"A masterpiece. . . . An unforgettable character . . . who proceeds to take you on a roller-coaster ride through his tawdrily tumultuous life." — Chicago Tribune At the age of fifty-seven—living a life riddled with ex-wives, one night stands, and daily diet of Jack Daniels—Bad Blake is on his last legs. His ticker, his liver, even his pick-up truck are all giving him trouble. A renowned songwriter and "picker" who hasn't recorded in five years, Bad now travels the countryside on gigs that take him mostly to motels and bowling alleys. Enter Jean Craddock, a young journalist sent to interview him after a beautiful concert, and a tentative romance blooms. Can Bad stop living the life of a country-western song and tie a rope around his crazy heart? "A measure of Thomas Cobb's talent is that he can make Bad Blake's story amusing even as we watch him fall." — New York Times Book Review "[Cobb's] picture of the scraggly underside of Western music is brutally convincing." — The New Yorker "Crazy Heart just might be the finest country-western novel ever written, bar none." — Houston Post "[A] moving, respectful evocation of the world of country music." — Boston Herald "Thomas Cobb's marvelous first novel doesn't just play on your heartstrings, it breaks them." — San Francisco Examiner "A piercing, keenly observed chronicle of modern Americana." —Los Angeles Times "Heartfelt." — Houston Chronicle "A beautiful book. . . . Bad Blake is a man you will not soon forget." — Washington Times
