On a Cold Road: Tales of Adventure in Canadian Rock

On a Cold Road by Dave Bidini is being championed by Stacey McKenzie for Canada Reads 2012.

Former Rheostatics guitarist Dave Bidini made the leap from music to the writing world with the publication of this book, his first, in 1998. The band caught a major break when they were asked by The Tragically Hip to open for them on a cross-Canada tour in 1996. Bidini kept a thorough tour diary, and his notes eventually became On a Cold Road, which chronicles the touring experience province by province. In addition to his own stories, Bidini includes tales of life on tour from a slew of well-known Canadian musicians including Randy Bachman (who relates an amusing story about the mutual resentment between The Guess Who and The Who), "Rompin'" Ronnie Hawkins and Trooper's Ra McGuire, among many others.

On a Cold Road marked a turning point in Bidini's career, and he has since published nine other books on topics ranging from music to writing to sports (soccer, baseball and, his favourite, hockey).

Read an excerpt from On a Cold Road here.

Listen to Dave Bidini read from On a Cold Road here.

Get to know Dave Bidini by watching our video chat here.

Listen to Dave's interview on The Next Chapter here.

Read the replay of our live chat with Dave Bidini here.

Check out Dave's playlist inspired by On a Cold Road here.

Get to know Stacey McKenzie by watching our video chat here. 

Listen to Stacey McKenzie's debate strategy on the Canada Reads podcast here.