Decemberists Frontman Unveils First Children's Book

The Decemberists' Colin Meloy will bring his knack for imaginative, dramatic storytelling to the printed page when his first children's book, Wildwood, hits stores on August 30th. The book, which is written by Meloy and illustrated by his wife Carson Ellis, tells the story of a  young girl who goes on a quest to save her brother from a murder of sinister crows. According to the Decemberists' website, the fantasy tale is set in "a world full of warring creatures, peaceable mystics, and powerful figures with the darkest intentions."

Photos: The Decemberists Perform in New York City

The first four chapters of Wildwood are currently available as a free download for those who click "like" on the novel's Facebook page. The opening pages reveal a book with the usual whimsy of a children's book, but with the charming, old-timey aesthetic of the Decemberists. Though Meloy has posted a playlist of songs including numbers by Led Zeppelin and Fairport Convention to accompany the book, he has not released any original music in connection to the project.

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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