SUMMARY: A depression-era boy wants badly to become a classical musician against the wishes of his hard drinking, heavy equipment operating father. His long-suffering mother wants him to escape the kind of life she’s had and supports his musical dream. He convinces himself that music is the most important thing in his life and marries the woman who has set her sights on him and is willing to support his musical obsession. Joey winds up in the symphony and performing in Hollywood, backing up the likes of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, The Beach Boys and Frank Sinatra. But he lets the love of his life, the high school beauty that he adored from the first encounter, slip away. Tears and Trombones is a roller coaster of highs and lows with humorous twists and poignant turns as we watch Joey pursue his dream.
The BookViral Review: Insightful and beautifully imagined, Tears And Trombones is the enchanting debut from author Nanci Woody that magically weaves eloquent prose with melodic musings. A bittersweet journey that is both timeless and transient in it’s telling, Woody succinctly captures aspects of humanity that ultimately define us. Hope, fear, love and regret, each has its place, with each exquisitely enshrined in the music that defined those moments in time. Intense, lyrical, and certainly evocative, it’s breathtakingly good at times with an inspired narrative through which she creates a rare sense of intimacy as she writes. Her characters imbued with a vibrancy that elevates them beyond their time and place, bringing them achingly to life, though no more than with Joey. Channelling his story through compressed and authentic dialogue, Woody ably captures the weight, triumphs and sadness of his choices and their long reaching ramifications in what proves to be an emotive roller-coaster of a journey.
A beautifully written, insightful and highly satisfying debut, Nanci Woody is an author who certainly deserves your attention and Tears and Trombones is recommended without reservation!