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 The profusely-illustrated book includes a number of previously-unpublished vintage photos of bands like R.E.M., U2, The B-52's, and Pylon from the collections of photographers Tony Frost and Terry Allen and the writing is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]

Buy copies direct from Excitable Press (PayPal):

Anarchy In The Music City! The Other Side of Nashville's Musical Pioneers (2021 book)

Since the early 1960s, Nashville has been known worldwide as the "Music City" for its robust country and gospel music industries. For over 40 years now, Nashville has also been home to a thriving hotbed of rock, blues, rap, and Americana music. "The Other Side of Nashville" has grown from a few makeshift bands playing original songs and scraping for gigs into an internationally-respected scene that has attracted creative immigrants from across the globe.

Anarchy In The Music City! is an oral history of the origins and evolution of Nashville's alternative music scene as told by the pioneers that made the music. Using artist interviews culled from the pages of Rev. Keith A. Gordon's critically-acclaimed book The Other Side of Nashville, this illustrated volume includes conversations with both well-known music-makers like Jason & the Scorchers, Webb Wilder, Tony Gerber, David Olney, and Chagall Guevara as well as regional cult rockers like Tommy Womack, the Dusters, Donna Frost, and Aashid Himons, among many others.  

The “Reverend of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” Rev. Gordon has been writing about rock and blues music for 50 years. A former contributor to the All Music Guide books and website, and the former Blues Expert for About.com, Rev. Gordon has written or edited 25 previous music-related books and eBooks, including Blues Deluxe: The Joe Bonamassa Buying Guide, Planet of Sound, The Other Side of Nashville, and Scorched Earth: A Jason & the Scorchers Scrapbook.

Buy an autographed copy for $14.99 directly from the Reverend! (U.S. orders only)

 

 

Prefer to buy from Amazon.com? Here's a link to the print version of Anarchy In The Music City! (also available as a Kindle eBook)

Scorched Earth: A Jason & the Scorchers Scrapbook (2013 book)

Scorched Earth: A Jason & the Scorchers Scrapbook was a true labor of love for writer Rev. Keith A. Gordon and photographer/graphic designer Paul Needham, both longtime fans of the band. The 92 page trade paperback (7.5" x 9.25") features a truly electric cover photo by Tony Mottram and over three dozen B&W interior photos, including many rare, unpublished live shots from Needham's private stash. Needham's dynamic graphic design is befitting the band's high-voltage live performance style. 

The words in Scorched Earth are by Rev. Gordon, who has been covering Jason & the Nashville Scorchers since the very beginning, the scrapbook offering up interviews with Jason Ringenberg, Warner Hodges, and band manager Jack Emerson from across the Scorchers' lengthy career (1984 through 2010) as well as an illustrated discography and reviews of all the band's albums, including releases from Farmer Jason and the Bluefields.

Scorched Earth was created for the dedicated Scorchers fan and includes editorial content from Gordon's The Other Side of Nashville book alongside long out-of-print material from several obscure publications. The book can be ordered for $12.00 postpaid in the United States (no overseas or Canadian purchase available...sorry).

To order the United States, use this link ($12.00 postpaid):