We are so pleased to finally be able to share Cameron’s latest bookt! Cameron had this quote for the Associated Press:
“I spent the last decade or so re-interviewing those early subjects like (David) Bowie and Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell and Led Zeppelin,” Crowe told The Associated Press in a recent email. “The act of looking back on their younger selves brought out the same in me. The book split into two, the first one being a personal memoir. The second one will come out next year, with a lot of new interview material.”
Here’s the press release!
The Uncool, the long-awaited memoir by Cameron Crowe—one of America’s most iconic journalists and filmmakers—will be published by Avid Reader Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster on October 28, 2025.
Growing up in Southern California, Cameron Crowe was an unlikely rock and roll insider. Born in 1957 to parents who strictly banned the genre from their house, he defied the odds, diving headfirst into the music world. By age thirteen, he was already a music critic, and by the time he graduated high school at fifteen, Crowe was contributing to Rolling Stone, Creem magazine, the Los Angeles Times while touring with and interviewing legends like The Allman Brothers Band, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Elton John Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Fleetwood Mac and Led Zeppelin.
Youth and humility are Crowe’s ticket into the Eagles’ dressing room in 1972, where Glenn Frey vows to keep the band together forever; to his first major interview with Kris Kristofferson; to witnessing Emmylou Harris’s road-tour audition for Gram Parsons; to earning the trust of icons like Gregg Allman, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell who had sworn to never again speak to Rolling Stone. Such a magical odyssey doesn’t happen anymore—where a lucky teenage journalist might be waved through the door and find his crowd, fellow dreamers, music geeks, and lifelong community. It’s a path that leads him to writing and directing some of the most beloved films of the past forty years, from Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Say Anything to Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky and Almost Famous. His films often resonate with the music of the artists he first met as a journalist, from Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, to Tom Petty, Elton John, The Who and Pearl Jam.
The Uncool is a raw, honest exploration of family, ambition, love and music. With its vivid snapshots of a bygone era and its celebration of creativity, resilience, and connection, this memoir is an essential read for music lovers or anyone who dreamed of chasing their wildest dreams. At the end of that roller-coaster journey of the heart, you might just find what you were looking for. Your place in the world.
Cameron Crowe became Rolling Stone’s youngest ever contributor as a fifteen-year-old high school graduate, going on to profile the likes of Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Elton John, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and The Who.
(A companion book to The Uncool will be published by Avid Reader next year, a collection of Crowe’s essential interviews and newly conducted follow-up conversations with the artists — Hamburgers for the Apocalypse: The Music Journalism of Cameron Crowe.)
Crowe is also an acclaimed filmmaker who has written and directed films including Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Say Anything, Singles, Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky and Almost Famous (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay). He also wrote the definitive book on the work of writer-director Billy Wilder, Conversations with Wilder. Crowe is currently at work on a film based on Joni Mitchell’s life and music. He has three children and lives in Southern California.
Contact:
David Kass
Senior Publicity Director
Avid Reader Press | Simon & Schuster
