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Book Cover for: Merch Table Blues, Peter Conners

Merch Table Blues

Peter Conners

The debut novel from Peter Conners, bestselling author of Grateful Dead histories


When Virgil Frey gets an unexpected phone call from his childhood best buddy, guitarist Richard Payne Knight, urging him to join his band Laverna as a roadie running the merch table on a small club tour through New York state, he decides to go for it. Virgil's current situation attending a graduate school creative writing program is falling flat, and he's hoping this new adventure will spark some kind of creative inspiration.


While on tour, Virgil discovers Laverna's growing popularity involves a cult-like following that just might be an actual cult, mysterious hook-ups and odd disappearances, and band members developing questionable habits. Can old friendships survive tour chaos? Will the band get signed? Does Virgil find the inspiring experiences he seeks? Merch Table Blues is an often humorous rock band tour mystery exploring vital ideas about loyalty and friendship that will keep readers on edge till the last encore is played.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Manic D Press
  • Publish Date: May 3rd, 2022
  • Pages: 260
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.50in - 5.50in - 0.70in - 0.65lb
  • EAN: 9781945665318
  • Categories: Coming of AgeMystery & Detective - GeneralLiterary

About the Author

Peter Conners has documented music and countercultural communities in Growing Up Dead: The Hallucinated Confessions of a Teenage Deadhead (Da Capo); JAMerica: The History of the Jam Band and Festival Scene (Da Capo); Cornell '77: The Music, The Myth, and the Magnificence of the Grateful Dead's Concert at Barton Hall (Cornell University Press); and White Hand Society: The Psychedelic Partnership of Timothy Leary & Allen Ginsberg (City Lights). He is also the author of three books of poetry. He lives in Rochester, NY where he works as Publisher and Executive Director of the award-winning literary press BOA Editions.

Praise for this book

"It's almost like Huck Finn went right by the raft and got on the bus instead." -- Brian Weinstein, Attendance Bias podcast

Praise for Peter Conners:

"Insightful and entertaining..." -- Kirkus Reviews

"...Readable and honest... charming." -- PopMatters

"Admirable..." -- AV Club

"...A lot of fun... with a poet's lyricism and insider's experience." -- High Times

"Peter Conners' writing is stylishly entertaining." -- All About Jazz

"Conners' prose is clear and engaging." -- The Daily Beat

"...An enterprising music writer...." -- Austin Chronicle