Chad Kushins

Listen to "Chad Kushins Releases Nothing's Bad Luck" on Spreaker. "With refreshing candor, Kushins traces the ups and downs of Warren Zevon's incendiary life and music career in intimate detail.[his] energetic writing and his deep dive into Zevon's life and music offers a rounded and complete portrait of an enigmatic musician." -Publishers Weekly (starred review) Musical superstardom may have eluded the critically-acclaimed Warren Zevon, but his legacy grows posthumously. At the 46th Grammy Awards in 2004, only six months after his death, he earned four nominations-four more than he received while alive. And today, a large group of fans remain committed to getting Zevon inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And yet, both his creative and personal lives remain largely glossed over; the latter overly-focused on his addiction, the former too easily confined to radio hits like "Werewolves of London" or "Lawyers, Guns and Money." Chad Kushins's NOTHING'S BAD LUCK: The Lives of Warren Zevon (5/7/19; Da Capo Press, an imprint of Hachette Books; 9780306921483, $29), reveals in entirety the deep and complex story of one of rock's greatest talents. As Kushins writes, Zevon's "life and music were too entwined to be assessed separately: his art was too autobiographical." Kushins delivers an honest and accurate narrative of Zevon, from his unsettled childhood and unmistakable prodigious talent at an early age; to his passion for writing, his literary influences, and his early work as a songwriter; to his inclination to the adrenaline of rock and roll and, with it, substance abuse. Eventually, as he was weaning off of drugs and alcohol, luck - specifically the bad luck that doomed him - became one of Zevon's obsessions. After becoming sober in 1986, he could more clearly distinguish between his two full lives: first as a younger, wilder, "f**kedup" rock star and then as a sober father for 18 years. Drawing on original interviews with those closest to Zevon, including his ex-wife Crystal and other family members, Barney Hoskyns, Danny Goldberg, Mitch Albom, Dave Barry, and Merle Ginsberg, NOTHING'S BAD LUCK couples Zevon's complicated personal life with his sophisticated, ever-changing musical style and ultimately paints Zevon as a hot-headed, compelling, influential, musical genius worthy of the same tier as that of Bob Dylan and Neil Young.