Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #123160 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-30
• Released on: 2007-10-30
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

About the Author
Susan Voelz, a violinist and songwriter, has performed with Poi Dog Pondering, giant sand, and Alejandro Escovedo, among many others. Her solo recordings include 13 Ribs and Summer Crashing. She lives in Chicago.

Customer Reviews

Any musician contemplating hitting the road, and any library catering to musicians, must have this.
Touring musicians and those wishing a glimpse into the experiences of an artist's life on the road will find Susan Voelz's THE MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO THE ROAD: A SURVIVAL HANDBOOK AND ALL-ACCESS BACKSTAGE PASS TO TOURING a fine reference reflecting the author's years of road experience with John Mellencamp and other famous acts. The focus is on how to prepare for and conduct a tour, and covers everything from leasing a tour bus and understanding bus etiquette to getting paid, road romances, and a return to off-road living. Any musician contemplating hitting the road, and any library catering to musicians, must have this.

One of those books where you literally cannot help but laugh out loud!
This book is a must have for any music lover whether you have toured or wondered what artists go through on tour.

Amusing quips find their way into almost every paragraph and the writer does an excellent job of really taking us inside life on the road. All of the experiences are there...the humorous, the painful, and the melancholy and all culminate into interesting stories within a book that is hard to put down. I read this on a plane from New York and surprised myself by laughing out loud...and often. Several other passengers asked me what I was reading and actually laughed with me when I read particular quotes to them.

This is my favorite part of the book that I just want to share...

"You can almost see trouble coming. There are two predictable problems on van tours. The first is being consistently late. When you arrive late, with your double latte and Egg McMuffin, everyone wishes they too had gone to get a double espresso drink and a bite to eat. But no, they came to the van on time and have had no coffee and no Egg McMuffin. You have made them wait. And they are empty-handed and hungry. They don't like you as much as they did last night. You have been inconsiderate this morning. You have been selfish. Suddenly they think you don't play as well as you did yesterday." -Susan Voelz

God as I am writing this I am laughing again and remembering how so many people on that plane enjoyed it too!


-Kayleigh O (Chicago)

The Road
This is an excellent book about what to expect on the road as a touring band. Susan Voelz has turned years of observations and notebook entries from first hand experience as a touring musician into a valuable handbook. Her style of writing is very natural and broad in scope. It is aimed at novices to seasoned road warriors and it covers most situations that one would encounter. I was surprised to read that the band bus will leave a straggler musician behind if they are late -- the business of touring is a very serious business. But I don't see the logic of this since the stragglers, left to their own devices and in some cases in their pajamas with their credit cards on the bus, might miss the next show completely. But Ms. Voelz assures us this can happen. She leaves no stone unturned devoting much of the book to caveats about too much partying and touring romances, but novices might misconstrue this information as a guide to debauchery. But Ms. Voelz always returns to the true reason for touring, a love of music and the desire to play in front of a grateful audience. All the joys, sage advice and pitfalls are here. It mainly describes touring in the USA. I highly recommend this book if you are in a band or if you always wanted to know what it is like to tour the country and play music live.