"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.

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