Mystery Train, 50th Anniversary Edition: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music - Paperback

by Greil Marcus (Author)

A 50th anniversary edition of the music classic, with fully updated discographies and new introductions from Greil Marcus and Dwight Garner

In this special 50th anniversary edition of the beloved Plume backlist staple first released in 1975, Mystery Train's complex analysis of the relationship between rock 'n' roll music and America is given new life with updated discographies and new introductions by Greil Marcus and Dwight Garner.

Rather than providing a general overview of influential bands and artists, Marcus's definitive book focuses on just six: virtually unknown early rock 'n' roller Harmonica Frank; the country blues singer Robert Johnson; and some of the better-known musicians who followed--The Band, Sly Stone, Randy Newman, and Elvis Presley.

This is the original book to take these rock legends and place them in the American culture of their time. And now, in 2025, Mystery Train continues its groundbreaking work for a new generation of readers and music lovers.

Author Biography

Greil Marcus was born in San Francisco in 1945. In 1963, two events took place that have shaped his life since: in August, at a Joan Baez concert in New Jersey, she brought out a singer who sang a song called "With God on Our Side"; and on the Monday of the week that President Kennedy was assassinated, at the University of California at Berkeley, he met his future wife, Jenny Bernstein of St. Paul, who had already heard of the singer he hadn't.

In 1969, he became the first Records Editor at Rolling Stone. He has written many books, including Lipstick Traces (1989) and What Nails It (2024), and for many publications. Since 1986, his column "Real Life Rock Top Ten" has migrated through a dozen outlets, from The Village Voice to Substack. In 2009, with Werner Sollors, he edited A New Literary History of America. Between 2000 and 2019, he taught at Cal, Princeton, the New School, Minnesota, NYU, and the Graduate Center in New York. He lives in Oakland.