Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story (Music in American Life)

 

One of the best-known honky-tonkers since Hank Williams, Faron Young was a popular presence on Nashville's music scene for more than four decades. The Singing Sheriff produced a string of Top Ten hits, placed more than eighty songs on the country music charts, founded the long-running country music periodical Music City News in 1963, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000. Flamboyant, impulsive, and generous, he helped and encouraged a new generation of talented songwriter-performers that included Willie Nelson and Bill Anderson. Presenting the first detailed portrayal of this mercurial country music star, Diane Diekman masterfully draws on extensive interviews with Young's family, band members, and colleagues. Echoing Young's characteristic ability to entertain and surprise fans, Diekman combines an account of his public career with a revealing, intimate portrait of his personal life.