It’s a standard trope in the Beatles world that the U.K. LPs are the standards and the U.S. Capitol Records releases are hatchet jobs (leading the group to create its famous “butcher cover”).

I can’t and don’t argue this, of course, but that can obscure the fact that millions of us were introduced to the Fab Four via these American releases, which have consequently become iconic to us.

Thus, the creatively titled “The Beatles 1964 U.S. Albums in Mono” box set is a long-awaited treasure chest for some ... me included, not only because it brings back for the first time in decades these U.S. LPs, but also presents them in mono, which is how most folks heard them when they were released. (Those of us who were a tad too young were cursed with often simulated stereo mixes that weren’t especially rewarding listens.)

This new set includes seven albums (one is a double, thus eight discs) in reproductions of their original sleeves, in a slipcased box. These are the Beatles LPs released in a single year (except for one, which I’ll explain), if you can believe that.

There’s “Meet the Beatles,” “The Beatles Second Album,” “A Hard Day’s Night (Original Motion Picture Sound Track),” “Something New,” “The Beatles Story,” “Beatles ‘65” and “The Early Beatles.”

The latter LP – released in early 1965 – was Capitol’s version (tinkered, of course) of the Vee-Jay Records’ “Introducing the Beatles,” issued in January 1964.

This is all the classic early period Beatles music; the sound that sparked Beatlemania across the globe, and needs no introduction (though it bears mentioning that “The Beatles Story” double-LP was a documentary set with interviews and news clips rather than music). The set is assembled with care, mostly.

The discs are analog mastered from original mono masters on 180-gram vinyl pressings that are flat and clean and housed in poly-lined sleeves. Each disc also comes with a replica of the original inner sleeve and a four-page brochure with a background essay, tape box photos, ads and other images.

Some might quibble that a number of the tracks are not true mono mixes but fold-downs of stereo mixes into a single channel, but that’s how the original LPs were constructed and in the interest of authenticity, I think this was the right choice. Anyone who wants the original true mono mixes of this material can dig up a copy of the earlier “Beatles in Mono” box.

The sleeves are printed on heavy duty glossy stock with their original designs and they’re sturdy and attractive.

All of the LPs here are also available separately, except for “The Beatles Story,” which is exclusive to the box, which is a handsome and striking presentation that any Beatles fan will love to own.

Do I have quibbles? Two, but they’re pretty minor.

The “Beatles ‘65” booklet essay includes two long paragraphs twice, which is OK, unless the repeated text means we lost some other text that was meant to be in its place.

The other is that this box clearly strives for authenticity, which is admirable, and it is almost entirely successful. The one lapse is that, despite the fact that the technology clearly exists to do sleeves these days in the tip-on style – with a front cover slick pasted onto heavy cardboard after the back cover is glued on and its edges folded over the edges – the choice was made not to do them, even though this is how the records were originally released.

I’d guess it was a cost-related decision, but considering the price tag on the set, one would think a detail like that could’ve been included.

However, I think this box is a major step in reminding us that these LPs were, and are, beloved to countless Beatles fans, who treasure them as much today as when they were first heard, shortcomings and all.

Also, it will make a great companion piece to the new Disney Channel documentary “Beatles ‘64,” which debuts on Friday, Nov. 29.

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Also new in Beatles-land this holiday season is a 50th anniversary reissue of George Harrison’s “Living in the Material World,” which has gotten a new mix and a couple different versions.

While I’m content with the bright new mix of the original LP in its original gatefold sleeve – which highlights Harrison’s emotive guitar work and pushes his vocals even more up front – others might opt to pop for the same in orange vinyl from Barnes & Noble, clear vinyl from Amazon or purple wax from the online Harrison store.

Still others might crave even more, and for them there’s a two-disc version with session outtakes. For the die-hards, there’s also, of course, a limited edition super deluxe box with the two discs, a Blu-Ray with Dolby Atomos mixes of the whole shebang, a hardcover book and a 7-inch 45 of the previously unreleased “Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond),” recorded with Ringo and Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Rick Danko from The Band.

This is a record I’ve always thought to be underrated (though there were positive reviews of it over the years too)  – songs like “Give Me Love” and “Be Here Now” are among Harrison’s best solo work – and the new mix seems to be providing a fresh look, which is great.

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As much as I listened on repeat to the Beatles as a kid, I probably dug into Elvis Costello’s two 1986 yin/yang albums – “King of America” and “Blood and Chocolate” – nearly as much. Thus, I was thrilled to hear that the former was getting a multi-disc treatment – called "King of America & Other Realms" – in time for the holidays this year.

While I’m still reading Costello’s extensive notes to try and wrap my head around why these six discs of material have been married into this set – some are obvious, like a disc of “KoA” outtakes and demos and a disc with a live show featuring much of the material from January 1987, others seem less so – I’m also just enjoying the embarrassment of musical riches here.

While I wonder about the exclusion of the “KoA”-era outtake, “Betrayal” – the quality of which Costello and I seem to disagree upon – and also dream about how a “1986” box set with “KoA” and “Blood & Chocolate” and its attendant outtakes, demos, live versions, etc. would look and sound, I’m doing it while thoroughly enjoying live and demo versions of “Sleep of the Just,” and rediscovering just how much I love “Shoes Without Heels” and “Suffering Face.”

And, since “King of America” is one of the Costello records that remains among my top five favorites, just to be nudged to pick it up again is a gift.

The six CDs are packaged in a slim, roughly 10-inch square hardback book with those in-depth musings, recording and release details, lyrics and photos. It has “gift” written all over it (thankfully not literally).

Talking Heads – which, of course, has a Milwaukee connection in guitarist/keyboardist Jerry Harrison (a Shorewood native) – was one of the best bands to emerge from New York's CBGB in the mid-1970s.

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The band’s stellar debut – “Talking Heads: 77” – gets a three-CD and one Blu-Ray box set that looks like an oversized, but slim, hardcover book (which it also is). The first disc has the original LP remastered from the original two-track analog master and disc two has outtakes, demos, singles tracks and rarities, including “Sugar On My Tongue” and “I Want to Live” from 1975.

What I’ve been rockin’ most is the October 1977 CBGB gig that was recorded for a radio broadcast and previewed a lot of the material that would end up on the band’s second LP, released the following summer.

The book has commentaries from all the band members, recording details, reproductions of tape boxes, photos and more.

Speaking of Greenwich Village ...

Also getting a deep dive is a trove of records Jimi Hendrix made at his Electric Lady Studios on 8th Street, just off 6th Avenue.

As a kid I’d always walk past the mysterious place with its curving brick exterior and the small Electric Lady sign and wonder who was inside making a record.

This year, there’s been a great documentary about the studio and how Hendrix built it to his specifications, used it as a place to stretch out musically and rented it to others to make records, (including, excitingly, for me, to The Clash, much later on).

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The new "Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision" box holds five LPs – pressed on audiophile quality vinyl by QRP – worth of previously unreleased Hendrix music recorded at the studio, including extended jams, a long medley, alternate versions of familiar tunes like “Angel” and “Ezy Rider.”

There’s also a DVD that includes the documentary film and 20 tracks mixed in 5.1 surround sound.

Add in a big glossy book with photos, recording details and more and you’ve got something every Hendrix fan will treasure.

Bowie fan to buy for? Fret not as the good folks at Rhino Records have got “David Bowie Rock ‘n’ Roll Star,” an exhaustive five-CD set in a slipcase with an equally massive hardcover book detailing Bowie’s career from early 1971 through the creation of Ziggy Stardust, via demos, radio sessions, TV appearances, singles tracks, live recordings and more.

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Included are 29 previously unreleased tracks and, on a Blu-Ray, the entire “Ziggy Stardust” album, plus additional mixes, alternate versions, outtakes and more.

The hardcover book has more than 100 pages of reviews, articles, photos, memorabilia and more and there’s even a second book, a slimmer softcover that is a reproduction of Bowie’s own personal notebooks from the Ziggy era.

If ‘80s and ‘90s music is more your jam, then maybe you’ll be excited to see that British pop chanteuse Alison Moyet – who burst on the scene as half of Yazoo (aka Yaz) in 1982 – has a new retrospective out as she gears up for her spring 2025 U.S. tour, her first since 2017.

“Key” collects 16 songs from Moyet’s 40-year career, but it isn’t a greatest hits. Instead, alongside a couple new, previously unreleased tunes, Moyet has re-recorded 16 moments from across her nine solo LPs, singles and more. As always, buoying everything is Moyet’s distinctive, emotive voice.

Also from the ‘90s is the seemingly somewhat random release of the "U2 Zoo TV Live in Dublin 1993 EP" recorded at one of the insane 157-date tour’s hometown stops, the EP – on CD and download, but you want the vinyl – captures live performances of four songs from 1991’s “Achtung Baby” and one from “Zooropa,” which was recorded during the marathon tour.

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The vinyl version is pressed on 180 gram transparent neon yellow vinyl and is enveloped in a heavy duty printed inner, because this is a band that attends to the details.

It may not be tied to a special anniversary or anything, but U2 fans won't mind that.

If ‘60s soul is your music lover’s bag, there’s a lot to be excited about.

The Motown Sound Collection series has continued to dish up long-lost gems, in monthly batches of three.

Since we last checked in, the September batch included three landmark Tamla/Motown LPs: Marvin Gaye’s 1968 “In the Groove,” with its classic Motor City sound and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine; The Supremes’ “Love Child” from the same year, which spawned a massive hit in its title track; and “Meet the Temptations,” that group’s incredible studio debut, which is presented here in its dynamic original mono mix, and with title and cover that surely were influenced by the smash success of a recent LP by four guys from Britain.

We know that The Supremes’ “A Little Bit of Liverpool” – reissued in mono in the October batch – was surely inspired by the Fab Four because there are covers of four Beatles’ tunes, one Lennon-McCartney song written for Peter & Gordon and a Motown tune that the Beatles had covered. If it’s not peak Supremes, it’s definitely a fun curiosity hearing Flo, Mary and Diana and the Funk Brothers do a Motown cover of a Beatles cover of a Motown song, hear Ross singing “You Can’t Do That” and get a Detroit reading of Dave Clark Five’s quirky-ass “Bits and Pieces.”

Also in the October batch are a red vinyl pressing of the Jackson 5’s “Third Album,” which opens with their best tune, “I’ll Be There,” and The Temptations’ 1971 “Sky’s the Limit,” a psychedelic soul gem that not only has the sublime, “Just My Imagination,” but also the nearly 13-minute “Smiling Faces Sometimes.”

November brings the self-titled debut from the Four Tops, which like any of their records with Levi Stubbs, is essential. This one is more so for containing “Ask the Lonely” and “Baby I Need Your Loving.”

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While Eddie Kendricks’ funky and soulful 1972 “People ... Hold On” – which I didn’t previously know – is a revelation for me with its cover shot riffing on Eldridge Cleaver’s portrait of Huey Newton and its taut harmonies and wakka-wakka wah wah guitars, I was disappointed by another record I wasn’t really acquainted with.

Marvin Gaye’s “When I’m Alone I Cry” might’ve been aiming at Billie Holiday “Lady in Satin” territory but it edges a bit too much on my mom’s Johnny Mathis records. I don’t think I’ll ever feel old enough to appreciate this kind of gooey, string-laden music, but, hey, at least it’s Marvin singing ... and that’s a sound I’ll never tire of.

All of these Motown reissues are on 140-gram virgin vinyl and in their original sleeve designs.I could quibble that they should be in cardboard tip-on sleeves, but, as I noted earlier, that’s expensive.

Craft Recordings has some vintage soul releases in the racks this autumn, too.

First up is the first vinyl version of “Brenton Wood’s 18 Best,” a 1992 compilation that collects the highlights of this California soul star. Even if you don’t know the name, you know at least some of the songs, like “Gimme Some Sign” and “Oogum Boogum.”

Though the packaging is pretty basic, the music is stellar and there are some fun colored vinyl options available, too, for some wow factor.

I was really intrigued by Johnnie Taylor’s “One Step From the Blues,” which is a Stax LP I’d never seen before. Turns out, that’s because it didn’t exist, though you wouldn’t know it from the sleeve, which looks just like a real mid-’60s Stax cover design, front and back.

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Though a gospel singer early on – he replaced Sam Cooke in the legendary Soul Stirrers – Taylor is often best remembered for his 1976 No. 1 hit, “Disco Lady,” co-written by Milwaukee’s Harvey Scales and Al Vance.

The 12 tunes on this set are, as the title suggests, plaintive and heart-rending soul rooted in the blues.

In a similar vein – not musically, of course – is the first vinyl version of “The Best of Ronnie Milsap,” with 12 hits from the six-time Grammy Award winning singer, whose music brought a pop sensibility to country music in the 1970s and ‘80s, earning him stats like seven consecutive No.1 hits on the Country chart between 1976 and 1978 and another 10 consecutive No.1s between 1980 and 1982.

As the liner notes say, “Ronnie Milsap had the soaring hits of Barry Manilow in mind,” when he recorded some of his work. All that sap is not exactly to my taste, but if there’s a country fan on your list, it might well be to theirs.

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Though you can argue how “country” they are, Ray Charles’ excursions into C&W are more intriguing to me, so a whopping four reissues and a new compilation found me diving deeper into this part of the R&B legend’s career than I had previously.

“Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music” and a volume two – both released in 1962 – were the first of Charles’ excursions into C&W, but they were more like big band versions of country tunes by the likes of Hank Williams, Don Gibson and the Everly Brothers.

He obviously struck gold as the albums reached the 1 and 2 spots on the charts, respectively.

Two more stabs in 1965 – “Together Again” (aka “Country and Western Meets Rhythm and Blues”) and “Crying Time” – didn’t do nearly as well, though the latter made it to No. 15 on the album chart.

For my money, “Crying Time” – which feels the most “country,” but is also laced with gospel harmonies and R&B stylings (and has “Let’s Go Get Stoned”) – is the best of the bunch, but they all have their great moments and they all suffer, in my mind, a bit from the saccharine string arrangements.

If you want a taste of all of them without investing in four LPs, Tangerine Records – founded by Charles the year the first two C&W LPs were released – which has reissued all of these, also has a new “Ray Charles Best of Country & Western,” with a bit from each of the records and a couple cuts taken from other sources, too.

If I mentioned heavy cardboard tip-on sleeves above (and I did), you can blame the folks at Craft Recordings because, while some of their reissues (like the three mentioned above) are in more common thin, folded cardboard sleeves, others are in the old-style tip-ons. (Oddly, the Charles records above are in modern-style folded sleeves but the backs look like they’re attempting to mimic tip-ons.)

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Like two new Bluesville reissues: Jimmy Reed’s 1957 “I’m Jimmy Reed” and 1960’s “Harlem Street Singer” by Blind Gary Davis, both remastered and pressed on 180-gram vinyl.

The music is impeccable, of course, capturing two inimitable bluesmen at the height of their powers (Reed playing electric guitar with his band and Davis solo with his acoustic), and the care taken with the reissues is really incredible. I’d say that with these heavy duty sleeves these records are just how they were back when they were first issued, but I bet thanks to the improvements in vinyl and technology they sound even better now.

On a bit glitzier side of the blues is a first-time release of a high-energy 1977 live show by the great B.B. King in France.

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“B.B. King In France: Live at the 1977 Nancy Jazz Pulsations Festival” (Deep Digs/Elemental) hits shops as a double-vinyl LP on Black Friday with a CD version following a week later.

The second release from a collab with France’s Office de Radiodiffusion-Television Francaise – the first was a stellar Sister Rosetta Tharpe set released last spring – finds King at the height of his powers not only as a fiery guitarist and a soulful singer but also as a top-notch showman.

Any blues fan would love to unwrap these gems on a holiday this year.

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One of the year’s more interesting – and timely – releases is “Even the Forest Hums: Ukrainian Sonic Archives, 1971-1996,” a double-LP in a gatefold sleeve from Light in the Attic.

With Ukraine on everyone’s minds, the 18 tracks on this beautifully curated and packaged set serve as a sadly timely reminder of how Ukrainian music and culture survived decades of Soviet rule and thrived in its aftermath, and most of all, how much Ukrainians are just like us.

The mix of classical, ambient music, indie rock, synth pop, jazz, funk, psychedelia and more – some of it laced with Ukrainian folk influences – here is a testament to their love of music of all kinds.

Despite the genre-hopping, the collection has a unified feel and is engaging from start to finish and I find myself letting it run on a loop while I work.

As seems to always be the case, thankfully, there’s a ton of new jazz reissues and releases out there this holiday season, too.

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Producer Zev Feldman continues to dig up unreleased gems for his Elemental and Resonance series, including “Bill Evans in Norway: The Kongsberg Concert,” Sun Ra’s “Lights on a Satellite: Live at the Left Bank” and “Cookin’ at the Queens Live in Las Vegas 1984 & 1988” by the late guitarist Emily Remler.

The former is a 1970 trio concert with bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell recorded fresh off Evans’ who was energetic but with his sensitive touch still on display as he ran through a set with standards like “Come Rain or Come Shine” and “Autumn  Leaves,” as well as Miles Davis tunes like “So What” and “Nardis,” alongside a number of originals.

The late Sun Ra and his big band were on fire the July night in 1978 when his new set was recorded at Baltimore’s Left Bank Jazz Society, riffing on tunes by Fletcher Henderson, Tadd Dameron and MIles Davis, as well as digging into “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

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In addition to 14 tracks from that night, the disc also includes two performances recorded later that evening for Robert Mugge’s documentary, “A Joyful Noise.”

Remler’s live CD is the first release of her music in 34 years. A jazz guitar phenom that had to overcome the hurdles of being accepted by the boys club that was jazz when she was breaking into the scene in the late ‘70s, Remler was a disciple of the likes of Wes Montgomery and Pat Martino, so you know the music here – recorded during her first-ever visit to Vegas – is clean, melodic and adept.

That Remler – who died in 1990 – remains unknown to all but the most devoted fans of jazz guitar is a tragedy. Hopefully, this set will go some way toward rectifying that.

All three of these releases are packaged with copious notes, photographs and essays that put the performances into context. They are, like all Feldman releases, examples of how to properly do these kinds of releases.

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Palmetto has a new reissue of Andrew Hill’s 2002 “A Beautiful Day,” called “A Beautiful Day, Revisited,” that expands the original release to a double disc. In addition to the eight original tracks recorded at Birdland with the pianist’s Sextet Plus Ten, the producers were able to restore a heavily edited version of “11/8” and also add a second performance of the title track.

Advances in technology also allowed for the original performances to be better mixed and the result is a fuller and clearer picture of the performance by one of jazz’s most creative pianists and writers.

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After visiting Kansas City a few years ago and stopping in at the jazz museum in the neighborhood where Charlie Parker performed as an up and comer, I’ve always wondered about his days there, cutting his teeth with Jay McShann’s band and others. So, you know I was excited by the release of Verve Records’ “Bird in Kansas City,” which contains a baker’s dozen recordings made by Bird between 1941 and ‘51 in his hometown.

There are four tracks recorded in a studio in 1944, two unreleased McShann Band 78s and seven tunes recorded at the home of a friend with unknown sidemen.

Here we can hear a young Parker finding his voice and forging the musical path that would lead him to New York City where he’d help create bebop with a group of fellow travelers. Fascinating stuff.

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I’d be remiss if I didn’t include at least one Craft Recordings reissue of an Original Jazz Classic, in this case pianist Mal Waldron’s 1962 New Jazz outing “The Quest,” with reedsmen Eric Dolphy and Booker Ervin, a liminal session in which a group of forward thinkers – that also included cellist Ron Carter, bassist Joe Benjamin and drummer Charlie Persip – push at the then-accepted edges of rhythm and harmony to create a satisfying outing.

Mastered, as always, by Kevin Gray and pressed on 180-gram vinyl and packaged in a tip-on sleeve that’s further enhanced by a textured front.

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The third album from the U.K. trio Jazz Sabbath offers a little different vibe. “The 1968 Tapes” – like its two predecessors – offers a clutch of jazz readings of Black Sabbath classics, along with liner notes that continue the (fictional) backstory of Milton Keanes, Jacque T’Fono and Juan Take’.

Funky and fun, you’d expect no less from this trio of ace musicians – pianist Adam Wakeman, bassist Jerry Meehan and drummer Ash Soan – and have you really lived if you haven’t chilled to a jazz version of “War Pigs” enhanced by the tenor saxophone of Hugh Jampton?

The aforementioned Craft Recordings has a handful of gems arriving on Black Friday Record Store Day, too, including:

A long-overdue reissue of Isaac Hayes’ 1974 double-LP soundtrack to “Truck Turner,” which is a nice complement to his 1972 “Shaft” and 1974 “Tough Guys” soundtracks, all of which feature similarly funky wah-wah guitar-laden workouts. This high energy one comes in a heavy duty gatefold sleeve and both LPs are pressed on translucent purple vinyl.

From 1968 comes Joe Bataan’s “Riot!,” a Fania classic of Latin Soul, in a tip-on sleeve. The title is perfect for this set, which mixes classic 1960s soul stylings with a literal riot of percussion and horns and vocals that is so full of vim and vitality that it sometimes sounds like it’s all about to go flying off the rails. This is music that cannot fail to bring a smile to your face.

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“The Soul and Songs of Young Curtis Mayfield – The Spirit of Chicago” is a new double-LP compilation in a gatefold sleeve (with liner notes in the spread) that traces the earliest days of Mayfield as a songwriter, guitarist and singer at Vee-Jay Records.

There are tunes with the early Impressions, with bandmate Jerry Butler, with Gene Chandler, Betty Everett and Wade Flemons. The best moments are the Caribbean-influenced “chalypso” numbers like “Senorita I Love You,” but all of it is fine and a wonderful document of the development of one of the greatest American musicians and songwriters.

I know you’re sick of me raving about the heavy cardboard vintage-style tip-on sleeves that Craft does but strap yourself in because the label’s Black Friday reissue of Max Roach’s 1958 “Deeds, Not Words” further ups the ante with an almost U.K.-style laminated front.

This is a nice touch for a perfectly curated reissue – in mono! – of this classic piano-less Roach outing for Riverside Records that featured Ray Draper on tuba (in a front line with trumpeter Booker Little and tenor man George Coleman) and material penned by “a young Chicago bassist, Bill Lee,” known to some as the father of Spike Lee.

If the music fan on your list also happens to be a booklover, there are some goodies on the shelves right now, too.

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My absolute favorite, which I’ve been reading slowly, so I can sop up every detail, is John Masouri’s voluminous “Pressure Drop: Reggae in the Seventies,” which takes a year-by-year walk through Jamaican music’s highs, which came at a time when the country was suffering some of its worst lows.

Because Masouri is a reggae fan, this is not a book that’s focused on Bob Marley, though of course he cuts a large figure during this era and gets a fair bit of ink, here. No, Masouri spends at least as much time discussing the folks who were just as big in Jamaica at the time – Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, U Roy, etc. – as well as some of the bit players who enjoyed a fleeting moment in the sun and pretty much everyone in between.

Because the author is also British, the book has considerably more on U.K. reggae than another author might have included – Aswad, Steel Pulse, LKJ, Dennis Bovell, lover’s rock, etc. – but it is all the better for it.

When I’m done, I just might put the needle back on the start of the record and read it again.

Note that there is also a Spotify playlist that serves as a soundtrack to enjoy while reading.

But, I get that roots reggae might not be to everyone’s taste, and so, consider these...

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Trouser Press Books has a new, updated edition of the landmark “This Ain’t No Disco: The Story of CBGB,” by Roman Kozak, first published in 1988.

Since then, of course, the legendary Bowery club where the likes of The Ramones, Talking Heads, Patti Smith, Television, Blondie and others got their start and everyone from The Jam to the Police to the Bad Brains to the Beastie Boys performed, closed (in 2006).

So, in addition to the original no-holds-barred look at the grit and the grime, the power and the glory of Hilly Kristal’s insanely influential downtown dive bar, this edition is now expanded to include details of the closing, a new forward from Chris Frantz of Talking Heads and 12 glossy pages of photos by Ebet Roberts, who was there to witness so much of this history.

Fans of an earlier era of rock, and on the opposite coast, might opt instead for “Washita Love Child: The Rise of Indigenous Rock Star Jesse Ed Davis,” by Douglas K. Miller.

Davis is one of the folks you may never have heard of if you weren’t one of those people that read album credits, as his solo career did not bring him fame and fortune. However, as a sideman, Davis was always in demand; a musician’s musician, and he played with three of the four Beatles, he played the guitar solo on Jackson Browne’s “Doctor, My Eyes,” worked with Johnny Cash, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Leonard Cohen, Cher, Bob Dylan and many others.

Perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not, the book is out right as the Bob Dylan Center Tulsa has an exhibition focusing on Davis and his music, which is rooted in his Native American culture, a thread that runs all through the book – including its title (Washita comes from the Choctaw) – written by a professor of Native American history.

It’s a fascinating look at perhaps an improbable career, but it’s more than just about the music, it’s about the Native culture that created the man and served as his inspiration.

Speaking of unheralded sidemen, in “Band People: Life and Work in Popular Music,” working musician Franz Nicolay (The Hold Steady, World/Inferno Friendship Society) looks at the unseen world of working musicians.

There’s discussion about the dynamics of being in a band – if you’ve been in one you know; the people that help make a band function; what drives musicians who don’t necessarily crave fame, fortune and the spotlight; balancing a life on the road with a life at home; getting paid and more.

It’s a fascinating look behind the backstage door.

Similarly interesting is veteran music journalist David Rowell’s “The Endless Refrain,” which explores how the dash for cash and new technologies have combined to change forever how we experience music and how music is made.

He argues that conformity and nostalgia, along with the dominance of streaming – which has de-monetized music for those who create it – and other technologies, like dead artists “performing” on tours, has sapped pop music of its vitality.

When a book opens with the question, “Do we even want new music anymore,” you know you’re in for a thought-provoking read. (And, yes, I do see the irony of including this book in a column featuring pretty much all old music.)

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Last but absolutely not least is “Piss in the Wind: Misadventures of an Indie Troubadour, Vol. 1,” by Milwaukee’s own Brett Newski, author of “It’s Hard to Be A Person.”

This pocket-sized paperback – perfect for your backpack or carry-on (because if possible you should travel while you read it; heck, you should travel when you’re not reading it, but I digress) – Newski’s journal vignettes detail his observations from across the globe: Milwaukee and Madison to Vietnam and Thailand to Korea and Cape Town and beyond.

Witty, smart and engrossing – I read it in basically one sitting – buying one of the 900 copies of this limited edition book will give you reading pleasure and support one of the hardest working musicians around.

He’s also promised a volume two and I’m here for it.