John Kruth is the author of three musical biographies, including To Live's to Fly: The Ballad of the Late, Great Townes Van Zandt (recipient of the ASCAP/Deems Taylor Award; DaCapo Press, 2007) and Rhapsody in Black: The Life and Music of Roy Orbison (Backbeat Books, 2013). In 2015, Backbeat published Kruth's fiftieth anniversary celebration of the Beatles' Rubber Soul, This Bird Has Flown. His latest book, A Friend of the Devil: The Glorification of the Outlaw in Song, from Robin Hood to Rap, was published in September 2017 by Backbeat. Kruth's writing has appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Wire (UK), the Observer (NYC), No Depression, Rave (India), Wax Poetics, and Folk Roots (UK).