Southern Rock

The Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd helped usher in a new kind of southern music from Jacksonville, Florida. Together, they and fellow bands like Blackfoot, 38 Special, and Molly Hatchet would reset the course of '70s rock. Yet Jacksonville seemed an unlikely hotbed for a new musical movement. Michael FitzGerald blends eyewitness detail with in-depth history to tell the story of how the River City bred this generation of legendary musicians.

Levon is the dazzling, epic biography of Levon Helm - the beloved, legendary drummer and singer of The Band.

The Allman Brothers Band’s Brothers and Sisters was not only the band’s best-selling album at over seven million copies sold, it was also a powerfully influential release, both musically and culturally, one whose influence continues to be profoundly felt.

In 1996, Patterson Hood recruited friends and fellow musicians in Athens, Georgia, to form his dream band: a group with no set lineup that specialized in rowdy rock and roll. The Drive-By Truckers, as they named themselves, grew into one of the best and most consequential rock bands of the 21st century, a great live act whose songs deliver the truth and nuance rarely bestowed on Southerners, so often reduced to stereotypes. Where the Devil Don’t Stay tells the band’s unlikely story not chronologically but geographically.

In the summer of 1964 Jacksonville, Florida teenager Ronnie Van Zant and some of his friends hatched the idea of forming a band to play covers of the Rolling Stones, Beatles, Yardbirds, and the country and blues-rock music they had grown to love. Naming their band after Leonard Skinner, the gym teacher at Robert E. Lee Senior High School who constantly badgered the long-haired aspiring musicians to get haircuts, they were soon playing gigs at parties, and bars throughout the South.

In the charming little town of Heartsboro— rumored to be the birthplace of Cupid— Valentine’s Day is more than candy hearts and roses; it’s a tradition. Every year, the Valentine’s Ball draws hopeful singles to its twinkling dance floor, all chasing the promise of true love. The town buzzes with excitement as whispers of Cupid’s annual appearance ignite imaginations and stir hearts. But Liz Blackstone isn’t buying it. Back in Heartsboro for her twentieth high school homecoming, Liz has no patience for childhood myths or whimsical beliefs. Her former high school boyfriend feels...

A long time ago, in a suburban high school not so far away, a closeted nerd (me) and a closeted soccer star (Hutch) fell in love and planned to make their public debut at prom. Until Hutch bailed at the last minute, leaving me with a broken heart and unworn tuxedo. Tale as old as time, right? I spent the past ten years working to forget Hutch, returning to our old high school to teach and make new memories that could erase ones of him. I thought Hutch was ancient history, off living his professional athlete life.

Former tour manager and plane crash survivor Ron Eckerman reveals the rigors of life on the road as Lynyrd Skynyrd takes the world by storm in 1976, and the ironic turn of events preceding the tragic plane crash in 1977.

I should be a glitter bomb of excitement about my college friends getting married. But all I can think about is running into my uber-successful ex and his new boyfriend at the wedding . . . while I'm flying painfully solo. I need a plus one, stat. Enter Raleigh Marshall. As luck (or misfortune) would have it, a picture of me and South Rock High's too-blessed-to-be-stressed football coach accidentally finds its way on social media, making people believe we're an item. Raleigh is hot, charming, and one of South Rock's most popular teachers. The problem is that he knows it.

When bestselling author Megan Pressfield retreats to Morgan’s Rock to pen the sequel to her hit novel and rebuild her life after a devastating divorce, she expects peace and inspiration. Instead, she finds a mansion steeped in secrets—and a doorway to another time. In an old armoire, Megan discovers an exquisite 1930s gown. Slipping it on, she’s transported to 1932, where the jazz-age glamour of Hollywood collides with something far darker. Morgan’s Rock is haunted by restless spirits and the shadow of a disastrous party that left lives shattered and secrets buried. As Megan delves ...

The inspiration for the major motion picture Priscilla directed by Sofia Coppola, this New York Times best seller reveals the intimate story of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley, told by the woman who lived it.

I love watching chemicals bond, but I avoid the practice myself. When I'm not teaching, I'm hanging out with my cat and putting together puzzles. I shy away from romantic entanglements because I know firsthand the collateral damage they cause. Until I bump into Anton and Sebastian: best friends, business partners, and former wrestling superstars at South Rock High who could barely pass my class. Catching up turns into drinking, which turns into dancing, which turns into them practicing wrestling moves on me, sans clothing.

At the age of thirty-nine, Alice Chang suddenly finds herself living in the last place she expected: her mother’s house. But in the face of divorce, eviction, and the recent death of her father, she doesn’t have a choice. Watching as her mother thrives in a new job and meets younger men at the local gym, Alice struggles, reflecting on her parents’ marriage, her relationship with each of them, as she adjusts to being single again for the first time in twenty years. Then she finds her father’s old journal...and uncovers a shocking family secret.

In the small fishing village of Jinx Bay, Northwest Florida, tensions rise over whether to host the annual Christmas Festival. With the Vietnam War raging, some residents argue that it's no time for celebration, while others believe the town needs hope. As heated debates threaten to tear the community apart, a heart-wrenching revelation shifts perspectives, and plans for a festive event begin to take shape. But when the wealthy and glamorous Candy McCoy arrives in town driving a sleek sports car, everything changes. What could she possibly want in a place like Jinx Bay? All eyes are on her...

The last person in the world Gracie Jackson thought she’d ever marry was Garth Graham, the annoying, arrogant editor of the local newspaper. But that was before she got to know the real Garth - the sweet, compassionate man she fell head-over-heels in love with.A much anticipated wedding takes place while Garth is waiting to be deported to St. Lo, France, during WWII. Gracie opens the orphanage at Nine Gables, taking in five young foundlings, only a few days after the wedding. Garth has three weeks to become acquainted with the children before his deportment. Life is good. For a season. ...

In one month, I turn thirty-five with my virginity still intact. Is there anything more embarrassing than knowing most of my French students have gotten more action than me? Je suis triste. When I accidentally reveal this secret to my close friend and co-worker Seamus, South Rock's baseball coach, he offers to help me round the bases. It has to be a joke, because Seamus is one million percent straight. There's no way he'd want to fool around with a chubby language nerd like me, even though I've harbored a secret crush on him since the day he first walked into the teachers' lounge.

The Powell brothers - Muir and Moody - are as different as Cain and Abel. Muir is an innocent, a shy young man with big dreams. Moody, the older and wilder brother - embittered by the death of his father, by years of fighting his mother, and by his jealousy of Muir's place in the family - takes to moonshine and gambling and turns his anger on his brother. Muir escapes by wandering, making his way around the country in attempts to find something - an occupation, a calling - to match his ambition.

Bound to a homeless vagrant by invisible chains, Mandy Gafford longs to be set free from her wretched way of life, though steel shackles would be easier to break. She dreams of ways to escape her miserable existence - but she can’t - because he’s her daddy. He needs her. He said so. And as much as she wishes it wasn’t so, she supposes she needs him, also. As she and her shiftless father ride across Mobile Causeway after a major hurricane, Mandy stares at the gruesome destruction along the Alabama Gulf Coast. Never has she seen so many blue tarps, but it isn’t the tarps that trouble ...

There’s trouble in the land of cotton when a handsome hobo hops off a train bearing a sinister secret capable of ruining lives—including the pristine life of Lizzie Lancaster, a precocious young heiress. When the flirtatious Lizzie offers Kiah Grave a ride in her new Model A, her cousin warns her it isn’t right. What will townsfolk say if they see her picking up a vagrant at the tracks like a common chippy? Besides, Lizzie’s mother already has a beau picked out for her—Oliver Weinberger, the Senator’s son. But the daring Lancaster heiress has never bowed to protocol. Her quick ...

When the Chalkboard Preacher accompanies his friend to the Psychiatric Hospital to secure his wife’s release, the husband is horrified to learn she’s even more disturbed than when she was admitted. She fails to recognize him and clings to a doll she believes to be the baby they never had. Things go awry when an angry, domineering nurse sabotages the husband’s intent to take his wife home. Determined to free her and convinced the end will outweigh the means, the husband devises a plan that will ultimately involve his faithful friend, the Chalkboard Preacher. Would the Reverend Castle ...