Encyclopedic…packed with enough info to make a blues nerd giddy with
joy…[a] rich, resonant, detailed account…this book draws you in the way a novel does, one by
Dostoyevsky, say, in which the hero is part genius, part stumblebum, a flawed artist making his
way half-aware through a world of joys and pitfalls—someone very much like most of us, in other
words, if a lot more talented and a little more careless.
— Wall Street
Journal
Thanks to new interviews with associates
and animated descriptions of Bloomfield's playing, motor-mouth way of talking and scholarly
music knowledge, [Bloomfield's] tug of war between the commercial and the uncompromised makes
for an absorbing read. Guitar King isn't the first book on Bloomfield but is
most fleshed out, and it also feels like one of the last great untold classic-rock tales, right
up through Bloomfield's mysterious passing...Even as the book will make you reach for or
stream A Long Time Comin’, Super
Session, East-West or
even Triumvirate (his overlooked 1973 album with John
Hammond and Dr. John, another failed supergroup plan) Guitar King gives you
its own version of the blues.
— Rolling Stone
Bloomfield hated stardom, and what unfolds is the story of a genius ‘relegated to
footnote status’ by a self-sabotaging streak Dann lays out in tragic, vivid detail.
— Rolling Stone, "Best Music Books of 2019"
A
compelling narrative of a young blues fanatic whose problems with drugs and mental instability
predated his fame...Those with a passion for the music will enjoy revisiting a time when
Bloomfield's influence exceeded even Stevie Ray Vaughn's.
— Kirkus
An important and compelling book about an important and
compelling artist. Bloomfield’s peers—Hendrix, Clapton, Joplin, the Rolling Stones, and of
course Dylan—have had their lives chronicled in exhaustive detail, and this biography is long
overdue. Dann's research is excellent, and the writing strong and engaging, tracing Bloomfield's
journey and telling his story with skill and understanding.
— Elijah Wald, author of
Escaping the Delta and Dylan Goes Electric!
David
Dann has restored bluesman Michael Bloomfield’s premier place in the pantheon as the very first
American rock guitar god. The author brings the excitement of Michael’s searing licks to the
written word and paints a poignant portrait of a man who was unequipped for and uninterested in
playing the games that the entertainment-industrial complex demands of artists. This soulful bio
reminds us of one man’s dedication to excellence at the expense of fame and fortune.
— Michael Simmons, contributor to MOJO and author of liner notes to Michael Bloomfield: From His
Head To His Heart To His Hands
I love this book.
It’s the best thing I’ve read about Mike Bloomfield and about the whole era.
—
Charlie Musselwhite, Grammy Award-winning blues harmonica player and
bandleader
Michael Bloomfield was a heart-to-hand
guitar player who was able to take everything he learned from B. B. King, Hubert Sumlin, and
everyone else he ever encountered—including the piano style of Little Brother Montgomery—and
turn it all inside out and make it his own. He is still the well I draw from for inspiration in
the blues, and I drink from it daily. Written from heart to hand just like Bloomfield played his
music, Guitar King is a must-read book for all guitar players and music fans
alike. It should be the final word on Michael Bloomfield’s journey and his legacy.
—
Jimmy Vivino, music director on Conan and leader of Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable
Band
This monumental book illuminates the legacy
of a musician who has been overshadowed by other Sixties luminaries but who helped bring the
vernacular of the blues to rock and whose playing influenced the course of rock and
roll.
— Library Journal, Starred Review
Dann makes a persuasive case for how this white kid from Glencoe, Illinois, played a
central role in introducing white audiences to urban blues.
— Booklist
[A] monumental examination.
— Music
Connection
Bringing Bloomfield's worlds alive,
with sections drawn from his meticulous (you can feel this is more than thorough) research…the
author deserves a medal for this work.
— Blues Matters
Exhaustive and engaging.
— Largehearted Boy
Guitar King is voluminous in size—as befits
a man whose contribution to modern music is greater than history has ever acknowledged. Drawing
from his deep research and numerous interviews, it is clear that Dann put tremendous effort into
this book. It is a biography that puts Bloomfield back into his rightful place on the roster of
rock and blues greats. The result is a tremendous and magnificent work.
—
CounterPunch
In this exhaustive, detailed
doorstopper of a tome, Dann...explores seemingly every nook and cranny of [Bloomfield's]
music…with Guitar King, the spotlight is absolutely on the subject, a
wealthy, Jewish kid who just wanted to play the blues.
— Houston Press
Breathtaking…Monumental and massive, Guitar
King gives its subject a suitably epic feel, even as it moves at a brisk pace through
the peaks and valleys of Bloomfield's life.
— Chairman Ralph
Readers of Guitar King will be both impressed and
frustrated as they read the fascinating tales of Bloomfield's life. The rocker always seemed at
the precipice of stardom, but whether it was turning down Bob Dylan or getting deep into the
world of drugs, he continually found ways to be his own worst enemy.
— Ultimate
Classic Rock
[Guitar King] goes
beyond previous Bloomfield books to examine his music and turbulent life at a near-molecular
level…[Dann] reveals the depths of Bloomfield's musical passions, genius and personal
despair…Guitar King establishes his pivotal role in American music
history.
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
This is the definitive book on Michael Bloomfield…Guitar King
reads like a novel with stunning points of new information and a great compassion for the
vagaries of Bloomfield's life…[Guitar King is] one of the greatest books
written about any musician, of any genre.
— PolitiChicks
[Dann] adds detail and nuance to our understanding of the life and career
of a guitarist who was one of the most respected performers of his generation.
— The
Current
[Guitar King is] a rich
and definitive presentation that will enhance the converted and convert the
unfamiliar.
— The Oakland Press
A
volume that's both extremely detailed and a very enjoyable read from beginning to
end…[Guitar King] is worth the considerable investment of time you'll need to
digest the whole tome, and a significant addition to blues-rock scholarship.
—
Folkrocks, "Top Two Dozen Rock Books of 2019"
Bloomfield's emblematic life is tirelessly documented in Guitar
King.
— Shepherd Express
Holding a reader's interest through hundreds of pages is a daunting task in a work of
non-fiction, but Dann keeps the story flowing in a way that steadily helps readers develop a
truer sense of Bloomfield the artist, and the person…No matter how much knowledge you may
already have about Michael Bloomfield, reading Dann's biography will certainly add multiple
layers of understanding about his life and the extent of his influence on the lineage of blues
guitar playing...[Guitar King is a] magnificent tribute to a man who
undoubtedly was a 'Guitar King,' making this book a highly recommended addition to any musical
library!
— Blues Blast Magazine
Dann
gives accounts of episodes in Bloomfield's life like he was there, even describing Bloom's fill
and solos on any given night like a guitar player telling another guitar player all about it.
Fans of Bloomfield will find it hard to put the book down and music history buffs will respect
the fales involved...Dann's writing puts you there next to Bloomfield as he encounters the
legends in his orbit like Dylan, Butterfield and Bloom's competitors like Eric Clapton...and
Jimi Hendrix.
— Punk Globe
Dann offers
close to eight-hundred pages virtually all of which are worth equally careful reading. Even the
play-by-plays of studio and stage performances, including the ill-conceived super-group KGB,
conjure a palpable sense of suspense…there's a sense of purpose in Dann's writing mirroring that
of Bloomfield's and that makes Guitar King hard to put down once the reading
starts and delivers a dual sense of melancholy and accomplishment when it's
complete...Compelling reading from start to finish...only this prolific artist's music itself
could be a more vivid act of advocacy.
— All About Jazz
Without doubt, author David Dann has the goods on who could well be the
most exciting electric guitarist to come out of all the 60s’ musical machinations. And though
the ’70s were pretty much a bust for Bloomfield, the decline and eventual sad demise of this
nonpareil bluesman holds so many intriguing what-could-have-beens that for anyone who is
super-interested in how the modern musical landscape was born and why it went so far south
during the ’70s for such a pivotal original, this is the tome that tells the tale.
—
Americana Highways
[Dann] restores Bloomfield to
the prominence he once enjoyed, careful to avoid hagiography as he documents the musician's rise
to glory and swift, heartbreaking (but seemingly inevitable) demise.
—
MOJO
Essential reading for serious rock and blues
fans.
— Goldmine Magazine
Michael
Bloomfield’s life was a great story waiting to be told, and David Dann has done it considerable
justice. His passion for his subject and the depth of his research are extraordinary...Dann has
done Michael Bloomfield’s fans a great service with this book...we should be happy that Dann
scrutinized this American icon with such insight.
— American Book Review
