Three Chords and the Truth

The storyline of Three Chords and The Truth involves many interesting character studies. Rose Lassiter, a waitress at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, whom Lance Hawkins met on his first day in Nashville becomes a life-long friend full of good advice for him during his dark times. Chase Kirkland, hired as a back-up singer for him ended up doing duets with Lance and found success only with Lance and not on his own which he desperately wanted and eventually ended his tragic death. And finally Grace Taylor, the school teacher who became the love of his life after many starts and stops.

Lance Hawkins, a small-town man with small town experience, is a country music singer, guitar player, and songwriter as handsome as he is talented. In his early 20's, Lance works as a landscaper during the day and a performer in the evenings and is leading a comfortable life in his small-town midwestern home. However, local fans and fellow musicians keep encouraging him to pursue a professional career in music. Having never ventured too far from his provincial base, Lance is conflicted as to whether to continue to lea a safe life or venture into an attempt at country music fame. Lance finally succumbs to the temptation to make his mark in country music, where the promises and pitfalls await him. Through luck and circumstance, Lance becomes an overnight star without paying his dues in the wild, crazy world called Nashville and country music. Too young and naive to cope with the pressures that accompany fame, Lance falls into a dark world filled with drugs, alcohol, and an illicit, dangerous affair, which temporarily threatens to destroy his career. As Lance drifts back and forth between comebacks and freefalls, the question is, will he find true happiness or is he doomed to shine only on stage?

Three Chords and the Truth is Leo Bradley's third novel. His first, The Cotton Factor, is set in Civil War times, and his second, House Built on Sand, is a family saga/historical novel set in the first half of the 20th century America. This time, he has turned his time and talent to creating a unique contemporary novel unveiling the triumphs, tribulations, heartbreak, adulations, loathing and relationships that dominate the lives of country music entertainers. Bradley has a unique perspective on the country music industry, having pursued his love og music through a life-long hobby of writing, singing, and playing music since the age of ten. He has had over forty of his compositions recorded by Fraternity Records. His best known musical works are two CD's that combine his his love of music and baseball history. The first, One Bounce and You're Gone, ia an eighteen song musical history of baseball, from it's origin until today. The second , Remembering The Reds, is a fifteen song musical history of his favorite team, the Cincinnati Reds. As a life-long educator, Dr. Bradley's scholarly achievements include the publication of nine books relating to Leadership and Total Quality Management School law. He has held positions of high school teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent in four Ohio Public School Systems before becoming chair and professor emeritus of educational leadership in the College of Professional Sciences at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio which he held for 27 years before retirement, In 2009 he wrote Underrated Reds, the story of the 1939 -1940 Cincinnati Reds, distributed by Losantiville Press and still in demand.