Showing results by publisher "Audible Originals" in Biographies & Memoirs

In 2006, reporter Jamie Fullerton flew to Ohio to wrestle a bear named Caesar for a quirky magazine article. It was a strange day, and after the wrestle-induced adrenalin wore off, Fullerton noticed even stranger things about Caesar’s handler, hulking Ohio native, Sam Mazzola.

By the time of his death on July 23, 1885, Ulysses S. Grant was an icon in the historical memory of the United States. Just a few decades later, however, constant criticism of his military and political leadership had tarnished his reputation. Today’s historians have a far more balanced assessment of Grant as a Union Army general and an American president—and that appraisal is at the heart of Understanding Ulysses S. Grant: Portrait of a Warrior.

Brandy has influenced the last quarter century of pop music and helped define the R&B legacy of the ‘90s and ‘00s with seven rich, innovative albums. She’s an esteemed vocalist who along the way had to manage the pressures of teenage fame, young superstardom, and self-doubt. These are her Words + Music.

How do you explain Liz Phair? Looking at her career, the word fearless seems the right place to start. In Never Said Nothing, the latest in Audible’s Words + Music series, Phair charts her unlikely journey from making her first record - one that’s now ensconced on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” - to a trial by fire (she’d never set foot on stage before its release), to even more improbably, a second and a third, maybe fourth act, depending on how one counts these things.

“This isn't strictly speaking an instructional manual, but a work of comedic philosophy.” Elvis Costello - songwriter, singer, author, and Fender Jazzmaster known to his admirers as “The Little Hands of Concrete” - spins his tale with wit, grit, and spit to spare. How to Play the Guitar and Y, Costello’s new entry into Audible’s Words + Music series, combines recitation, impersonation, and musical illustration to show you how to turn a three-chord trick into a four-chord caper and let your curiosity take you where it will.

Sleater-Kinney’s co-leaders Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein dig into 25 years of shared history-making music and making noise. Listen to this bold duo speak openly about the places, people, and movements that have shaped their career as well as the evolution of their creative and personal relationship. The bandmates and friends trace how their ambitions and their relationship have continued to inform each other and how they’ve navigated through the ups and downs for the sake of the band and their art.

“This is a story about an idea that I have,” Americana legend and self-proclaimed “recovering folk singer” Steve Earle states early in his enthralling Words + Music performance. “This job of mine becomes an artform spontaneously in 1965 - when Bob Dylan wants to be John Lennon, and John Lennon wants to be Bob Dylan, whether either one of them would admit it or not - and in that moment, rock and roll becomes art."

Before he was nicknamed “Sting” by the leader of a local show band in northeast England, Gordon Sumner knew he was meant for more than his working-class background promised. He just didn’t know how to get there. In Upon Reflection, hear the singular talent trace his unlikely rise from his days as a young husband and father working as a local schoolteacher, to risking everything on a fateful move to London, and joining an aspiring punk band called The Police.

Gorgeous music, riveting stories, and the open road ahead. Don’t miss your chance to join Rufus Wainwright, the inimitable singer, songwriter, and composer, as he tracks his fascinating journey as an artist and man over the course of his deeply familiar car ride between the storied home of his youth (Saint-Sauveur, Quebec) and New York City, the birthplace of his musical rise. Part of Audible’s Words + Music series, Road Trip Elegies features more than 20 songs performed by Rufus and a tight-knit band (including family and friends) at a recent set of performances out West.

Legendary Grammy Award-winning producer and towering musical icon T Bone Burnett speaks plainly, which is all the more reason why his stunning new Words + Music, The Confederacy: Truth and Reconciliation, lands with such force. And his songs, delivered straight from the heart, carry with them the weight of unvarnished truth and the wisdom he’s gathered from a lifetime.

A leading light on the alternative and indie music scene for nearly 40 years, Jeff Tweedy is a master of the art in the artifice of songwriting. In this volume, Tweedy introduces listeners to the people, occasions, and frames of mind that have inspired but don’t necessarily populate the iconic songbooks of bands Wilco, Uncle Tupelo, and Tweedy.

A true musical polymath, Beck shifts between and blends genres and generations with a preternatural ease—one foot in the secret history of American music and the other moving toward the future. Consistently brushed off by industry gatekeepers on both coasts, Beck perseveres—ultimately building a bespoke audience of millions who share his borderless musical vision. In Dear Life, Beck proves that the most powerful art is made by those who are brave enough to be fully themselves.

Seven years into her second marriage, Kate Nason discovered her husband was cheating on her. Then, the unimaginable happened. Kate woke to the news that one of her husband’s “other women” was involved with an American president. It was January of 1998. The press surrounded her home, clamoring for details and transformed Kate’s private heartbreak into public humiliation.

From the creator of the New York Times best-selling Sad Animal Facts series, Brooke Barker, comes a quirky, hilarious memoir-in-essays about her journey from a childhood in the Mormon church to a Jewish adulthood, and all the wonder and weirdness of faith.

Dermot O’Leary sits down to talk with people from all walks of life who have led extraordinary lives Oscar-winning actors, world-renowned musicians, reformed mobsters, warzone doctors and sporting legends....

Dermot has curated an incredible line-up of guests to discuss the amazing paths they have taken.

Twenty episodes released weekly from 21st July 2022.

Yvonne Durant was one of the few Black women writing ads for major brands in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Ambitious and determined, she ultimately won a position at a global ad agency in Milan, Italy. While her career was exciting, it was a challenge to be self-defining in a Mad Men world that had little experience with or respect for Black experience.

From an Oscar winner to a bomb disposal expert, Dermot O’Leary interviews people who have lived fascinating lives. He talks to some of the biggest names in the business in TV and film, music, books, sport, fashion and politics. Plus he finds out about the lives and careers of those who don’t always have the spotlight on them. If they’ve led an interesting life, then consider them booked!

What’s it like to parent a child in transition? Inspired by the acclaimed podcast How to Be a Girl, this is a highly personal and beautifully narrated memoir by Marlo Mack recounting the journey she’s been on since her three-year-old declared he should have been born a girl. And Mack agrees to the child’s request to be a girl.

Imani Perry’s Audible Original A Dangerously High Threshold for Pain tells the dramatic story of her ongoing struggle with lupus—an autoimmune disease that attacks multiple organ systems—and what we can all learn from those who are grappling with chronic illness. It’s a powerful and poetic story that evokes the works of Susan Sontag, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Audre Lorde.

Owning It, produced especially for Pride Month in collaboration with the historic live event and podcast Don’t Tell My Mother!, brings Audible Members a collection of uplifting, raw, and hilarious stories from queer actors, comedians, and personalities. Cohosted by beloved actress and activist Alexandra Billings and storytelling maven Nikki Levy, Owning It is a joyous celebration of LGBTQIA+ stories and icons.