John Credits Seger

John has written the glowing forward to a forthcoming book about fellow Midwestern rocker and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Bob Seger.

"Travelin' Man," which gets its title from Seger's 1969 breakthrough hit "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" (he was heading the Bob Seger System then), is a collaboration with photographer Thomas Weschler and Detroit music writer Gary Graff. It details Weschler's long involvement with the Seger organization.

John's forward relates how he was riding around Seymour with his buddies when "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" came on the car radio. The then 16 year-old was so taken by the record's sound and the singer's voice that he had the driver pull onto the shoulder of the road so they could hear it without static. Thus began John's "long love affair" with Seger's music, which he describes as "thoughtful and bad-ass, all in one measure."

Seger's fellow Detroiter Kid Rock, incidentally, wrote the afterward for "Travelin' Man," which is due from Wayne University Press on Oct. 15.