August 23, 2024 - Joe Boyd and ZE Books have announced a series of preview events for Boyd’s new book And the Roots of Rhythm Remain: A Journey through Global Music, which will be published on September 24 (pre-order HERE). The tour is highlighted by an evening at Villa Albertine in New York City on September 11 at 6 PM ET, featuring Boyd in conversation with musician, performer, writer and multidisciplinary artist David Byrne. Seating for this event is very limited and will be available with RSVP on a first come, first served basis. This event is co-organized by the World Music Institute. RSVP for Joe Boyd in conversation with David Byrne at Villa Albertine HERE. 

The NYC event for And the Roots of Rhythm Remain will be preceded by a UK tour including an already sold-out evening at Foyles in London, where Boyd will be joined in conversation by musician, producer, visual artist and activist Brian Eno. More information HERE. In advance of the book’s UK publication, The Guardianhas already hailed Boyd as “the Proust of music history.”  

Boyd will also be appearing at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn on September 8 for a live conversation with writer, geographer and Pioneer Works Director of Publishing Joshua Jelly-Shapiro. The conversation, part of Pioneer Works’ ‘Second Sundays’ programming, will be broadcast live as part of the venue’s Broadcast Radio Hour. Following his appearances in New York, Boyd will embark on a tour of venues, bookstores, record stores, and universities across the country, with stops in Tulsa (Bob Dylan Center), Los Angeles (Book Soup), Austin (Waterloo Records), Chicago (Old Town School of Folk Music), Santa Fe (Collected Works), and more. Notably, Boyd will be a featured panelist at Americanafest in Nashville on September 20, where he will be joined in conversation by Buddy Miller. Boyd will also be making appearances at Book Passage in San Francisco, where he’ll be joined by Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads/Modern Lovers), and at Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, DC, where he will be joined by NPR All Songs Considered creator Bob Boilen.  

An exhilarating travelog through global music, And the Roots of Rhythm Remain celebrates the impact of the world’s musical traditions on Western popular culture and vice versa: tango on the eve of World War I, Latin dance across the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, reggae in the ’70s, pre-War samba, pre-Beatles bossa nova, and beyond. Having spent decades producing and releasing groundbreaking music through his label Hannibal Records, Boyd shows how personalities, events, and politics in places such as Havana, Lagos, Budapest, Kingston, and Rio are as colorful and momentous as anything that took place in New Orleans, Harlem, Laurel Canyon, or Liverpool. Boyd’s first book in 17 years follows his acclaimed memoir White Bicycles: Making Music In The 1960s, which was praised by the New York Times as “an irresistible tale” and chosen by Elton John as his favorite book about music.

More information about And the Roots of Rhythm Remain HERE. 

Advance praise for And the Roots of Rhythm Remain includes a 5/5 star review from MOJO Magazine calling it “The War and Peace of World Music”, and a favorable review by The Guardian, who praised it as “a history of the human world, told through music”. The book has also received rave reviews from a coterie of musical figures, including Brian Eno (“I doubt I’ll ever read a better account of the history and sociology of popular music than this one”), Robert Plant(“Profound... and beyond”), Ry Cooder (“One only hopes this can be taught in schools”), and David Byrne (“Love this book. Joe gives us the wider and deeper contexts that shaped music. And, in many cases, he was there”). 

Full US Tour Itinerary

September 8 - Brooklyn, New York - Pioneer Works (in conversation with Joshua Jelly-Shapiro) (https://pioneerworks.org/programs/second-sundays-september-2024)

September 9 - Boston, MA - Porter Square Books (https://www.portersquarebooks.com/event/joe-boyd-author-and-roots-rhythm-remain)

 September 11 - New York City - Villa Albertine (in conversation with David Byrne) (https://www.albertine.com/events/and-the-roots-of-rhythm-remain-legendary-producer-joe-boyd-in-conversation-with-david-byrne/)

September 14 - Washington, DC - Politics and Prose at Union Market (in conversation with Bob Boilen) (https://www.politics-prose.com/joe-boyd)

September 16 - Chicago, IL - Old Town School of Folk Music (https://www.oldtownschool.org/concerts/2024/09-16-2024-joe-boyd-in-conversation/)

September 19 - Murfreesboro, TN - University of Middle Tennessee | Not open to the public 

September 20 - Nashville, TN - Americanafest (in conversation with Buddy Miller) (https://americanamusic.org/americanafest/)

September 22 - Tulsa, OK - Bob Dylan Center (https://bobdylancenter.com/event/book-club-joe-boyd/)

September 24 - Santa Fe, NM - Collected Works (https://www.collectedworksbookstore.com/events-1/joe-boyd-and-the-roots-of-rhythm-remain)

September 25 - Albuquerque, NM - Bookworks (https://www.bkwrks.com/event/joe-boyd-and-roots-rhythm-remain)

September 30 - San Francisco, CA - Book Passage, Corte Madera Store (in conversation with Jerry Harrison) (https://www.bookpassage.com/event/joe-boyd-and-roots-rhythm-remain-corte-madera-store)

September 30 - Berkeley, CA - Mrs. Dalloway’s (https://www.mrsdalloways.com/events/record-producer-joe-boyd-his-new-book-and-roots-rhythm-remain)

October 3 - Los Angeles, CA - Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/event/joe-boyd)

October 6 - Houston, TX - Contemporary Arts Museum (https://camh.org/)

October 8 - San Marcos, TX - Center for Texas Music History, Texas State University (in conversation with Joe Nick Patoski) (https://www.txst.edu/ctmh/news-events.html)

October 8 - Austin, TX - Waterloo Records (https://waterloorecords.com/CustomPage/13511)