Overview

Birmingham's rock music scene has thrived on camaraderie and collaboration for decades. With no competitiveness, it has maintained a punk rock ethos while also appealing to a mainstream audience, thanks to DIY clubs and alternative radio support. Once one of the country's most successful AAA radio stations, 107.7 The X and the A&R power of station head Scott Register provided the early radio success that helped break Train, Matchbox Twenty and John Mayer. The same scene produced Jim Bob & the Leisure Suits, the Primitons, the Sugar La Las and Verbena. From local legends like Hotel and Telluride to national sensation St. Paul and the Broken Bones, writer Blake Ells tells the story of the Magic City's indelible stamp on the history of modern rock.

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9781625858962

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In recent years, the Birmingham area produced American Idol winners Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks and American Idol runners-up Bo Bice and Diana DeGarmo. And other great performers spent at least part of their lives here, including jazz great Lionel Hampton, Broadway and TV star Nell Carter and R&B legend Eddie Kendricks. The city also has a story to tell about its rock n' roll and punk scenes going back to the 1970s, according to local music journalist Blake Ells. Those communities have quietly thrived for nearly 50 years, Ells writes in his new book, Magic City Rock: Spaces and Faces of Birmingham's Scene, published by History Press in Charleston, South Carolina. Ells shares some of the stories of the dedicated local musicians, promoters and club owners who have quietly built a strong local alternative rock scene.

Author Information

Blake Ells is a freelance writer. His work has been published at AL.com and in the Birmingham Post-Herald, Birmingham News, Weld: Birmingham's Newspaper, Birmingham Magazine, Good Grit, Leeds Tribune and Over the Mountain Journal, among many others. Blake has served the Literacy Council of Central Alabama, where he was a past chair. He also served Alzheimer's of Central Alabama and the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. He is a proud alumnus of Auburn University and was raised in Rogersville, Alabama, but he currently resides in Birmingham. Follow him @blakeells.

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