music charts, and founded the long-running country music periodical Music City News in 1963. Flamboyant, impulsive, and generous, he helped and encouraged a new generation of talented songwriter-performers that included Willie Nelson and Bill Anderson. In 2000, four years after his untimely death, Faron was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

 

Presenting the first detailed portrayal of this lively and unpredictable country music star, Diane Diekman masterfully draws on extensive interviews with Young’s family, band members, and colleagues. Impeccably researched, Diekman’s narrative also weaves anecdotes from Louisiana Hayride and other old radio shows with ones from Young’s business associates, including Ralph Emery. Her unique insider’s look into Young’s career adds to an understanding of the burgeoning country music entertainment industry during the key years from 1950 to 1980, when the music expanded beyond its original rural roots and blossomed into a national (ultimately, international) enterprise. Echoing Young’s characteristic ability to entertain and surprise fans, Diekman combines an account of his public career with a revealing, intimate portrait of his personal life.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (August 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252032489
• ISBN-13: 978-0252032486
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #729,800 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One Of The Best Biographies Ever!!! WOW!, August 26, 2007

By 

Frank the Biography Fan "FGC" (Connecticut) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story (Music in American Life) (Hardcover)

This is one of the best biographies I have ever read about anyone. This book is very well-written, as it portrays Faron Young as a person first. Many biographies about musical artists talk way too much about the music, and not enough about the person. Faron Young's music speaks for itself. However, no one has ever known that much about his life, other than that he was a colorful character who sang country music, used salty language and drank too much. Diekman paints a much more detail picture of an outwardly simple, yet internally very complex man. As you read this book, you will feel the tremendous highs and lows that Young went through in his happy yet often painful life. You will also feel the alternating sense of fun and nervous tension that friends and family felt around him. Once I started reading this book, I could not stop. And while I like Faron Young music, I am not what one would consider to be a die-hard fan. This book took me back through Young's life, as well as the lives of those around him. It is also sad to see how such a super talent died so sad and bitter. But after reading this terrific book, I understand why he died as he did. I have read thousands of bios on everyone from John Adams to Patsy Cline. This is definitely in the top three. It is simply WONDERFUL................It reads great, and paints such a illustrative picture of a man who, I thought I knew a little about........but after reading this book, I realize how little I really knew! I'm gonna read it again, and then go out and buy some Faron Young music. BRAVO!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Beauty of Truth, September 4, 2007

By 

Gary Presley (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story (Music in American Life) (Hardcover)

What appeals to me as a reader -- and what I admire about Diane as a writer and biographer -- is that Faron is revealed as a "man in full." Faron possessed a magical voice, a gift for entertaining, an appreciation for his artistic abilities, but he apparently was also possessed by the demons of depression.

Years of research, and a compassionate understanding of the man behind the music, gives readers (and history) a book wherein Diane examines Faron's life and death, never hiding sad truths that sometimes leave a reader reeling, but yet we know she loved and respected the man and his art.

~ Gary <www.garypresley.net>

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great On Facts, a Bit Short On Music, August 23, 2007

By 

luckyoldsun (New York New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story (Music in American Life) (Hardcover)

This book is extremely informative on Faron Young's life, all the way to his horrible death. The writer got to know Faron while he was alive and she did a prodigious amount of research. And she's extremely fair in giving all sides of this complex, troubled performer.

Where the book surprisingly falls a bit short is in conveying the magic of his music. Faron made some great--even iconic--records. As one example, I looked up "Wine Me Up." Diekman recounts that Faron recorded the song and album, but the account is flat: there's no indication of how he hit it out of the ballpark, coming out of nowhere to record what's arguably the greatest drinking record of the '60s. Or "It's Four In The Morning", Faron's last number 1 hit. The writer does not attempt to convey what a great record it was.

That's a small complaint. As someone--Was it Elvis Costello?--said: "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture."
For anybody interested in classic honky tonk country, this is a great book.