In this day and age of ubiquitous electric guitar music, it's almost difficult to remember or imagine a time -- really not all that long ago -- when the tools for making this music did not yet exist. Ian S. Port's entertaining and apparently well-researched book is not just a straight biography of professional rivals Leo Fender and Les Paul but a work of 20th century music anthropology. Recommended reading for rock fans both devoted and casual: learn more about how these sounds came to be.

A book about the electric guitar and how it became a force in music. You get a look into Les Paul his life, his work with Gibson guitar and how his suggestions on their guitar made for a better smooth sound, especially for jazz. He was also able to have hit records in the early 50s with his second wife Mary Ford which also helped sales of that guitar. The author then takes you to Southern California Orange County where Leo Fender a radio repair man in the forties is going around to honky tonks and dance halls tinkering with steel guitars from different players. He is looking for sounds that are different. He then meets Bill Bigsby who also was working with steel guitars and lap ones. He also was looking for a different sound and later he would be the one who came up with the whammy or vibrato. He would add some of his ideas to the Gibson and later suggest that Fender stole some of his ideas, never proven. Any way Him, Gibson with Les Paul and Fender. Fender really took off for a number of reasons, it weighed less than a Gibson by several pounds, easy to replace neck if damaged. Then with the birth of rock and roll and then surf music from Dick Dale, and then Bubby Holly the Fender guitar produced high sales. Another big advantage Fender had was Leo Fender was always tinkering and wanting to come up with something new. Hence taking the bass from stand up to holding it like the guitar. Now you could get a better sound. He also works on amps using different speakers for different sounds as well. By the time he sold his company in the mid-60s he was looking to retire. When his wife passed away and he fulfilled his contract he would start another company. The other parts of this book for people that don’t know the author talks about different songs from different times. Rocket 88 if no one has listened to it is a fast rock song that came out in 51 and is still a fast rock song. The blues songs, and Dick Dale and The Chantays, Chantay’s with “Pipeline”, he then speaks of some other songs but one that really to this day for me is still “Star Spangle Banner” by Hendrix, when I first heard it and still to this day that song and his music give me the chills. I, of course, bought the 45 when it came to my small town and I am glad I still have it after all of these years, being a record collector this book was made for me just like the guitars were made for music. A very good book.

The Birth of Loud tells the story of Fender versus Les Paul, how they each got their starts and how they came to end up creating their now well known guitars. It was 42 chapters and a lot of drama and very interesting. I don't know much about guitars so it was interesting to read about how they were creating them and what materials they were using and what kind of tones they were hoping to achieve out of them. It was also interesting to read that Gibson had denied the idea that was brought to them for one of the guitars! Also interesting was how Les Paul was give a Fender to try out - even though the two were kind of competitors and enemies.

Definitely a really interesting musical read. I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated. This book was released January 15, 2019 through Scribner.