Delta Lady: A Memoir

Singer/songwriter Coolidge ("Anytime…Anywhere"), with best-selling author Walker (Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock-and-Roll's Legendary Neighborhood), candidly relates the story of growing up part-Cherokee in Kentucky and Tennessee during the 1940s and 1950s. Born to a Baptist minister father and schoolteacher mother, Coolidge sang harmony from an early age with her sisters in church. Listening to recordings of Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Mississippi John Hurt, and Bob Dylan helped her hone her songwriting craft. Along the way her musical style was influenced by Delaney and Bonnie and their Southern R&B and rock and roll sound. There were relationships with Leon Russell, Graham Nash, and the love of her life and father of her daughter, Kris Kristofferson. She endured a bad trip on acid and never tried it again. Coolidge recounts her career highlights to include participating in the "Mad Dogs & Englishmen" tour with Joe Cocker in 1970, singing backup vocals on Stephen Stills's "Love the One You're With," and producing her signature duet with Kristofferson, "Help Me Make It Through the Night."