VIA PRESS RELEASE | “You don’t have to be a Michelin-starred chef to know when you are eating a spectacular meal. And you don’t need a doctorate in music theory to enjoy Bach, Eric Dolphy, or Stravinsky. In this beautifully written book, Craig Havighurst reminds us that with an active ear, we all have the potential to participate in the flight of great music.” —Béla Fleck
Music journalist and broadcaster Craig Havighurst is proud to announce his new book, Musicality For Modern Humans: How To Listen Like An Artist, published this week through independent publisher The Sager Group. Inspired by more than 25 years of reporting on music and musicians in Nashville, Havighurst’s guide to the pursuit of musicality will inspire and inform readers of all levels, redefining music appreciation for the 21st century.
Musicality is a self-enrichment book about the inner game of sound-based art for curious people who wish they could get deeper into music, including those who feel confused, overwhelmed, or intimidated. It’s for anyone looking to shake up their habits, get free of algorithms, and listen for more in music across all genres and time periods.
For the past nine years, Craig has been Editorial Director at NPR affiliate WMOT 89.5 FM, where he hosts The String, a thought-provoking weekly interview show covering American roots music. He has reported on Americana music for NPR, The Tennessean, No Depression, Bluegrass Unlimited, Acoustic Guitar, The Wall Street Journal, and other leading outlets.
Throughout his career, however, he’s pursued a lifelong interest in jazz and composed music, with the resources of a reporter and access to extraordinary musical settings and situations. With Musicality, decades of conversations with musicians and producers have been distilled into a personal memoir, a thoughtfully written rumination, and a practical guide to a lifelong engagement with music.
Musicality is about how composers and musicians manipulate tone, time, and timbre to reach us emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. It’s also about how we respond and how alert we are to creativity and nuance. Havighurst resets our expectations, simplifies music theory, champions today’s finest artists, and guides readers in a rethink of their musical diet.
Craig Havighurst covers the art, tech, and commerce of music from Nashville, TN as a reporter, author, filmmaker, and broadcaster. Since 2016, he’s been Editorial Director for WMOT Roots Radio 89.5 FM. He has reported for NPR, WPLN-FM, The Wall Street Journal, Acoustic Guitar, No Depression and other magazines. As staff music writer at the daily Tennessean from 2000–2004, he won the Charlie Lamb Award for Excellence In Country Music Journalism. He is also the author of Air Castle of the South: WSM and the Making of Music City, which documented for the first time how Nashville was transformed by one of the nation’s greatest radio stations.
The Sager Group was founded in 1984 by the journalist and author Mike Sager. In 2012, it was chartered as a multi-media content brand, with the intent of empowering those who create—an umbrella beneath which makers can pursue, and profit from, their craft directly, without gatekeepers. TSG publishes books and eBooks; ministers to artists and provides modest grants; designs products; and produces and distributes documentary, narrative and commercial films, and music videos. By harnessing the means of production, The Sager Group helps artists help themselves. TSG is a member in good standing of the Independent Book Publishers Association.
AUTHOR PHOTO: ED RODE
