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a comprehensive look at the captivating, Chicago-based troubadour
Steve Goodman, arguably the most galvanizing entertainer of the 1970s and early 1980s, is the subject of an 800-page biography published in May by ECW Press.
Veteran Seattle journalist Clay Eals is the author of the book, “Steve Goodman: Facing the Music.”
Goodman is best known for writing the 1970 train song and anthem, “City of New Orleans” and was a familiar presence in concert halls and on radio and TV. Goodman often played venues in Phoenix, and several of the book's anecdotes are based in the Southwest.
The book, published by ECW Press, will be in stores in early May. It comes with an 18-track CD of songs written and performed by others in tribute to Goodman. The list price is $29.95 but can be ordered at a discount at the author’s Internet site, www.stevegoodmanbiography.com.
With 400,000 words and more than 540 photos, including a 16-page color section, the large-format biography is a comprehensive look at the captivating, Chicago-based troubadour. It also is a portrait of an era and delves deeply into the social and political milieu of the baby-boom generation.
Eals interviewed more than 1,070 people for the book, ranging from musical celebrities to Goodman’s most famous high-school classmate, U.S. Senator (and Democratic presidential candidate) Hillary Rodham Clinton, who performed with him in a variety show at their suburban Chicago school in 1964.
Best-selling author and radio host Studs Terkel wrote the book’s preface, and Arlo Guthrie, who popularized “City of New Orleans” in 1972, penned the foreword.
Besides Terkel and Guthrie, the book’s interviewees include John Prine, Steve Martin, Jimmy Buffett, Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Randy Newman, Paul Anka, David Allan Coe, Judy Collins, Tom Paxton, Pete Seeger, John Sebastian, Leo Kottke, Gordon Lightfoot, John Hartford, Phoebe Snow, Jackie DeShannon, Marty Stuart, Maria Muldaur, Mimi Fariña, Tom Rush, Bobby Bare, Lily Tomlin, Michael Smith, Fred & Ed Holstein, Janis Ian, Bryan Bowers, Martin Mull, Chad Mitchell, Rosanne Cash, David Amram, Samantha Eggar, Tom Dundee, Howard Armstrong, Jim Post, Carl Reiner, Doc Watson, Jo Mapes, Len Chandler, David Geffen and Loudon Wainwright III.
Throughout his career, Goodman’s music ranged from hilarious to touching to provocative and included such classics as “You Never Even Call Me by My Name,” “Banana Republics” and “A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request.”
A major theme of the book is living with the awareness of mortality, as Goodman did for his entire adult life. Diagnosed with leukemia at age 20 and not expected to live much longer, Goodman managed to survive and thrive while privately, then publicly, fending off this fatal disease for more than 15 years.
Eals, 55, who has worked for four Northwest newspapers and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, is the author of a 1996 biography of the child actress who in the 1946 film “It’s a Wonderful Life” played Zuzu. That book is titled “Every Time a Bell Rings: The Wonderful Life of Karolyn Grimes.”
For more information about the Goodman book and Eals’ schedule (including its formal launch in Chicago), please visit www.stevegoodmanbiography.com or e-mail Eals at ceals@comcast.net.
Advance praise for “Steve Goodman: Facing the Music”
“Wry, unpretentious and uplifting, Steve Goodman had a special presence with an audience. As this book recounts, he opened 200 shows for me, often for crowds of 10,000 or more. He was just one guy with a guitar, but in 30 seconds he would have them. It was amazing to see, and this biography captures every incredible detail.”
— Steve Martin, comedian, actor, author
“Clay Eals skillfully narrates the Dickensian life of Steve Goodman, one of the most exciting and refreshing acoustic performers to grace a stage. Meticulously detailed and carefully documented, this biography reads like a riveting novel. Goodman’s spirit and charm leap from its pages.”
— Rich Warren, host of “The Midnight Special,”
WFMT-FM, Chicago
“This rich, warm and wonderful biography provides the reader with plenty of reasons to both laugh and cry. Steve Goodman was that rare individual who played the cards life dealt him without complaint or rancor, and Clay Eals, with his voluminous research, puts it all in perspective. Of special significance is the way that the author has woven the social, political and historical events of the times along with Steve’s story to make a compelling and enjoyable narrative.”
— Roy Leonard, host of “The Roy Leonard Show,”
1967-1998, WGN-AM Chicago
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