Andy Anderson's Help! There's A Fire (2026 book)

Throughout the 1960s and ‘70s, Nashville was known as the “home” of country music. Although several significant rock ‘n’ roll albums were recorded in the ‘Music City’ by artists like Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and others, the growing metropolis had little or no rock music scene until the early 1980s when bands like David Olney & the X-Rays, Cloverbottom, The Smashers, the White Animals, and Jason & the Nashville Scorchers took the first steps at establishing a foothold for rock music in the Music City.

This fledgling music scene was nurtured, aided, and abetted by the Nashville Intelligence Report. Over the course of a little more than three years from 1982 to 1985, Nashville Intelligence Report zine publisher/editor Andy Anderson and his dedicated crew of rock ‘n’ roll fanatics published 28 issues of the city's first rock music-oriented publication. 

The zine’s intrepid reporters were quite clever in worming their way backstage and grabbing interviews with superstars-in-waiting like R.E.M., the Police, the English Beat, Katrina & the Waves, and the Bangles, talking with many of them early in their careers. They also spoke with established artists like Johnny Ramone, Iggy Pop, and Joe Strummer along with lesser-known, but no-less-influential bands like Black Flag, the Meat Puppets, Violent Femmes, and Minor Threat.

Help! There’s A Fire offers a selection of  some of the best writing from the Nashville Intelligence Report as curated by Anderson and N.I.R. contributer Rev. Keith A. Gordon. The profusely-illustrated book includes a number of previously-unpublished vintage photos of bands like R.E.M., U2, The B-52's, and Pylon from the collections of photographers Tony Frost and Terry Allen and the writing is representative of the quality and diversity of content published by N.I.R. during its tenure, capturing the magic of the music being made at the dawn of the Nashville rock scene.

"The Nashville Intelligence Report always will hold a special place in my heart. The influence of the NIR on the nascent Nashville rock scene of the early 1980s cannot be overestimated. The NIR gave coverage to a wide array of bands that no one else was even aware of. Andy Anderson had his hand on the pulse of the exploding Southeastern music scene, and helped it along immeasurably. It gave us crazy left field rockers some self validation when we needed it most. On top of all that, the writing was excellent. Indeed it was world class, all done on a shoestring budget. I read it cover to cover every time it came out." – Jason Ringenberg, Jason & the Nashville Scorchers

Help! There's A Fire is a 224pp 7.5” x 9.25” paperback with B&W photos and is available in paperback at $16.99 with shipping. An eBook is available for $3.99 from Amazon [eBook link].

Get your copy through the Amazon.com link below or buy copies direct from Excitable Press (books from Excitable will ship at the end of January 2026).

Help! There's A Fire (Reflections on Nashville’s ‘80s New Music Scene...) [Amazon link]

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