How Music Works

Cough, cough, it's a little dusty in here...

I saw David Byrne's How Music Works in my Amazon recommendations before last Christmas, just in time to get it on my wish list. And Santa came through! I didn't know exactly what to expect. All I knew was David Byrne, and How Music Works, and that's enough for me. Had to have it.

Fantastic book. This is Byrne writing about music from a variety of perspectives. Parts of it are autobiographical but not all. There are engaging, high-level descriptions of the creative process behind many of his works, both with Talking Heads and as a solo artist and collaborator. There are histories of performing venues and of music-related technologies, and how they affected the music produced in/with them. There is a compelling case for amateur musicianship that has encouraged me to keep making music, however awful I may be at it. There is a sobering discussion of how one makes money (if any) in the music business today, and the pros and cons of both the changing role of record labels and of the democratizing effects of the Internet on music distribution.

Like other Byrne I've read, there is no over-arching thread or narrative. It is a collection of essays that one could read in any order and enjoy just as well. It is written largely in a conversational style in which you can clearly hear Byrne speaking to you, the reader. He is characteristically witty, funny, and insightful. For someone interested in all aspects of modern music, and especially for any fan of the music of Byrne and of Talking Heads, I can strongly recommend it.