One summer, three friends and I took an eight month journey across the two continents of America and Europe. On a mission: to get ten of the world’s most famous artists to record a tribute album to an unknown songwriter, and that songwriter would be me.  The adventures we had and the people we met changed my life profoundly. Apart from our struggles with managers, security and even one or two of the artists themselves, we ran into so many people from ordinary walks of life:  cab drivers, fans standing in line for shows, who couldn’t do enough to help or encourage us on our journey. That summer we lived life so brilliantly, so full of laughter and a gathering sense of achievement that I wondered if the artists we were pursuing ever saw life in anything like the same way. They were so cut off from the world that the thought occurred to me that I wouldn’t swap one year of their lives for one day of ours. My hope is that, in reading my account of those heady days, you will understand why.

A Far Cry From Sunset by Billy Franks is available at Amazon.com.