OUT OF THE VINYL DEEPS a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle award

University of Minnesota Press is thrilled at the news that OUT OF THE VINYL DEEPS: ELLEN WILLIS ON ROCK MUSIC, a compilation of essays by the New Yorker's first pop music critic, has been selected as a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle award.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OUT OF THE VINYL DEEPS: ELLEN WILLIS ON ROCK MUSIC is nominated in the "Criticism" category.

Press Release Date: 2012-01-23T00:00:00


Willis_Out coverUniversity of Minnesota Press is thrilled at the news that OUT OF THE VINYL DEEPS: ELLEN WILLIS ON ROCK MUSIC, a compilation of essays by the New Yorker's first pop music critic, has been selected as a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle award. The book is edited by Nona Willis Aronowitz, with a foreword by Sasha Frere-Jones and afterword by Daphne Carr and Evie Nagy.

More than simply setting the record straight, this book reintroduces Willis’s singular approach and style to a new generation of readers. It has been hailed as "a timeless compendium of clear thinking and fresh, humane, and persuasive prose" by Jonathan Lethem, and Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield writes: "At a time when rock clichés were still being invented, Willis was already leaving them behind." It has been reviewed widely and very well-received by the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, NPR, Slate, Entertainment Weekly, the New York Post, Bookslut, The Paris Review, and The Atlantic, among many others. It appeared on dozens of year-end lists this year, and was named 2011's #1 Music Book of the Year by SPIN Magazine.

The NBCC award winners will be announced Thursday, March 8th, 2012. For a complete list of nominations, click here.

Click here to check out a video, with interviews from Bob Christgau, Courtney Martin, Donna Gaines, and Rollingstone.com's editor-in-chief, Nick Catucci.