Sweet Dreams and Flying Machines: The Life and Music of James Taylor [Paperback]

In 1970 a scraggly, antiheroic man from North Carolina by way of Massachusetts began presenting a comforting yet biting new sound. Within a year, when young ears sought the latest in rock, there was "Fire and Rain" and "You've Got a Friend," and a new Southern California-fed branch of pop music. James Taylor was its reluctant leader. 

Remarkably, Taylor has survived: his 2015 release, Before This World, edged out Taylor Swift and went to No. 1 on the charts. Today he is in better physical (and probably mental) condition than during the whirlwind era when he influenced music so heavily, the decade when magazines and newspapers printed feverish stories about his gawky hunkiness, his love affair with Joni Mitchell, his glittery marriage to Carly Simon, his endlessly carried-out heroin habit, and sometimes even his music. Despite it all, Taylor has become the nearest thing to rock royalty in America. 

Based on fresh interviews with musicians, producers, record company people, and music journalists, as well as previously published interviews, reviews, and profiles, Sweet Dreams and Flying Machines is the definitive biography of an elusive superstar.

“Ribowsky (who’s also written books about Lynyrd Skynyrd, Otis Redding, Phil Spector and Tom Landry) weaves a captivating tale that includes Taylor’s struggles with drugs and depression, his affair with Joni Mitchell, his marriage to Carly Simon and his enduring, decade-spanning success.” —Parade

“[Sweet Dreams and Flying Machines] merits a place on the shelf as it traces Taylor's career through the 2015 release of the billboard chart-topping Before This World.” —Library Journal

“Ribowsky is especially effective weaving Taylor’s career into the complex story of the music industry’s evolution.” —The Washington Post