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Published by New Modern
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Table of Contents
About The Book
A TOP 5 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
Shortlisted for the Penderyn Music Book Prize 2026
The Herald Music Book of the Year
A Guardian Top 5 Music Book of the Year
A Classic Pop Music Book of the Year
A Mojo Top 5 Book of the Year 2025
An Uncut Top 3 Book of the Year 2025
“A Latter-day Lear. A truly remarkable book” John Niven, The Spectator
“Might just be the finest music memoir of recent years” Independent
“A minor masterpiece” Classic Pop
“Full of life and joy and copious swearing” The Herald
Del Amitri frontman Justin Currie reflects on life as a touring musician in the shadow of his life changing Parkinson’s diagnosis.
It’s 2022 and we join Justin at the doctor’s office, looking down the barrel of a Parkinson’s diagnosis. After concerned fans noticed a tremor in his hand, Currie sought the medical advice which led him to the discovery that would throw his future into uncertainty.
The immediate fallout of his diagnosis is laid bare in Currie’s candid, stream of consciousness voice. A voice that is also by turns poetic, self-deprecating and darkly humorous across a series of diary entries that capture Justin’s innermost feelings — part travelogue, part confessional.
Following a coming to terms with the situation whilst on tour in the U.S, the second half of the story joins Currie in 2024, supporting Simple Minds on tour with Del Amitri. Anger, heartbreak and a looming sense of finality concoct a terse relationship between what once was and what may never be. Yet, page after page, what prevails is the achingly perfect timing of his acerbic wit.
The Tremolo Diaries is a beautiful and unique meditation on illness and aging. It is a twilight years reflection on band life in the 21st Century. It’s a travelogue around the world’s art galleries, parks, bars and sites of natural beauty. And most importantly, it is about love and friendship, adversity and courage, life and loss.
In a first-of-its-kind exploration of Parkinson’s by a multi-platinum selling musician, The Tremolo Diaries looks the dramatic irony of Currie’s affliction in the eye, puts down the guitar, and returns the needle to the start of the song.
Shortlisted for the Penderyn Music Book Prize 2026
The Herald Music Book of the Year
A Guardian Top 5 Music Book of the Year
A Classic Pop Music Book of the Year
A Mojo Top 5 Book of the Year 2025
An Uncut Top 3 Book of the Year 2025
“A Latter-day Lear. A truly remarkable book” John Niven, The Spectator
“Might just be the finest music memoir of recent years” Independent
“A minor masterpiece” Classic Pop
“Full of life and joy and copious swearing” The Herald
Del Amitri frontman Justin Currie reflects on life as a touring musician in the shadow of his life changing Parkinson’s diagnosis.
It’s 2022 and we join Justin at the doctor’s office, looking down the barrel of a Parkinson’s diagnosis. After concerned fans noticed a tremor in his hand, Currie sought the medical advice which led him to the discovery that would throw his future into uncertainty.
The immediate fallout of his diagnosis is laid bare in Currie’s candid, stream of consciousness voice. A voice that is also by turns poetic, self-deprecating and darkly humorous across a series of diary entries that capture Justin’s innermost feelings — part travelogue, part confessional.
Following a coming to terms with the situation whilst on tour in the U.S, the second half of the story joins Currie in 2024, supporting Simple Minds on tour with Del Amitri. Anger, heartbreak and a looming sense of finality concoct a terse relationship between what once was and what may never be. Yet, page after page, what prevails is the achingly perfect timing of his acerbic wit.
The Tremolo Diaries is a beautiful and unique meditation on illness and aging. It is a twilight years reflection on band life in the 21st Century. It’s a travelogue around the world’s art galleries, parks, bars and sites of natural beauty. And most importantly, it is about love and friendship, adversity and courage, life and loss.
In a first-of-its-kind exploration of Parkinson’s by a multi-platinum selling musician, The Tremolo Diaries looks the dramatic irony of Currie’s affliction in the eye, puts down the guitar, and returns the needle to the start of the song.
Product Details
- Publisher: New Modern (August 28, 2025)
- Length: 240 pages
- ISBN13: 9781917923026
Raves and Reviews
“His acidic eye never disappoints. Essential. 9/10”
– Classic Rock
“An extraordinarily frank exploration of illness, depression and life in a band ... Currie is perceptive, funny, winningly cantankerous company”
– The Guardian
“A Latter-day Lear. A truly remarkable book”
– The Spectator
“Written with raw honesty and dark humour, the diaries are a window of life on tour and creativity”
– The Sunday Post
“Intriguing (and) thoughtful. Although his situation is mundanely horrifying he tackles it with stoic determination, painting an honest portrait of how the urge to play music brings him meaning even in dark times 4/5”
– Record Collector
“Most of us wouldn’t be able to map our misfortunes with as much precision, courage and humour as Justin Currie manages in the pages of this truly remarkable book. One of the most extraordinary rock memoirs I have ever read”
– John Niven
“Beautifully written, moving and funny. It stands alone as a book about life on the road and life in a band. But it's so much more than that. Deserves to be much loved and admired”
– Gideon Coe, BBC Radio 6
“A probing, self deprecating, emotionally honest, savagely funny and deeply poignant masterclass of a memoir”
– Stereo Embers
“The Tremolo Diaries might just be the finest music memoir of recent years. Currie reveals himself to be a born prose stylist. He can’t produce a dull sentence, and has a novelist’s eye for detail”
– The Independent
“For all the pain and fear and heartache in these pages, it's also full of life and joy and copious swearing. Currie is realistic about his condition but not maudlin about it and he has retained his very Scottish ability to be entertainingly angry at things that annoy him. The result is a thrill of a book”
– The Herald
Resources and Downloads
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Book Cover Image (jpg): The Tremolo Diaries
eBook 9781917923026
