Kindred Spirits

Kindred Spirits is a pictorial memoir, with running commentary, of 55 years as a musician in the Washington DC area music scene. The book is based on a scrapbook updated continually from 1965 to 2020. The book goes to great lengths to celebrate musicians met and befriended along the author's music journey.

"Music was the social salvation for so many of us." Kindred Spirits is a book of moments. It is a pictorial memoir, with running commentary, of 55 years as a musician in the Washington DC area music scene. The book is something of a journal of kindred spirits forming bonds. It follows not just the author's music life but also that of many friends. Kindred Spirits celebrates making music with fellow musicians and in the later years of the book, also honors those who passed away. Beginning with the author's first gig in September 1965 in Washington D.C with a band called the Showmen, a newspaper announcement was clipped and the scrapbook began. Ultimately the scrapbook grew to almost 1,700 pages. It grew to include thousands of photos, music business cards, newspaper articles, radio playlists and all manner of memorabilia of the author and countless musicians met and befriended along the way. They are all Kindred Spirits, and this book is for them.

Les Hatley is a long time Washington DC area guitar player, having started his music journey in 1965 and continuing for well over 50 years. His recordings have charted both nationally and internationally. His music has been on soundtracks for shows on MTV, Animal Planet, Discovery, TLC and PBS. In 2015 he was inducted into the Maryland Entertainment Hall of Fame. He also won a Washington Area Music Association "Wammie". He was honored by the Songwriters Association of Washington with the Director's Award for Instrumental Music for his album "Chocolate". Les and his family live in the Maryland suburbs close to Washington D.C.