Local classic-rock scribe has book published

Local classic-rock junkie, Jeb Wright, can add published author to the list of accomplishments he has earned since starting the Web site Class Rock Revisited 13 years ago.

Rock Icons & Metal Gods, from publisher Rock and Roll Books, recently went on sale at Amazon.com and in various stores. The book is a 180-page collection of interviews Wright has done with numerous hard rockers since starting his site in 1999.

Wright, 45, has produced one other book, Stadium Rock, but is excited this time to have a publisher to help promote his work. His first book was self published.

“This time around I have a chance to make some money,” he said and laughed. “Which is cool.”

Among those featured in the book are rockers Sammy Hagar, Ozzy Osbourne and Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon. Pictures for the book are provided by famed rock photographer Mark Weiss, a long-time shooter for Circus Magazine and Osbourne’s tour photographer of choice.

Wright, who lives in Ark City, has trouble picking a favorite from his well over 1,000 interviews but said looking back over his years of work, to select material for the book, left him feeling pretty satisfied.

“Back in the day, when I got started, I would have told you that my ultimate three interviews to get would’ve been Ian Anderson, of Jethro Tull, Ozzy Osbourne and Ted Nugent,” Wright said. “And today I’ve done over 20 interviews with those three. So that sort of speaks for itself.”

His work has landed him at dinner with rock’s rich and famous. He’s attended countless concerts and has found himself invited to the VH1 Rock Honors Award Show.

Wright has gone from being a wanna-be rock scribe just happy to get some free CDs, to a go-to name for classic rockers looking to promote new material or an upcoming show.

Still, he hasn’t dumped his day job.

Wright works at KSQ Blowmolding at Strother Field, right where he was when his love for classic rock first started to flourish into something much more.

He was 32 then and urged by his wife Patty – who by the way is not interested in hard rock in the slightest – to use the Internet to create a gathering place for classic rock fans.

It was a niche that needed filled, and today Classic Rock Revisited receives well more than 1 million unique visitors every year.

Rock Icons & Metal Gods pre-sold about 540 copies and a marketing campaign for the book is set to begin in March. An electronic version is soon to be released as well.

He said the idea for the book came as he discussed the many interviews he’d done for his site over the years.

“You know that phrase,” Wright said. “You ought to do a book.”