Former Apple Records Exec and “Outlaw” Producer Ken Mansfield reflects on: HIGH TIMES AND ROCK BOTTOMS IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS
(Nashville, Tenn.) Grammy-award-winning producer Ken Mansfield, former U.S. manager of Apple Records who also helped create the groundbreaking “Outlaw” sound in country music, revisits the landscapes of success and excess he frequented in those days in Between Wyomings: My God and an iPod on the Open Road (Thomas Nelson, $16.99, June 9, 2009).
Mansfield, who still approaches life with “three chords and an attitude,” offers an authentic, funny, and irreverent account of highs and lows he experienced as a successful record exec and in-demand producer.
With his wife Connie along on the road trip, Mansfield returns to some of his musical milestones. Ipods set to shuffle mode, songs such as “Eight Miles High” by the Byrds and “Are You Ready for the Country?” by Waylon Jennings evoke stories from his past, such as:
• watching from backstage at the iconic Monterey Pop Festival, sitting fifty feet away from pumped up performances by Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, the Who, the Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Buffalo Springfield and more
• living the high life as a record executive, at a time when it was the business equivalent of being a rock star: a continuous indulgence of parties, luncheons, dinners, concerts, screenings, and hanging out with the rich and famous;
• his “Hangover House” crash pad days in L.A’s Laurel Canyon
• wild times partying in Nashville and Texas with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and the rest of the “Outlaw” gang;
Along the way, Mansfield recalls the musical icons, pop stars, wild men, and troubled souls he encountered, including The Beatles and Waylon Jennings, who were the high points of his musical career. He’s written two previous books about his time with the Beatles, and shares more stories in Between Wyomings. The Outlaw crew take center stage here, especially Waylon, who was “a soul mate. The two of us had so much in common it was scary,” Mansfield recalls.
“Nashville was the place of my greatest creative accomplishments as well as the spot on this earth where I reached my lowest point.” Mansfield’s previous marriage even ended in a scenario that sounds like a country song: “my wife ran off with a friend of mine who also took my favorite clothes.” But it was also in Nashville where he met Connie and began transforming his life.
The pilgrimage comes full circle when Mansfield returns to the scene of what he thought was the peak experience of his life. He suspends the road trip and hops a plane to visit the London rooftop where the Beatles played together for the last time. “That cold January day had always been the biggest day in my life. As I look around I discover—it’s just a roof,” he writes. “The problem was not with the people, places, and past occurrences—it was my prioritizing of these things. I had become a grown man hanging onto this Britannia-based ‘blanky’ instead of moving out and beyond that in space and time.”
The soundtrack for this story includes:
“Eight Miles High” - The Byrds
“Are You Ready for the Country” - Waylon Jennings
“On the Way Home” - Buffalo Springfield
“Coming Back to Life” - Pink Floyd
“Good Vibrations” - The Beach Boys
“Tiny Bubbles” - Don Ho
“By the Time I Get to Phoenix” - Glen Campbell
An iMix of these and other tunes selected by Ken Mansfield can be purchased at
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewIMix?id=301753540
About The Author
KEN MANSFIELD is the former U.S. manager of Apple Records, and a Grammy Award-winning producer and record-label executive who has worked with artists as diverse as the Beatles, Waylon Jennings, The Beach Boys, The Four Freshman, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Don Ho, Glen Campbell, Badfinger, Judy Garland, Buck Owens, Eric Burdon, Andy Williams, The Band, David Cassidy, Dolly Parton, and The Flying Burrito Brothers. A highly sought-after public speaker, he is the author of two other books: The Beatles, the Bible and Bodega Bay and The White Book.
Contact: Curt Harding
Senior Publicist
(615) 902-2246
charding@thomasnelson.com
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