Strangers on This Road: The Life and Music of Dave Davies

Dave Davieswas seventeen when he recorded ＂You Really Got Me.＂ With the British Invasion in full swing, the precocious teenager was thrown into the storm. In an instant, he had it all--hit records, fame, adoring fans, even an older brother in his band. But all was not well. Living a Bacchus-like life in Swinging London, Dave Davies was haunted by ghosts from his past and an unshakeable longing. When he had his own hit single at age twenty-one, a solo career appeared on the horizon. Two years later, the Kinks had become a commercial disaster and the guitarist’s own solo career fizzled. In the 1960s and ’70s, Dave Davies recorded an arsenal of songs both with the Kinks and on his own, yet they remained unreleased for decades. This is the story of Dave Davies’s life and music. It is a story of great excess, great loss, and a spiritual journey.

Cam Cobb is a university professor and rock journalist. His most recent book, What’s Big and Purple and Lives in the Ocean? The Moby Grape Story was published by Jawbone Press in 2018. Cobb’s writing has appeared in such magazines as Record Collector, Shindig!, and Ugly Things. His liner notes for Skip Spence’s single, ＂Rock & Roll Band,＂ accompanied the release in 2019. That same year, Cobb co-directed Buskin’ in the Subway (Windsor International Film Festival). Cobb has recently coproduced O(A)R, a short documentary on Skip Spence. A biography on Skip Spence and book on Hemingway are due in 2021 (with UK and US publishers).