Scuppernong Books in Greensboro hosts Wilcopedia event

This last weekend, I travelled to Greensboro, N.C., to appear at Scuppernong Books for an event celebrating my book Wilcopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the Music of America’s Best Band. Also taking apart was local musician Lee Waters, and the band, Outta Sight Outta Mind, who each performed covers of Wilco songs.

After I read from the introduction of Wilcopedia, Wallace played solo acoustic covers of “Passenger Side” (incidentally the first Wilco song that was ever performed live), and “Remember the Mountain Bed.”

I got video of Wallace playing the second song, the Mermaid Avenue Vol. II track that was lyrically written by legendary troubadour Woody Guthrie, with music by Jeff Tweedy and Jay Bennett. Sadly it’s an incomplete recording as my phone was dying, but it’s still a worthwhile watch as it captures the bulk of the song:

Following a brief Q & A, the band Outta Sight (named for the event and unlikely to be used again). I would’ve gotten video of them, but as per the reason above for truncated video, I was only able to get a few pictures. The best of which is below:

There goes another splendid Wilcopedia event, likely the last one of the year. I was happy to get a good turnout at Scuppernong who I’d like to think for attending. Here’s a pic of some of them:

I want to hugely thank those folks for coming out, as well as the good folks at Scuppernong (Brian Lampkin and Steve Mitchell), and, of course, Lee Wallace, and the musicians of Outta Sight Outta Mind (front man/rhythm guitarist Chris Rachal, lead guitarist Ken Brown, bassist Matt Ralston, and drummer Nick Vogel).

Okay, so that’s a taste of the Wilcopedia shindig at the super cool Scuppernong Books last Saturday. Stay tuned, and I’ll keep you informed about other activity surrounding my book in the weeks to come.

More later…

Mojo’s review of Wilcopedia on newsstands now

I’ve been very happy with the critical response to my book, Wilcopedia, but the notice I’ve been the happiest with so far is the review of it in one of my all-time favorite publications, Mojo, that recently hit the newsstands.

If you don’t know Mojo, it’s a great rock magazine, based in Britain, that largely covers, and re-covers classic artists like the Beatles, who have been on the cover a gazillion times, and Dylan, who has had over sexdecillion articles, reviews, and sidebars, devoted to his work in their pages. There is a lot of coverage of more recent music too, but Mojo is mostly known for their thorough re-examinations of rock’s past.

In Mojo’s latest issue, December 2019, which features Neil Young (see what I mean?) on the cover, a review of Wilcopedia appears in the book section. It’s written by Chris Nelson, and awards the guide 3 stars. Not too shabby, I think. Without further ado, here it is: 

Nice, huh? Sure, I might have a few quibbles - I don’t mind the line “Johnson is a cataloguer rather than critic,” as that’s basically true, but I’d prefer “compiler” over “cataloguer.” Also, Nelson’s comment that the “stats may have been better conveyed visually as charts and graphs” really isn’t what I was going for.

But these are just instances of my minor bitching as a three star review from such a renowned international music magazine is nothing to sneeze at.

Okay, so that's enough of that not-so humble brag. I’m going to get back to preparing for my appearance at Scuppernong Books in Greensboro, N.C., on this Saturday, December 7 at 7 p.m. I’ll read a bit from the book (always an exciting experience for audiences), and there will be live music by the great singer/songwriter Lee Wallace, and the band Outta Site Outta Mind, who will all be performing specially chosen Wilco covers. If you’re in the area, please join us.

Daniel Cook Johnson’s Wilcopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the Music of America’s Best Band is available for order here.

More later...