Born in 1938, John Pritchard grew up in the Mississippi Delta, a place so peculiar that it may have forced him to write. He lives in Memphis, Tennessee, where he has taught college English, written jingles, and worked in advertising and PR. In the 1960s, Pritchard worked as a copyboy and then as a news clerk for the New York Times. In the 1970s, he wrote lyrics on Music Row in Nashville, where his songs were recorded by some of the major labels: Warner Bros., RCA, and A&M. The author has also worked as a deputy sheriff. Barnes and Noble named his Junior Ray one of their Top Ten Sensational Debut Novels for 2005. It was followed in 2008 by a sequel, The Yazoo Blues, and now in 2013, by Sailing to Alluvium. A fourth installment, The Quitman County Bathhouse, is in progress.
