Midwest Calling: From First Avenue to the American Football House

Edited by Jeff Leven

December 8, 2026
Pre-orders now open!

A collection of original essays by artists, label owners, and booking agents—from DEVO to The Smashing Pumpkins to Michigander—on how Midwestern culture and landscape shaped their music and scenes. 

Midwest Calling takes you on a tour from DIY scenes to festival stages in St Louis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland, and beyond, with over 25 writers and interviewees. The National’s Bryan Devendorf explains how the jug bands and rivers of Ohio helped create his band’s sound, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon tells a story about Prince at First Avenue, and American Football’s Steve Lamos defends boredom as an essential part of the creative process. Offstage players contribute stories as well, from Chris Swanson on the beginnings of the Secretly label group in Bloomington, Indiana, to Peter Jesperson facilitating the debut of national success stories at the legendary First Avenue in Minneapolis. Elsewhere, writers offer an inside look at the communities that shaped them, such as Rachel Cholst’s informational tribute to alt-country and the impact of Bloodshot Records, and poet Marguerite L. Harrold’s personal ode to the power and originality of Chicago house music.

This book is for fans—that friend with a worn-out story about Paul Westerberg or your vinyl-obsessed uncle, those who work or worked in the music industry, readers of Such Great Heights: The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion—and, above all, anyone interested in how music can be grounded in a place even as it transcends it.

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Jeff Leven is an artist manager and recovering music attorney, enthusiastic rock writer and mediocre guitarist. His writing has appeared in Paste, Pitchfork, Revolver, AP, some discerning blogs and numerous music industry contracts (which are more of a dry read). In other phases of life he has also dabbled in concert promotion and radio. He grew up in Ohio and Texas, lived in Boston, New Jersey and LA and currently resides near Philadelphia. He has two children and a Golden Retriever.  He still loves rock n’ roll.

6 x 9 | Paperback