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Kinks' Ray Davies On Long Relationship With 'Americana'

Rock legend Ray Davies was already facing transitions in his personal and professional life in 2004, when, one week after being named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth, he was shot in the leg during a mugging in New Orleans. Davies had come to New Orleans in a search for musical authenticity and a compass for his personal life. Instead, he found himself a violent crime victim and anchored to a bed for weeks.

Davies recovery was arduous, but he survived the ordeal, which sparked a new run of creativity for the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, composer, songwriter, actor, director and writer.

Davies’ meditations on his relationship with the U.S. — the country that banned his band, the Kinks, for four years in the 1960s before celebrating it in the decades to follow — make up the bulk of his new memoir, Americana: The Kinks, The Riff, The Road, The Story, out now from Sterling.

A lifelong resident of the Capital Region, Ian joined WAMC in late 2008 and became news director in 2013. He began working on Morning Edition and has produced The Capitol Connection, Congressional Corner, and several other WAMC programs. Ian can also be heard as the host of the WAMC News Podcast and on The Roundtable and various newscasts. Ian holds a BA in English and journalism and an MA in English, both from the University at Albany, where he has taught journalism since 2013.
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