I felt the same excitement reading Nathan Gibson's "Starday Story" as that day many years ago when I bought my first Starday 45, George Jones's "You Gotta Be My Baby"...well, almost as excited. True confession: I've been following the fortunes of Starday since that time as Don Pierce was one of the unsung heroes of the record business who inspired me to drop out of law school and pursue a somewhat marginal career at the fringes of the music business. So when I saw the positive review of "Starday Story" in that excellent UK mag, NOW DIG THIS, I couldn't wait to read it. Gibson, who fell completely under the Starday spell, has done his homework thoroughly and produced a well-researched labor of love that reads (at least to me) like a mystery novel..I devoured it in one late night session. As the better music histories tend to do, "Starday Story" should inspire those unfamiliar with certain aspects of the rich musical history of this enterprise to seek out the musical legacy which Don Pierce has left us. Many of Starday's best sessions are readily available on CD and Gibson's appendix gives an excellent overview of those. I'm not a fan of country gospel but that chapter inspired me to check out Starday's important output in that genre. More casual c&w fans (please don't be put off by the necessary high cost of this book...kudos for Univ. of Miss Press for producing it..it's well worth the cost) will enjoy back stories of George Jones, Red Sovine, Cowboy Copas, Frankie Miller and other top artists who contributed to Pierce's long run. Anyone interested in the mechanics and foibles of the record business in the 50s and 60s will welcome this book. Pierce's contribution to the "indie label" saga with Starday and his R&B Hollywood label (also detailed here) was both unique and typical of the era...Gibsons' book stands alongside John Broven's recent magisterial "Record Breakers.." as an essential contribution to our understanding of an important phase in American roots music history which was generally ignored by the academy (and most critics) until fairly recently. Maybe you'll even want to collect original Starday pressings after you read this book...Gibson's comprehensive discography is drawn from both company archives and research pioneered by serious record collectors. It's a heady addiction (Gibson's obsessive affinity for Starday recordings underlines his narrative) but fortunately the best of all this is available on CD (or MP3 and YouTube if that's your preference). Let's see...future projects for this very able researcher and writer?? Tough, because many of the principals in the 50s/60s record business who deserve accurately documented histories are no longer with us...how 'bout Morty Craft..a colorful figure if there ever was one...started in '53 with the Harptones on Bruce, recorded Neil Sedaka on Melba in '56, ran Warwick Records with a host of national hits, stints at Mercury, MGM with Connie Francis, produced countless one-offs..knew every record distributor and important deejay back then...I add this only to emphasize the importance of doing this research NOW...sadly Tommy Hill, Pierce's right-hand man in Starday, had died before Gibson could interview him. Finally, not to be jingoistic, I applaud Gibson, an American music fan, undertaking this task which has been often left to able writers from the U.K. and Europe. Colin Escott may be a national treasure but I'm glad that Mr. Gibson, an enthusiastic musician in his own right, decided to write this definitive "Starday Story."