The Night Train – trydersmith.org

Reviews

“The beat of sweet Southern jazz and down-home rhythm and blues infuses Clyde Edgerton’s novel. Narrator T. Ryder Smith mimics the rival tempos in this story of two unlikely friends and their attempt to reproduce singer James Brown’s Live at the Apollo album. Smith depicts the segregated South of 1963 with a tinge of melancholy and dark humor as white Dwayne and his black friend, Larry, find common ground in Dwayne’s band, the Amazing Rumblers. This Night Train is heartwarming and hilarious. It’s a must-listen for fans of Edgerton and stories about artists finding their voices.”
– R.O., Audiofile magazine

Excerpts

Overview of the town of Stark:

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Larry Lime learns the blues:

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Aunt Marzie:

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Synopsis

In 1963, at the age of 17, white Dwayne Hallston discovers James Brown and wants to perform just like him. His band, the Amazing Rumblers, studies and rehearses Brown’s Live at the Apollo album in the storage room of his father’s shop in their small North Carolina town. Meanwhile, Dwayne’s forbidden black friend Larry–aspiring to play piano like Thelonius Monk–apprentices to a jazz musician called the Bleeder. His mother hopes music will allow him to escape the South.
A dancing chicken and a mutual passion for music help Dwayne and Larry as they try to achieve their dreams and maintain their friendship, even while their world says both are impossible.
– Publisher’s summary