How do you get a CD from a novel?

It’s a pretty simple story. The music for Spanish Fly came about over a beer at the Ironwood Stage and Grill in Calgary, Alberta. Will Ferguson had signed the contract for his novel Spanish Fly, a raucous tale of con men and grifters set in the dustbowl of the 1930s, and was celebrating with the publisher’s sales director, Don Robinson. It just so happened that Tom Phillips and the Men of Constant Sorrow were playing at the Ironwood that night, and Will leaned over and said to Don, "This—this is the music of the novel. If the novel had a soundtrack, this would be it." Don said, "Well, why don’t we catch Tom between sets, talk to him about it?" And they did. And here it is.

Track Listing:

1. Mama’s Not Dead (Traditional)
The Music I Left Behind (1:37)

2. Con Men and Call Girls, Part I (2:59)

3. Silver City (3:16)

4. Lucky 7 Cigarettes (:58)

5. Losin’ Hand (3:19)

6. Gamblin’ Man (2:39)

Travel writer and novelist Will Ferguson is the author of several award-winning memoirs, including Beyond Belfast, about a 560-mile walk across Northern Ireland in the rain; Hitching Rides with Buddha, about an end-to-end journey across Japan by thumb; and most recently the humour collection Canadian Pie, which includes his travels from Yukon to PEI.

Ferguson's novels include Happiness™, a satire set in the world of self-help publishing, and Spanish Fly, a coming-of-age tale of con men and call girls set amid the jazz clubs of the Great Depression. His work, which has been published in more than twenty languages around the world, has been nominated for both an IMPAC Dublin Award and a Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and he is a three-time winner of the Leacock Medal.

www.willferguson.com

Will Ferguson's profile page