Traveling Music: The Soundtrack to My Life and Times

Desmond Maley is the music librarian at the J.W. Tate Library,
Huntington College, Laurentian University, and editor of the CAML
Review.

A sophisticated narrative frames this remarkable travelogue and memoir.
In alternating chapters of “verses” and “choruses,” Rush drummer
Neil Peart takes us on a leisurely car trip from his new home in Santa
Monica, California, to Big Bend National Park in Texas. At the same
time, he takes us down the pathways of memory, telling us the story of
how he eventually became a member of one of Canada’s most successful
rock bands. In the process, accounts of earlier travels, formative
experiences, personal and professional relationships, Rush tours, and
the music industry are all dexterously blended.

Peart introduces music—the book’s connecting theme or
“soundtrack”—from the outset in the form of the CDs he plays on
his car stereo. An eclectic listener, he writes insightfully of albums,
artist, and ensembles that span the era, including Frank Sinatra
(especially), The Beatles, Buddy Rich, Pet Sounds, Dusty in Memphis,
Kind of Blue, Jeff Buckley, The Tragically Hip, and Linkin Park. He also
calls our attention to films such as Monterey Pop.

His reminiscences about his early years growing up in Ontario’s Port
Dalhousie are vivid. His discovery of the movie The Gene Krupa Story
impelled him to become a drummer, and R&B is described as his
“roots” music. He was enthralled by the performances of The Who,
above all its incendiary drummer, Keith Moon, whom he saw in Toronto.
Following an apprenticeship in local bands and a brief sojourn in
England, Peart rocketed to fame and fortune when he was picked to join
Rush. But he clearly remains ambivalent about celebrity.

Peart has a gift for describing vistas, incidents, and people, and he
also writes thoughtfully about music and popular culture. But Traveling
Music takes a long detour with the harrowing story of a bicycle tour
that he took of sub-Saharan Africa. It unnecessarily pads what is
already a lengthy book. It also stands in contrast to the treatment of
the Rush years, about which more could have been said. Peart, however,
is promising to return with a detailed chronicle. Perhaps an index will
be included the next time around.