Question 1

What is the single biggest suggestion you would give to someone wanting to get into this career?

Dennis McNally · Accepted Answer

“Get used to being alone. As I say, listen to music, experience music, talk to people about music. Write about music and read about music. There are fantastic people who are out there and all you have to do is find them.”

Question 2

What’s the #1 mistake people make when trying to get into this career?

Dennis McNally · Accepted Answer

“People who think that the way to get close to rock ‘n’ roll is to adopt a hardcore party lifestyle. It won’t help. Trust me. It won’t help you and it won’t help them. You need to maintain your own personal integrity. It’s a very seductive world, rock ‘n’ roll, as too many people have found out by dying.”

Question 3

If you could describe in one word what makes you successful, what would it be?

Dennis McNally · Accepted Answer

“Satisfaction. I think of my work as leaving a message in a bottle. A hundred years from now if people want to know what was the Grateful Dead about or if they want to know about Jerry Garcia, hopefully, they’ll read that book. If they want to know the context of Robert Johnson’s playing, hopefully, they’ll read Highway 61. Every book is more about the time period than anything else–and it also says something about the subject.”

Question 4

Extra Credit: The Beatles or Rolling Stones?

Dennis McNally · Accepted Answer

“To listen to, or to hang out with? [To hang out with], John Lennon. I think he was the smartest of them all in terms of a wider worldview, although sometimes he didn’t have that insight into his own personal life.”

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