I started this book with different expectations from what the book was. I really enjoyed the author's effort however. This is a series of vignettes of his life rather than the traditional (and some would say laden) biography. The book's pace is perfect which makes this a satisfying story or stories. I've learned the lesson why I have to take every book on its own, no matter how much it reminds you of another.

I received a free electronic copy of this memoir from Netgalley, Paul Dodgson, and Unbound publishing. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read On the Road Not Taken of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.

Paul Dodgson was a child who loved music and envisioned himself as a musician, dreamed of making music and sharing his art with the world - except for that massive, unfaceable stage fright that he couldn't seem to get past. We travel with him, from his youth in the tiny community of Hythe, Kent, England in the 1960's, through his breakthrough in the 2010's when he actually starts finishing some of the songs he started writing as a youth, learning to complete those songs of his youth on the guitar and found 'the' guitar - the instrument he was meant to have. He did make a career around music, writing plays and music for BBC Radio, for the stage, for television. He was even a 'Voice' in demand on the radio. And then in 2015 after attending a concert by Frank Turner, he knows he has to get out there, to at least TRY to share his music with the world the way he had always wanted to do. Maybe just a little world, but share he must. It would not be easy. But he would do it...

I found it interesting that Paul Dodgson is a southpaw but was taught to play conventional guitar. Some of the best guitarists from the US were left-handed but played conventionally. Jimi Hendrix. Stevie Ray Vaughn. Hendrix's unique sound is created as he plucked up, rather than strummed down on the strings. It will be interesting to watch Paul Dodgson as he matures as an artist. Our boys died much too young. Will be nice to see an older southpaw rocker...

Like many music fans I’ve imagined myself as a musician – the 3rd guitar Thin Lizzy never knew they needed. Trouble is, I don’t so much play the guitar as interfere with them. I can only play sitting down and under no circumstances if anyone else is watching. Or listening. Paul’s tale of how he overcame his stage fright to become a travelling troubadour therefore appealed to me, if only to relate how he managed to do something I know I never will.

Paul’s tale is not a simple “How To Get Over Yourself And Get On Stage”. It’s a tale of redemption as well as a gentle reflection on his parents, friendship, his children and most importantly himself. The book alternates chapters between his formative years and his gradual steps towards playing songs in public.

The twist in the plot – and I’m giving nothing away as it’s revealed at the start of the book - is that Paul didn’t acquire the performance bug late in life. In his youth he fronted The Entangled Network, one of Hythe’s foremost rock and roll bands (indeed quite possibly their only rock and roll band) who successful promoted their own gigs and recorded a number of songs. The chapters alternate between the young Dodgson finding and then losing his mojo, and how as an adult made his way back on stage.

If the book has a weakness, it’s the relative lack of light and shade in the adult years. The gradual steps from practice in his kitchen to playing to paying punters don’t quite have the same zest and pace as his childhood revelations. He documents extensively (and with a very droll, dry humour) his childhood pretentions and misjudgements in a way that were sadly all too easy to identify with, and manages to convey very effectively why anyone thought it a good idea to pay money to see The Enid. If their parents would let them. And run them there and back.

If you are after a self-help book this isn’t it. If you enjoy a trip down memory lane that mixes a smile with a few cringes, with some touching reflections from adult life on friendships, children and relationships, I’d heartily recommend it.

I feel like this book had a lot of potential that wasn't realized. It is completely the kind of title I would pick up and purchase in a bookstore, but I am 3/4 of the way through it and there seems to be no story arc, just a series of gigs. I like the two timeframes, but the flip-flop every couple of pages is disconcerting and the story could have been better developed if each part had been given a bit more space. At this point I'm flipping through the pages to see if anything of interest happens but I am guessing I will abandon it.