For Immediate Release

60s and 70s producer John Simon takes you on his incredible journey of his career in music. TRUTH, LIES & HERESAY: A Memoir of a Musical Life In and Out of Rock and Roll.

Written by John Simon

ISBN: 9781720047162 Softcover ($9.98); Kindle eBook ($9.98)

New York, NY, October 1, 2018 – Celebrated music producer John Simon has produced some of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll ever recorded including The Band’s Music from Big Pink, The Band, The Last Waltz; Janis Joplin’s Cheap Thrills; Simon and Garfunkel’s Bookends, and the first albums by Leonard Cohen and Blood, Sweat and Tears. His contributions to popular music have helped tell the story of a generation in the 1960s and 70s, and now he is sharing his own.

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“When John Simon joined The Band’s brotherhood, he fit like a glove. I can’t imagine another record producer in the whole world who could’ve matched John’s work on music from Big Pink and The Band.”

“Reflecting on the amazing life he’s led, I found myself thinking he ought to write a book. Then I realized that he did. Now he tells never-before-told tales of those rich, often rollicking years in his colorful new book.”

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In writing TRUTH, LIES & HEARSAY, Simon has created an invaluable memoir of the music revolution in the 1960s and 70s. Given his truly unique perspective on music and the music business, Simon has courted interviewers for years. Yet, with so many anecdotes to choose from, Simon found himself only skimming the surface of his experiences. Drawing on a lifetime of first-hand accounts, fascinating stories are revealed for this first time, including:

• Getting down the sounds for Music From Big Pink and The Band’s 2nd album
• How everything was changed by a hit record of a Paul Simon song that Paul didn’t even like
• Experiencing the volatile personal dynamics during the recording of Cheap Thrills by Big Brother & The Holding Company featuring their new vocalist, Janis Joplin
• Living and playing in Woodstock when it was just a small town safe haven for musicians.
• Behind-the-scenes at The Band’s “farewell concert appearance”
• Writing two ballet scores for the legendary choreographer Twyla Tharp
• Being on tour with American blues master, Taj Mahal
• Recording secrets revealed and much, much more!

For more information and to order TRUTH, LIES & HEARSAY, please visit johnsimonmusic.net

Press Inquiries/Media Contact: johnsimonmusicetc@gmail.com

Facebook/Social Media: @officialjohnsimon

For Immediate Release

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Following an anniversary tour of The Last Waltz in New Zealand (with Garth Hudson) and Simon’s collaborative success with colleague and photographer Elliott Landy’s for his book The Band Photographs: 1968-1969 (Backbeat Books; 2015) for which Simon wrote the text, Simon embarked on an even bigger project. He decided to task himself with writing a memoir that would tell the fascinating, true stories of his experiences with the groundbreaking musicians who spoke for a generation that lived through an extraordinary but tumultuous time.

Simon’s story represents the transition away from The Brill Building and A&R men plugging songs to producers like Simon personally overseeing and producing the biggest acts and most innovative music of the 20th century. With an unerring ear for music and eye for a good story, Simon has amassed a collection of remarkable stories to delight any music fan!

Read about Leonard Cohen, Mama Cass, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Gordon Lightfoot, Leon Russell, Eric Clapton, Wilson Pickett, Peter Yarrow, Gil Evans, Elizabeth Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Les Paul, Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters, Steve Forbert, Marshall McLuhan and The Beatles – All of these people and more turn up in the pages of TRUTH, LIES and HEARSAY: A Memoir of a Musical Life In and Out of Rock and Roll.

More Advanced Praise:

“So many things come to my mind when John Simon’s name is mentioned: How he shaped the Blood Sweat & Tears album I participated in so that it was MORE than listenable. How I watched from the sidelines while he shaped Bookends by S&G, Music from Big Pink and more from The Band. Oops… I forgot Taj Mahal and Leonard Cohen and many more. John was the most comfortable I have ever been under a producer’s aegis, and I learned how to be a better producer from the time I spent with him.”

“John Simon has always been one of our most musical producers, a mix of musical and social skills. Part arranger, part psychiatrist, part instrumentalist, part pure music lover, part camp counselor.”

“As Skip James once said of himself, John Simon has been and gone from places most people will never get to. He was in the right place at the right time–and sometimes the wrong place at the right time–and walked away without grudges or enemies. He tells his stories as if you could have been right there with him.”

For more information and to order TRUTH, LIES & HEARSAY, please visit johnsimonmusic.net

Press Inquiries/Media Contact: johnsimonmusicetc@gmail.com

Facebook/Social Media: @officialjohnsimon