A new book titled Why Patti Smith Matters that examines punk-era legend Patti Smith‘s music and literary work and its continued cultural and artistic influence will be published on May 31.
The book was written by veteran music journalist Caryn Rose, whose comprehensive research for the project included an exclusive interview with Bruce Springsteen that focused on his collaboration with Smith on the classic song “Because the Night.”
Why Patti Smith Matters looks at Smith’s life and artistic work, from her immersion in the New York City art scene beginning in the late 1960s, at first mainly as a poet, to her emergence as an influential singer and songwriter as part of the punk movement in the mid 1970s, to her acclaimed prose writing, including her award-winning 2010 memoir Just Kids.
Explaining what inspired her to write the book, Rose says, “I was eager to take on the formidable task of chronicling Patti Smith’s career because aside from Smith’s own work, the existing scholarship didn’t possess the kind of informed, careful perspective of her life and art that it deserves.”
You can pre-order Why Patti Smith Matters now at UTPress.UTexas.edu. The book is available as a paperback and via digital formats.
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