From “Strike Up the Band” to “Love Is Here to Stay,” each of the book’s twelve chapters highlights one of the Gershwins’ classic songs, exploring the brothers’ lives, illuminating what the music meant to them, and telling the stories of how their iconic tunes came to life. Throughout the star-studded narrative, Feinstein unfolds the moving chronicle of his own life with the Gershwins, describing his vision for their enduring presence today.
The Gershwins and Me: A Personal History in Twelve Songs
In early 2012, multiplatinum-selling entertainer Michael Feinstein—a renowned cabaret performer and one of the finest music historians in the country—approached us to produce both a trade and deluxe version of The Gershwins and Me, the personal history of his experience under the tutelage of the peerless Ira and George Gershwin. We strove to imbue both editions with the Gershwin sensibility and a period-appropriate design.
A Musical Scrapbook
Deluxe Edition
After thoroughly researching Feinstein’s personal archives and unearthing photos and artifacts at the Library of Congress, we carefully selected twelve Gershwin artifacts to reproduce in what we dubbed a “memorabilia folder” for the book’s deluxe edition. These included handwritten lyrics, never-before-published song sketches, and original cover art, among others. These stand-alone pieces of ephemera were placed inside an elegant slipcase, along with the Gershwins and Me book and a CD with Feinstein’s original recordings of twelve of the greatest Gershwin songs. It’s truly a treasure to behold.
