Out of the Blue

<i>Out of the Blue: Life on the Road with Muddy Waters</i> begins with a moment lifted from a young musician's dreams. Brian Bisesi a guitarist barely out of his teens is invited on stage to fill in for a missing member of the band backing blues legend Muddy Waters. This life-changing quirk of fate opens the door into a world of challenges and opportunities that Bisesi an Italian American reared in the comforts of a New York City suburb can barely imagine. Despite their differences Bisesi and Waters hit it off and what might have been a one-night stand turns into a career. From 1978 to 1980 Bisesi works for Waters as his road manager bean-counter and at times his confidant while often sitting in with the band. <p/> Bisesi's years with the band take him to Europe Japan Canada and across the United States as Waters tours--and parties--with rock gods like Eric Clapton the Rolling Stones a Beatle and the gamut of musicians who came of age with Waters and introduced a younger generation to the blues. In <i>Out of the Blue</i> Bisesi captures it all: from the pranks and tensions among bluesmen enduring a hard life on the road to observations about Waters's technique his love of champagne and reefer his eye for women and his sometimes-acrid views of contemporary music. Bisesi has sharp insights into the ill-conceived management decisions that led to the dissolution of Waters's longest-serving band in June of 1980. This book will rivet amuse and occasionally infuriate blues aficionados. It is a raucous and intimate portrait of the blues scene at a pivotal moment in time that fascinates music historians and blues fans alike.