Book excerpt: Da Capo Best Music Writing has become one of the most eagerly awaited annuals of them all. Celebrating the year in music writing by gathering a rich array of essays, missives, and musings on every style of music from rock to hip-hop to R&B to jazz to pop to blues and more, it is essential reading for anyone who loves great music and accomplished writing. Scribes of every imaginable sort-novelists, poets, journalists, musicians-are gathered to create a multi-voiced snapshot of the year in music writing that, like the music it illuminates, is every bit as thrilling as it is riveting.Past writers have included:Elizabeth MEndez Berry * Ta-Nehisi Coates * Michael Corcoran * Robbie Fulks * Michaelangelo Matos * Alex Ross * Roni Sarig * Joel Selvin * Tour8E * Lynn Hirschberg * Chuck Klosterman * Elizabeth Gilbert * Jay McInerney * Elvis Costello * Susan Orlean * Jonathan Lethem * David Rakoff * Mike Doughty * Lorraine Ali * Greil Marcus * Richard Meltzer * Robert Gordon * Sarah Vowell * Nick Tosches * Anthony DeCurtis * William Gay * Whitney Balliett * Lester Bangs * Rosanne Cash * Eddie Dean * Selwyn Seyfu Hinds * Kate Sullivan * Alec Wilkinson * David Hadju * Lenny Kaye * The Onion * Mark Jacobson * Gary Giddins * John Leland * Luc Sante * Monica Kendrick * Kalefa Sanneh