Jam band veteran Reid Genauer may be known for his guitarwork in bands like Assembly of Dust, Strangefolk and more, but today Genauer has a new line to add to his resume. The guitarist penned a children’s book titled “Jeffery’s Jungle,” which was released today and can be purchased on Amazon.
Considering his lyrical style was always inspired by the great poet Shel Silverstein, and now Genauer has children of his own, it seems that publishing the children’s book was a natural progression.
“I was initially inspired to start writing poetry when I was 10 after reading Shel Silverstein’s “Where The Side Walk Ends” At the time I was also learning to play the guitar and started writing songs,” says Genauer, “Lyrically I have been most inspired by Robert Hunter who wrote most of the lyrics for Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead. While Hunter and Silverstein have very distinct linguistic styles and distinctly unrelated careers there is sense of poetic myth, mischief, and intimacy that both writers embrace.”
Even The String Cheese Incident guitarist Bill Nershi spoke to Genauer’s lyrical style, saying “Reid’s a great songwriter. He has a natural approach to a song that is artful, lyrically acrobatic and accessible. He and I have always bonded about the role of song craft in the sea of musical improvisation. Writing a children’s book is a natural extension of what he does best. Not surprisingly his book comes off as mischievous and fun loving as he is.”
Hopefully this is the first of many books to come from Genauer! With illustrations from Alan Close, we can’t wait to read Jeffery’s Jungle, which is available now!