BOOKS
You Can Make It If You Try: The Ted Jarrett Story of R&B in Nashville
2005
by Ted Jarrett and Ruth White
CMF Press/Hillsboro Press
Ted Jarrett has been a central figure in Music City's thriving rhythm & blues scene since the 1950s, working as a hit songwriter, musician, producer, label chief, artist manager, talent scout, and disc jockey. You Can Make It If You Try provides a fascinating and instructive look at one man's drive to succeed in the world of music. In rich and frank detail, Jarrett and co-writer Ruth White describe the circumstances under which he discovered and nurtured top R&B talent; introduce the numerous musicians, nightclubs, record labels, and radio stations on the scene; and explain the inspiration behind Jarrett's best known songs. Jarrett's autobiography also offers an insightful look into the interaction of white and black musical cultures in Nashville and shares the personal challenges one man faced in pursuing a life of music.
Ted Jarrett is a graduate of Fisk University whose compositions were first recorded by Nashville's R&B stars such as Gene Allison, Earl Gaines, and Christine Kittrell, and were soon covered by a wide variety of acts including Webb Pierce, the Rolling Stones, Ruth Brown, and Hank Ballard. Still active at age eighty, Jarrett continues to work as a songwriter, producer, artist manager, and label executive. He is at the heart of the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum's 2004-05 exhibition and Grammy-winning companion CD, Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues, 1945-1970.
