PARTY LIKE A ROCKSTAR

A country songwriter shares his zigzag path to becoming a hit-maker.

Before writing smashes for Uncle Kracker (“Smile”), Blake Shelton (“Sangria”), Keith Urban (“Somewhere in My Car”), and more, Harding was a prankish, spotlight-craving adopted kid from the Detroit suburbs. In his debut book, he captures both his impishness and dedication to his craft. Indeed, the narrative has something of the rigor and structure of a country tune. First, the setup: As a kid, he was deep into rock and pop music, excitedly engaging in KISS cosplay and talent shows as he dreamed of stardom, an enthusiasm only slightly diminished by his brother’s suicide. Then the complication: a hand-to-mouth early adulthood in Los Angeles working at Tower Records (where he once helped Michael Jackson shop for Led Zeppelin CDs) while cadging gigs as an assistant to successful acts while his own musical efforts struggled to launch. A twist on the theme: discovering his birth father, Jay Thomas, a celebrity in his own right, and then a songwriting break after years of hustling for attention. Lastly, the takeaway: Harding closes with some practical bits of tough-love advice for aspiring country songwriters—e.g., move to Nashville, don’t imitate anybody, and, his “biggest piece of advice,” keep your melodies hummable. It’s clear that Harding takes the job seriously, but he also carries it lightly. Many of his stories are self-deprecating tales of failure (a disastrous gig opening for Linkin Park) or poor judgment (throwing a shoe toward Thomas while on David Letterman’s show, a joke that landed badly in multiple ways). The author can be curiously aloof: For somebody who insists that personal experience is essential to great songs, he shares little about the heartaches that fueled his hits. Perhaps he’s truly mastered the country songwriter’s art of withholding key details and is saving them for the next book.

Easygoing memories of a cutthroat music business.