John Engel charts the leading role of left-handed guitar players in all the world’s rock music and popular music with150 in-depth artist profiles and hundreds of inspired interviews.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) September 6, 2006 -- “UNCOMMON SOUND: The Left-Handed Guitar Players That Changed Music” explores popular music through the lives and works of these “wrong-sided” musicians, providing a unique yet surprisingly coherent perspective. Seven years in the making, John Engel’s 920-page opus is an exhaustively researched and richly illustrated collection of 150 in-depth portraits of left-handed mavericks and legendary artists from all over the world, covering such genres as folk, blues, jazz, rock music, reggae, pop, punk, metal, R&B, country, samba, ki ho’alu, rai, and gnawa.


Uncommon Sound is both an authoritative and entertaining work. It is the first book to look at rock music and other genres from this angle, and does so with enough insight and detail to captivate diehard fans, and enough entertaining storytelling to make it a page-turner for the most casual music buff. In addition to many stars, John Engel also talked to lesser-known artists, who contributed to the fabric of music as a whole, and have had a sometimes-profound impact on its evolution.

“This book is a celebration of music. It’s about pain and triumph, struggle and beauty, individuality and solidarity,” says Engel. “It illustrates the complexity of the creative process. By stepping away from the norm and fashioning a unique relationship to their instrument, and to music as a whole, left-handed guitar players symbolize the unique music maker in all of us.”

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