Sunday, January 10, 2010

Beautiful Mess

What a Beautiful Mess was an interesting book, IF you care a bit for Diamond Rio, which I do. If you aren't a fan you would have to have some interest in the music industry at the very least to get anything out of this book. For someone with no working knowledge of nashville and a high level of interest I found it very informative. It read like five guys who interviewed with someone and had that someone write a book about them but the writer did a sufficient job with personal photos and such to give an impression of each man's personality. What I found interesting about the book is the winding paths that led these guys together and the basic values they all had that kept them from the ridiculous celebrity drama so many people have. A good country fan might argue this is true across that genre of music but Garth Brooks, Vince Gill, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash mute that point in my opinion, which gives some basis to the point of the book which is that Diamond Rio did things well as far as being a band. All this to say that it won't be my favorite book ever but it was a quick and interesting read and because these guys have never been media hounds you are extremely likely to learn lots of fun tidbits and things you wouldn't have known otherwise, I was most impressed with Mr. Oleander and his metamorphis during the bands history. Neat guys, interesting career, decent read.