Harold Whit Williams - Backmasking (Book)

Winner, 2013 Robert Phillips Poetry Chapbook Prize

The poems of Backmasking uncover secret messages of rock and roll in relation to religion, mostly in a loose sonnet form reminiscent of David Wojahn's classic, Mystery Train. Set mainly in the Muscle Shoals area of Alabama, these narrative poems, spun in reverse, detail a young man's ascent into the glittery world of guitar heroes, all the while singing out the day-to-day absurdities of the sacred and the profane.

Harold Whit Williams is a prize-winning poet, longtime guitarist for indie rock band Cotton Mather, and the author of nine books of poetry and one book of short stories. He is also the recipient of the 2020 FutureCycle Press Poetry Book Prize, the 2014 Mississippi Review Poetry Prize, the Robert Phillips Poetry Chapbook Prize, as well as multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Williams lives in Austin, Texas, where he is the Head of Metadata Services at UT Libraries, all the while writing, recording, and performing his solo music under the moniker Daily Worker.