Rose & the Briar

<p>Praised by Robbie Robertson of The Band as "a classic & a ticket to ride" The Rose & the Briar assembles an astonishing group of writers and artists: Paul Muldoon Stanley Crouch R. Crumb Jon Langford of the Mekons Sharyn McCrumb Luc Sante Joyce Carol Oates Dave Marsh and more than a dozen other novelists essayists performers and critics; to explore the ineffable power of the American ballad. From "Barbara Allen" through "The Wreck of the Old 97" to contemporary ballads by Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen The Rose & the Briar is as Geoffrey O'Brien hailed in the Los Angeles Times Book Review "a book full of internal echoes and provocative coincidences" featuring "historical investigation shamanistic trance-journey memoir novella and cartoon" where "names and costumes change soldiers become cowboys demon lovers become backwoods murderer; the voices are unmistakably distinct but they share a common ground."</p>