STROKED BY GOD

As a guitarist and the manager for Paulette Carlson (founding member of the country music group Highway 101), Bumgardner achieved the “lifelong dream” of every performer: touring “all over the world, playing for tens of thousands of fans.” But at the age of 37, his life came “crashing down” after suffering a medical misfortune that deprived his brain of oxygen, with symptoms similar to that of a stroke. “Overnight,” he writes, “I forgot everything I knew about playing my music.” In addition, he suffered the loss of basic social functions, which prevented him from following “a simple conversation, let alone negotiat[ing] the nuances of a European tour.” This tragedy divides the book into two sections, with the first half detailing the author’s transition from a 1960s-era small-town kid who fell in love with the decade’s “magical” music catalog to a world-traveling guitarist. Though this portion lacks the sensationalist tropes common in rock memoirs, with Bumgardner openly admitting he “didn’t do drugs,” “abuse alcohol,” or “sleep around,” it is nevertheless a compelling narrative of how a talented musician who played four instruments stumbled into his dream job. The second half of the memoir centers on the author’s physical and psychological recovery after his medical problem and his commitment to relearning to play music. This effort culminated in the release of his own bluegrass and gospel recordings under the pseudonym Dr. Johnny Feelgood. As indicated by the work’s coy title, Christianity plays a major role throughout these pages, as nearly every chapter emphasizes the hand of God in both the triumphs and tragedies of Bumgardner’s life. Christian readers will be drawn to the uplifting religiosity of the volume’s message, though others may grow weary of the relentless sentimentality toward God. The book’s final chapter, which in part details the author’s invention of an environmentally friendly stain remover called “Jingle Clean,” reads like an infomercial and distracts from an otherwise well-written, sometimes profound memoir.

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