Bruce Springsteen longlisted for Penderyn Music Book Prize

Bruce Springsteen's memoir Born to Run (Simon & Schuster) has been longlisted for the Penderyn Music Book Prize alongside memoirs from musicians Johnny Marr and Robbie Robertson.

Faber & Faber is leading the nominations with three titles on the longlist: The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise by Brix Smith Start, Small Town Talk: Bob Dylan, The Band, Van Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix & Friends in the Wild Years of Woodstock by Barney Hoskyns and Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and its Legacy, from the Seventies to the Twenty-First Century by Simon Reynolds.

Simon & Schuster has been longlisted for Springsteen's Born to Run and The Age of David Bowie by Paul Morley.

Also longlisted are Anarchy in The Year Zero: The Sex Pistols, the Clash and the Class of '76 by Clinton Heylin (Route Publishing), Into The Maelstrom: Music, Improvisation and the Dream of Freedom by David Toop (Bloomsbury Academic), I'm Not with The Band: A Writer's Life Lost in Music by Sylvia Patterson (Sphere) and Young Soul Rebels: A Personal History of Northern Soul by Stuart Cosgrove (Polygon).

The Last Great Event: with Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison - When the World Came to the Isle of Wight, Volume II, 1970 by Ray Foulk and Caroline Foulk (Medina Publishing), 1971 - Never a Dull Moment: Rock's Golden Year by David Hepworth (Bantam) and Testimony by Robbie Robertson (William Heinemann) are also on the longlist.

Set The Boy Free by Johnny Marr (Century) and Let’s Make Lots of Money: Secrets of a Rich, Fat, Gay, Lucky Bastard by Tom Watkins (Virgin) complete those vying for the overall prize.

Judging the 2017 award will be comedian and musican Stewart Lee; singer Charlotte Church; joint m.d. at Rough Trade, Geoff Travis; singer and writer Tracey Thorn; musician Eliza Carthy; musician and former singer and guitarist of Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore; and Jane Beese, head of music at the Roundhouse.

Moore said: “This seems to be a vanguard time for serious music journalism as printed word. In 2016 with memoirs by Bruce Springsteen et al in tandem with critical expositions from Simon Reynolds and Paul Morley it’s as if the most engaging music is being made by writers.”

Thorne said: “I’m looking forward to judging this prize, which shines a light on great music writing - a genre that often gets overlooked. It’s a strong and varied long list, with a good range of different voices and different perspectives.”

The shortlist will be announced in early March and the winner will be revealed at the Laugharne Weekend Festival on 9th April 2017.

The Prize is sponsored by Welsh whisky company Penderyn, which has its distillery in the village of Penderyn nestled in the foothills of the Brecon Beacons.