King Cal

In the course of one ordinary day, Atlanta fast food worker Calvin loses his girlfriend, his band and his best friend. Suddenly, everything he had planned to spend the rest of his life doing seems to have flown away.

Told with insight, sensitivity and deep respect for what it takes to make a life in music, King Cal is a coming-of-age novel about a determined young man who starts with little, aims to earn a little more and has to decide whether success, or even clinging to his dream, is worth the sacrifice.

“King Cal is a glorious and gripping story of the early days of a musician's life: that uncertain, chaotic time when a young dreamer begins to transform into an artist. I have never read a more accurate or emotionally affecting portrayal of that transformation. Warmth, humor, sadness, grime, joy, feeling broken, being broke — they’re all in the mix.

Having lived through my own musical coming-of-age, I’m often dismayed by just how wrong most music-themed books get it. Not King Cal. This is one of the few novels about music that has felt utterly real to me. As the book wound its way to a deeply moving end, I was both desperately hoping that it would all work out for Calvin and at the same time thanking Pete McDade for getting it so right.”

—Dan Wilson, singer (Semisonic), songwriter ("Closing Time," "Not Ready to Make Nice," "Someone Like You"), Grammy-winner

"When I am asked by parents of kids who are considering a life in popular music if I would recommend that path, I say that if their child can even imagine doing anything else with their life, they should do that. But if the kid can't conceive of any future but music, I urge them to offer encouragement. Now I can just tell them to read this book."

—Elliot Easton, lead guitarist for the Cars and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

© 2025 Trouser Press Books (Audiobook): 9798347333356

Release date

Audiobook: 9 March 2025