REVIEWS
Brothers and Sisters
“Alan Paul is perceptive when analyzing the musical approaches of the band’s members.”
- The Wall Street Journal
“Paul has a knack for writing about the way music sounds and how it makes people feel. He’s at his best tracking influences, dispelling myths and half-truths, and teasing out similarities and differences between players.”
- Eric Pooley, The Observer
“Few writers understand or appreciate the Allman Brothers as much as Paul. His book, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of its namesake album, colorfully narrates an oft-overlooked chapter in the band’s history with nuance, clarity and perspicacity. In addition to his own extensive reporting, Paul had access to hundreds of hours of interviews conducted in the mid-1980s by Kirk West, a longtime Allman Brothers insider, for a book West never got around to writing. That material gives Paul’s work a real richness and depth. Brothers and Sisters is a very good read for anyone interested in the Allman Brothers, the sounds of the ’70s or simply great music. It rocks.”
- Los Angeles Times
“Paul, who has conducted extensive interviews with just about everyone in the Allman Brothers world (and also draws on hundreds of hours of interviews by Kirk West for a book that never got written), has previously written the definitive book on Allman Brothers Band history, One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band. So is another book really necessary? Yes it is, given everything that happened to the band from ’71 to ’76. Like Warren Zanes’ recent Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska, it uses a great album as a launching pad for a thorough exploration of an artist at a unique and fascinating point in their history.”
- Jay Lustig, NJ Arts.net
“Paul’s previous book, One Way Out, is a fascinating oral history written with the band’s participation, capturing various highs and lows from the 1960s right up to the years just before their final show in 2014. Paul’s latest Allman Brothers book, though, is even more rewarding. It’s a traditional narrative featuring Paul’s clean, smart, conversational prose, which he uses to make a strong case for Brothers and Sisters indeed being the definitive album of the 1970s. The book also explores how the Allman Brothers played an important role in getting their Georgia governor, Jimmy Carter, elected president and delves into the band’s relationship with the Grateful Dead, leading to one of the largest rock festivals of all time, Summer Jam at Watkins Glen. The “Brothers and Sisters” book utilizes previously unheard interviews with key figures, including Betts and Allman, conducted by Allman Brothers archivist, photographer, and “tour mystic” Kirk West in the mid-1980s, during the band’s second hiatus.” -Wade Tatangelo, Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
- Wade Tatangelo, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Texas Flood
An oral history is only as good as its sources, and ‘Texas Flood’ is thorough and far-reaching, with Vaughan’s bandmates, crew and family taking center stage.”
―New York Times Book Review
“By collecting the voices of those who were there, authors Alan Paul and Andy Aledort get as close as possible to Vaughan’s journey from record-obsessed Dallas kid to all-time guitar god, taking care to convey what made his music transcendent….Its heart is his absence, and its accomplishment is that it causes us to feel the full weight of his loss. In that, the book is its own kind of blues: stirring, cathartic, and real.”
―Texas Observer
“Almost 30 years after his untimely death in a helicopter crash, Stevie Ray Vaughan comes gloriously back to life in this all-out biography…Texas Flood unleashes that which made Vaughan a master musician and person.”
―Austin Chronicle
“Texas Flood adds greatly to the understanding and legacy of Stevie Ray Vaughan – both the man and the performer…Required reading for any SRV fan.”
―Houston Press
“A dynamically vivid new book that’s likely the premiere option available for anyone seeking a detail-packed, insider-style account into the life and tunes of Stevie Ray.”
―Dallas Observer
“A fascinating backstage pass, a front row seat at the epicenter of the Texas music that unfolded in the eighties and nineties in Austin, told in the many authentic voices that shared SRV’s life.”
―Lone Star Review
“Texas Flood provides handy insight into how Stevie Ray Vaughan became a modern day avatar for guitar slingers and music fans the world over. Stevie devoured life in no uncertain terms and his intriguing intensity comes through with a loud and clear message in this remarkable work.”
―Billy Gibbons, ZZ Top
“The authors tell the story of Stevie Ray through quotes from the people who knew him best. And what a story it is!! Even I learned a lot reading all the details in Texas Flood.”
―Reese Wynans, Double Trouble
“Stevie Ray Vaughan played with a magical, spiritual mystery that was one of a kind. His soul shines through his music, making it meaningful, powerful, and connective. Texas Flood is a compelling book that captures the essence of an extremely gifted musician, but even more importantly, a kind and beautiful person.”
―Eric Johnson, guitarist
“Texas Flood is the perfect homage to a brilliant guitarist, written by guys who understand him and his music. As a guitar player and a fan, I can feel Stevie Ray’s quest to find his tone and desire to express himself lifting off every page.”
―Joe Perry, Aerosmith
One Way Out
Macon NPR interviewed me for a Macon-centric profile that came off really well.
The Soundcheck Guide to the Allman Brothers includes not only a lengthy interview with me guiding host John Schaefer through the Allman Brothers music, as well as a full page write up. Another great job of using an interview with me to listen to some great ABB music.
"Though enough tomes have been published about the Allmans’ troubled history to deforest half of Brazil, only Paul’s book gets all the principal figures assessing and confessing. However open and moving Gregg Allman’s autobio from 2012 may have been, Paul’s book gives a much fuller picture of the dynamics that drive every member — including why guitarist Dickey Betts remains so vexing."
―Jim Farber of the New York Daily News
Big in China
WSJ China Real Time blog interview. My most honest answer ever about being a male trailing spouse.
Lisa Belkin, of the New York Times’ Motherlode blog, picked up on Panda Dad and gave it a big boost.
My first-person account of the unlikely formation and rise of the Woodie Alan Band, from the WSJ Weekend section.
And the Pittsburgh Tribune Review wrote a really nice piece, as well.
One of the most in-depth thoughtful pieces you will read about me or Big in China, on Jambands.com.
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