Howling to the Moonlight on a Hot Summer Night

A Long Island, NY native, Christopher McKittrick is the author of Gimme All Your Lovin’: The Blues, Boogie, and Beard of ZZ Top's Billy F. Gibbons and other books. McKittrick's work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Observer, Rolling Stone, and numerous entertainment and news platforms. He has appeared on television on the Tom Petty episode of HLN’s How It Really Happened and Al Araby TV’s Hekayat Al Cinema, and on various radio shows and podcasts.

• Prologue: Nine Lives from Long Island Chapter 1: Rockabilly Is Here to Stay Chapter 2: Becoming Vintage Chapter 3: Escape from New York Chapter 4: Big in Europe Chapter 5: Lows in LondonChapter 6: Built for America Chapter 7: Stray Cat Fever Chapter 8: The Cats Go Astray Chapter 9: Separate Lives Chapter 10: Crossing PathsChapter 11: This Cat Swings Chapter 12: A Few Lives LeftEpilogue: Rockabilly Forever

The Stray Cats, a fiery rock trio from Long Island, transposed the raw 1950s rockabilly of Eddie Cochran into the glossy mediascape of 1980s pop culture. The band exploded in England two years before their debut American album catapulted to the top of the U.S. charts. By that time, the fickle UK press had turned on them, and it wouldn’t take long for the U.S. to follow suit, leading to disappointing sales on their second record and the first of many break-ups. McKittrick tracks their meteoric success, dissolution, reunions, and outside projects (critics had a field day making puns about their 'nine lives'), including the remarkable comeback of lead singer and guitarist Brian Setzer with his Grammy-winning swing ensemble. McKittrick packs the book with facts, figures, and dates.... Stray Cats fans and music lovers in general will appreciate this exhaustively researched document of the group’s influential and lengthy career.