24 Books Like Daisy Jones & the Six

Book Summary

The Griffin sisters, Cassie and Zoe, are just a year apart in age, but growing up, they were as different as could be. Charming and beautiful Zoe had always been eager for the spotlight, whereas musical prodigy Cassie preferred the shadows.

In the early 2000s, when both girls were on the cusp of adulthood, destiny intervened, catapulting them to stardom as the pop sensation The Griffin Sisters. Over the course of one whirlwind year, their fame saw them featured on MTV, SNL, and Rolling Stone magazine. But then the band abruptly broke up.

Two decades later, Zoe spends her days caring for her family, and Cassie is off the grid. The sisters don’t speak, and still no one knows why the band broke up.

Despite all her mother’s warnings, Zoe’s teenage daughter, Cherry, craves fame. She’s also determined to find out what happened to her mother’s band all those years ago. As secrets begin to emerge, Zoe, Cassie, and Cherry will have to face the consequences of their choices, including the ones they’ve made, as well as the ones the music industry made for them.

Book Summary

Mary Jane tells the story of two very different family lifestyles and a 14-year-old girl trying to decide who she really is. Mary Jane is a quiet, book-loving girl from a traditional, conservative family in 1970s Baltimore. When she is offered a job as a nanny for a local doctor, her mom assumes their home is equally tidy and respectable.

However, the house is a huge mess, and it’s about to get crazier. The doctor has welcomed a rock star and his wife to stay at the house while he tries to get sober. Mary Jane has a lot to teach them about tidiness and schedules, and all the while, they are opening her eyes to the world outside her bubble. By the end of the summer, she’ll have a much better understanding of who she wants to be.

Book Summary

Jane Pyre once wrote the songs for The Lightning Bottles, the ’90s grunge duo she formed with charismatic frontman Elijah Hart. Their meteoric rise, first in Seattle and then worldwide, was followed by a very public implosion. Elijah, always the more popular one, vanished – and the world blamed Jane. She became one of the most despised and misunderstood women in music.

Five years later, Jane moves to a quaint village in the German countryside. She’s intent on disappearing, but soon discovers that the sullen teenager next door is a Lightning Bottles superfan. The teen insists that Elijah is alive and has been leaving coded messages for Jane.

Jane finds herself drawn back into the past that she’s tried so hard to outrun. She and her teen neighbor set out on a cross-continent journey to retrace the band’s early days and to confront the myths that fame created.

Book Summary

April has a rough life, fending for herself in a motorless motorhome that her father won while playing poker. She works at a diner but dreams of being a songwriter. After flunking out of school and another fight with her dad, April sets off to find a better life for herself.

Along the way, she meets others with complex stories, which are the perfect inspiration for her songs. But even more important than that, she finds that family doesn’t have to mean the community you were born into. Instead, people you meet can become family.

Book Summary

Cecilia James has a new career as a music journalist and is a sucker for a great love song. Although her personal life with her father and boyfriend are both struggling, she’s pulled into a music mystery as she writes a story for Rolling Stone.

Rock star Eddie Vee once dedicated his hit love songs to Sara Friedman, but then he disappeared into anonymity. And Sara moved thousands of miles away toward a life she and Eddie once opposed. Can Cecilia convince them to open up about their broken hearts? Along the way, you’ll find many page-turning twists in the lives of both Cecilia and Sara.

Book Summary

Independent Opal can’t imagine settling into a real career. She believes she was made to be a star. Opal leans into her Afro-punk style as she seeks her niche in rock music. When she meets another aspiring artist, British singer/songwriter Neville, the unlikely duo begins making music together for the fledgling Rivington Records.

As Opal & Nev establish themselves in the early 70s New York music scene, everything changes when a fellow band from their label brandishes a Confederate flag. Opal boldly protests, which sets off a wave of violence and unfortunate repercussions.

Decades later, in 2016, a music journalist digs deeper into the events of the 70s. Her discoveries and a nasty new allegation threaten to tear apart Opal and Nev’s planned reunion.

Book Summary

In 1979, Jackie spent three months at her bohemian uncle’s sprawling estate, The Sandcastle. This peek into his life filled with musicians, artists, and other free spirits changed the course of her life as she tested new limits with her cousin Willa. But then, the summer ended in tragedy.

Twenty years later, Jackie has now inherited The Sandcastle and plans to prepare it for sale. However, she learns that before it can be sold, she needs to fulfill the promise made to a producer that he could record a tribute album in the property’s studio. As musicians bring the estate back to life, new questions are sparked about the summer of 1979.

Book Summary

Say Nashville, and most people immediately think of the city’s music scene. In this novel, one of country music’s superstars joins with one of the best storytellers to create a thriller about a young singer/songwriter searching for a future in Nashville that will allow her to outrun her past.

Book Summary

This memoir by the frontwomen of Heart, Ann and Nancy Wilson, is also narrated by the sisters, so it’s a great choice in Audiobook format. 

The Wilson sisters stood apart throughout their careers and paved the way for female musicians to be recognized as equals. They refused to use their bodies to sell music and relied on raw talent and hard work. 

It’s an entertaining look at Heart, from their childhood through success, hitting the Billboard top ten lists with nine different songs during the 70s & 80s.

Book Summary

Evelyn Hugo lived a glamorous and scandalous life, but doesn’t like to talk about it and has become reclusive after leaving her career. When the movie icon is finally ready to talk about her time in show business, she picks an unknown reporter to log her personal history, but why?

You’ll slowly unwrap Evelyn’s life from the 1950s to the 1980s as she chronicles her past life and relationships, including the seven husbands she had along the way. As the book covers so much of her life, it moves quickly and will keep you engaged and entertained for hours.

Book Summary

This story starts on a hilarious note as a lost dog shocks Sloan by jumping through her sunroof during an already rough day. When the owner doesn’t respond to calls, Sloan begins to love the dog, Tucker, as her own.

After several weeks, Tucker’s owner finally contacts her and wants Tucker back. Unfortunately, he’s out of the country and can’t claim Tucker right away, and Sloan isn’t sure he deserves his dog back. She’s been through a terrible two years, and the dog has helped her heal.

Book Summary

The novel contains overlapping characters told in separate stories, focusing on an aging record executive with a punk rock background and his young assistant. 

Reviews tend to either find the book extraordinary and brilliant or disjointed. However, if you’re feeling adventurous and love literary fiction, give this one a try!

Book Summary

This book comes with a unique narrator – Music. Music tells the story of an extraordinarily gifted musician, Frankie Pesto. Starting at Frankie’s funeral, you’ll look back at his Forrest Gump-like life as he navigates the music world. From 1950s jazz to the Grand Ole Opry, Elvis, and even Woodstock, Frankie both finds and loses fame. And all along the way, he’s searching for his childhood love.

When Frankie loses his ability to play the guitar, he disappears for decades, returning just in time for a mysterious final farewell.

Book Summary

Did you connect with the character of Billy Dunne? If so, grab this memoir by Bruce Springsteen ASAP. 

After performing at the 2009 Super Bowl, Bruce Springsteen was so exhilarated that he wanted to document the experience in writing. That moment triggered 7 years of work documenting his life from childhood through the roaring success of his E Street Band.

Book Summary

Greta James had musical talent from childhood, but her parents had different visions of where that talent would lead. While her mother was her biggest fan, her dad could only see the likely pitfalls of a music career.

She has spent years trying to prove him wrong and reached the point of appearing on magazine covers and playing sold-out shows. However, with the pressure of a sophomore album and the shock of her mother’s recent death, Greta has an on-stage meltdown that goes viral.

She very reluctantly agrees to join her dad on an Alaskan cruise because she hopes it will give her an escape from media coverage and the pressure of her struggling career. Their relationship is as icy as the Alaskan waters. But together aboard the ship, they will finally come to terms with the baggage of their past so that they can face the future.

Book Summary

In an era when women were expected to become housewives, three best friends instead struggled to make their mark in NYC as they climbed their way to the top of the entertainment industry.

But once there, they discover there is no place to go but down – into the Valley of the Dolls.

Book Summary

In the 1950s, the glamorous Barbizon Hotel for Women is home to a generation of aspiring models, secretaries, and editors who lived side-by-side while trying to claw their way to the top.

But when Darby, one of the residents, befriends a Barbizon maid, she comes to know a different, much seedier side of the city.

More than 50 years later, the Barbizon has turned into condos, but the elderly Darby still lives in her rent-controlled apartment. Darby’s upstairs neighbor – a journalist – can’t help but seek answers about the rumors that Darby was involved in a deadly altercation with the maid all those years ago.

Book Summary

When a rock journalist and lead singer bond over music and fall in love, what could go wrong?

The book immerses you in the lives of musicians and those around them. Fans are obsessed with the raw realness of the quirky characters. 

We know this is a very vague description, but after reading endless reviews, it becomes clear this book is beloved and impossible to fully describe without major spoilers. We’re intrigued and adding it to our TBR lists!

Book Summary

Author Malka Marom first met Joni Mitchell in 1966, seven years before their first official interview in 1973. Their friendship continued for forty years, with the last recorded interview for this book in 2012. 

Forty years of discussions are cultivated in this biography, focusing on the creative and songwriting process. The book is written in a Q&A conversational interview format and covers 70 years of Joni Mitchell’s life.

Book Summary

In this memoir, Dave Grohl tells the stories of a lifetime. It begins with his childhood in Springfield, Virginia, teaching himself to drum and dreaming of being a musician someday. Then he tells of his early adult years on the West Coast, where he was rocketed from a starving artist to a member of the biggest band in the world, Nirvana.

Having achieved all his wildest dreams by age 25, but also witnessing firsthand the price of fame, Dave then spent his next 25 years carefully crafting his life exactly as he wanted it – with equal measures of music, family, and friends. He shares some really epic stories starring some of the biggest names of our time, and he tells some really touching stories starring his mom, his wife, and his children.

Book Summary

Carly Simon wrote and narrated her memoir, which includes original music if you snag the Audible version. 

Did you know her dad was Richard L. Simon, the co-founder of publishing giant Simon & Schuster? We didn’t! 

In addition to covering her successful music career, the book talks about her childhood, stories behind her songs, and relationships, including her marriage to James Taylor. Most reviewers applaud her vulnerability and honesty, while others think she went too far in her openness.

Book Summary

The author of this novel acknowledges in the forward that Daisy Jones & the Six inspired her, so you’ll see some similarities, including the storytelling format.

The book is told through interviews with a fictional band, decades after their rise to fame. Although it covers how Preacher McCade and the Roadmasters redefined a music genre, family is also a big topic. That said, it’s definitely full of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.