As we charge into 2013 I figure I’d follow-up on what I did last year and suggest some books in the music category (no, Ticket Masters is not on the list but an expanded edition did come out in paperback this past summer…) All of these were published over the past 12 months…

Neil Young Waging Heavy Peace A fascinating autobiography that often reads like a blog (and I mean that with fondness and respect).

Marc Myers Why Jazz Happened An expansive social history of the genre.

Alan Light The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah” An engaging cultural history of a song.

Will Hermes Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever An evocative trip back to the mid 1970s.

Pete Townshend Who I Am: A Memoir Much more introspective than the other 2012 rock autobiographies (Townshend really lays it out there).

Ben Sandmel Ernie K-Doe: The R&B Emperor of New Orleans A winning look at flamboyant New Orleans figure and self-described “Emperor of the Universe.”

RJ Smith The One: The Life and Music of James Brown Smith places Brown’s career into the broader social and cultural, and historical context.

Sylvie Simmons I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen An exhaustive but never exhausting biography.

Bettye LaVette with David Ritz A Woman Like Me A book as bold as the woman whose life it recounts.

Gregg Allman with Alan Light My Cross To Bear Gregg shares his slightly melancholy take on an extraordinary career.