The ten best fictional musicians

Dorian Lynskey is a music writer for the Guardian and Observer as well as magazines including Q, GQ and Mojo. He is the author of 33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History of Protest Songs.

One of his ten best fictional musicians, as shared with Guardian readers:

Richard Katz
Freedom, 2010

Literary novelists are drawn to intense, uncompromising poet-prophets whose music is just too damn pure for this dirty business – think Don DeLillo’s Bucky Wunderlick in Great Jones Street or Jennifer Egan’s Scotty Hausmann in A Visit From the Goon Squad. None is as instantly familiar as Jonathan Franzen’s ageing maverick Richard Katz. The name of his band Walnut Surprise may sound like a joke dessert (“What’s the surprise?” “There are no walnuts in it”) but you can practically hear the music: rootsy Americana destined for a glowing profile in Uncut magazine and a slot on a Springsteen tribute album.

Learn about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue