HIGHWAY 61: A Father-and-Son Journey Throughout the Middle of America

Deep, abiding love for music and for his son Graham are twin emotions that emerge with touching clarity in McKeen's literary documentary about traveling through middle America. The book's lack of conflict is immediately evident when McKeen says he and Graham never shared a cross moment. Once readers accept this absence of dramatic tension, they'll be able to enjoy the chronicle as an honest, informative journey. The author capably proves his premise: having an open mind about music, whether it's Johnny Cash, Enya, Tony Bennett or Led Zeppelin, is the only way to gain maximum pleasure from it. McKeen reveres Bob Dylan, and when he and Graham hit Hibbing and Duluth, Minn., readers will gain new insight into Dylan's early years as a performer in a St. Paul pizzeria called the Purple Onion and his abandonment of college after one semester. Visiting Hannibal, Mo., leads to a compelling account of Mark Twain's tragic life. McKeen and son encounter Joe Edwards, who runs the bar Blueberry Hill in a St. Louis suburb and received Cashbox magazine's honor of owner of the best jukebox in America. McKeen is at his best portraying Scott Joplin, who died of syphilis in 1917 and was quoted as saying, "Maybe fifty years after I'm dead my music will be appreciated." Highway 61 itself comes across as a complex, colorful character, whether an open, glorious road or a boring, bumper-to-bumper drive. McKeen ends the book stirringly when he notes that he was "completely shocked to see how segregated this country still is." (Mar.)