VIA PRESS RELEASE | “This book is an amazing chronicle of the colorful & adventurous life of Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, who has been a great friend to me for many years and actually one of the few people in the music business I can say that about. The smartest person in the room, he is a wealth of knowledge about a great many things, technical, historical and philosophical. Reading his book was quite the ride. And man, that f*cker can play!” —Slash
From a founding member of Steely Dan and former guitarist with the Doobie Brothers, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, comes the astonishing true story of one of the most fascinating lives in American music, tracing his extraordinary journey from legendary rock and roll guitarist to a highly successful second career as a Subject Matter Expert in the world of defense, space, wargaming, and counter-terrorism.
Harper Influence, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced today the publication of Baxter’s long-awaited memoir, From Rock to Rockets: My Life as a Hall of Fame Guitar Slinger, Mad Scientist of Sound, and Citizen Warrior for National Defense. SVP and Publisher of Harper Influence, Lisa Sharkey, negotiated the deal for World rights with Jud Laghi at The Jud Laghi Agency, with Senior Editor Maddie Downing editing the book. Publication in the US and Canada will be on January 26, 2027, with preorders available now.
Jeff “Skunk” Baxter lives two lives. In one, he is a rock and roll legend, as a founding member of Steely Dan and former core member of the Doobie Brothers, with fourteen Gold Records, eight Platinum albums, two Grammy Awards (plus six nominations) an induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and a Lifetime Achievement Award.
In the other, he is an advisor to number of the U.S. Department of War entities, including the War’s Missile Defense Agency and, over the past thirty-plus years, a consultant to the Department of Homeland Security, NASA, prestigious research laboratories, and top defense contractors, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman.
Told in his own words for the first time, “the most interesting man in music” (NPR) chronicles the improbable twists and turns that carried Baxter from rock star to national security subject-matter expert. Baxter recalls how a music-obsessed kid growing up between Mexico City and New York City quickly became a first-call session musician, and then a founding member of Steely Dan, vividly capturing the grit and magic of the rock scene in Boston, New York, and Los Angeles in the ’60s and ’70s—along with the soaring highs and rock-bottom lows of superstardom, from his transition to the Doobie Brothers to world tours and recording sessions with Dolly Parton, Carly Simon, Donna Summer, Elton John, Ringo Starr, and Joni Mitchell.
Then comes his surprising pivot to the defense industry, trading the recording booth for the harsh confines cockpit of a reconnaissance aircraft recon plane—reflecting throughout on the mystical intersections of music and technology, and the mentors, friends, and collaborators who shaped both careers along the way. “I invite you all to come along for the ride,” says Baxter of the journey recounted in the book.
Harper Influence Publisher Lisa Sharkey says, “After the first call with Skunk, I turned to my team and said, ‘That is the most interesting person we have ever met—we have to publish his book.’ Skunk is a yacht rock pioneer and a national defense hero.”
Skunk will not only be narrating his own audiobook, but will be weaving his own music into the recording create an even more unique listening experience. Featuring 16 pages of never-before-seen photographs and insights into Baxter’s favorite guitars and gear, From Rock to Rockets is a wildly entertaining, genre-defying memoir and a testament to the power of curiosity and the extraordinary opportunities that come from embracing the unexpected.
