Reviews of The Farewell Tour

“ ‘The Farewell Tour,” by Stephanie Clifford, is the story of Lillian Waters, a fictional country music singer in the vein of Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn. I loved Clifford’s debut novel, 'Everybody Rise,' a vibrant explosion of a book set among graduates of elite prep schools in 2006 Manhattan, so I was eager to follow Clifford into the world of what one character calls “hillbilly music.”…Lillian is 56 years old in 1980 and washed up — her life full of struggles, mistakes and unrequited love, without much hope on the horizon. But as we follow Lillian’s farewell tour, we are also given alternating chapters that bring us back in time, starting in 1924. Water Lil’s rise to stardom is breathtaking; I enjoyed being immersed in a world of suede and fringed costumes, cowboy boots and giant wigs. I appreciated the look into the process of songwriting and one woman’s struggle to earn a place in the man’s world of Nashville in the late 1960s and ’70s, not to mention the even steeper hills faced by Lillian’s nonwhite friends and fellow musicians.“The Farewell Tour” is a shimmering paean to the deeply flawed American West, which feels real and vital thanks to Clifford’s gift for description.” — The New York Times Book Review

"'The Farewell Tour' is indeed a redemption tale. But its seemingly predictable arc is disrupted by plenty of smart misdirections and subtexts. Like a particularly sharp country song, it takes cliches and untangles and renews them....Alternating chapters between Lil’s troubled past and her last-hurrah present, Clifford intensifies the feeling of history catching up with her, adding twists that underscore the consequences of trauma and its neglect. Clifford’s emotional acuity is matched by her grasp of country history....The strength of “The Farewell Tour” is in showing just how much work is required to escape that judgment, to erase the persona and see yourself clearly." — Washington Post

"Lillian Waters, known to her fans as Water Lil, is a country star in the mold of Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn. As quickly becomes clear in Stephanie Clifford’s terrific, keenly observed novel ‘The Farewell Tour,’ Lil’s life has been pretty much the stuff of a country-music song—hardscrabble upbringing, abusive husband, search for comfort in a bottle, unrequited love, ill-advised choices. Perhaps by necessity, Lil is tough, self-centered and eminently practical. If sex is what it takes to, say, acquire a guitar or pay the rent, so be it, whatever the emotional cost….Chapters chronicling Lil’s last hurrah alternate with chapters vividly detailing her traumatic childhood, her attempts to find herself as a performer, and her struggles to make it in an industry dominated by men who are two parts pig, one part Pygmalion. Ms. Clifford’s command of country-music history runs deep, and her powers of description are prodigious....There's a song here for sure." — Wall Street Journal

“Must-read fiction for fans of real country…Like a great country tune, "The Farewell Tour" takes readers on a journey of tough-to-swallow reflection, much-needed self-discovery and plot-twisting closure….Some fictional singer-makes-it-big stories only service history with drive-by mentions—but not "The Farewell Tour." When time-traveling as far as as the 1920s, the book chronicles accurate influences of early country music (like jazz and Ma Rainey's "Bo-Weavil Blues," a musical centerpiece of the novel).” — The Tennessean

“Clifford structures the book like a forlorn country song, and it checks all the boxes. There’s mama, a train, rivers of whiskey, unrequited love, and a lot – a whole lot – of hard-hearted men. But Clifford goes beyond a story about a singer and musicians. She fashions a historical novel, full of rich documentation of country music in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s. We see the rise of the electric guitar and its influence on music….We also feel the struggles of women during those decades, when many were resigned to be wives and mothers, and those like Lil who wanted to make their own way had to endure a lot of pain to do so. They fought a society trying to knock them down or knock them up….Clifford develops a riveting story…[and] manages to show the hard work and challenges that go into artistic success, especially for women, especially during the mid-20th century….What “The Farewell Tour” makes abundantly clear is that honkey tonk angels may be manmade, but they’re fierce, tough, and not easily broken. — Spokane Statesman-Review

“Unforgettable.” — Barnes & Noble Booksellers’ One-Word Reviews

“Powerful, revelatory…Clifford introduces readers to a refreshingly alive and authentic protagonist with a straight-talking, unapologetic voice that sings from every page….The result is both a startling, resonant portrait of a woman creating and living in the male-dominated world of country music and a late-in-life coming-of-age drama that soars with themes of reinvention and redemption. As meticulously researched as a period drama, THE FAREWELL TOUR covers a dizzying amount of historical ground, from major moments in American history to a sweeping education on the country music scene. This level of detail could overwhelm a weaker plot, but with her unforgettable heroine providing a perfect balance and her own cadenced, emotionally resonant prose inviting readers not just to read but to care, Clifford soars. She not only immerses her audience in the rich history of the West, she makes you feel the sticky floors of a honky-tonk after hours, the scratch of your throat after belting out a ballad, and the fringe of a bedazzled denim jacket tickling your arms. Then, when you think you’ve nailed the protagonist and predicted the plot, she upends your expectations with clever misdirects and creative renewals of old clichés, which she unpacks, defuses and rewrites with verve….Full of all the smart, subtextual takedowns of misogyny and inequality that readers would expect from the author of ‘Everybody Rise,’ ‘The Farewell Tour’, THE FAREWELL TOUR announces Stephanie Clifford as a necessary and fresh voice in historical fiction.” — Bookreporter

“Examining the internal wells from which individuals draw strength and resistance and discover within themselves the power and self-awareness to escape...Waters’ deep reflection about her own heritage also opens a conversation about the role of women in society...a formidable feminism displayed in Waters’ unbreakable, albeit worn and weary, character.... readers are privy to a vulnerable, humane Waters reckoning with the aging process and her declining physicality....It's a novel that rock music fans and country music acolytes alike can enjoy...Her emotional fractures and personal revelations are a reminder that the journey never truly ends." — Southern Review of Books

“Fine-grain detail, historical import, and emotional heft. Readers might not expect a Northwest novel from a book about a midcentury country singer, but The Farewell Tour is very much a story of Washington state, albeit hidden in a star-spangled package....Diagnosed with a career-ending polyp on her vocal cord, Waters hits the road in 1980 for her final musical tour, a last gasp at capital-A Art after the youth-obsessed music industry casts her aside. The Farewell Tour flashes expertly between this road trip and Lillian’s coming-of-age. Early chapters in Depression-era Walla Walla – where 10-year-old Lil leaves her troubled family – read a bit like Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping, while the novel’s exploration of band dynamics would be at home in David Mitchell’s recent Utopia Avenue. The novel’s Tacoma sections are entirely of Clifford’s make, and Tacoma, “aroma” or no, is where The Farewell Tour shines....Author Clifford, an award-winning New York Times journalist, clearly has a musical background – either playing or listening, but if it were only the latter I’d be shocked....Thus begins a blistering tumult of musical reference, entirely necessary in a novel such as this but lacking in most that try. Clifford dives deep – genuinely, unapologetically deep – into the midcentury American canon, producing singers, songs, and lyrics to match any situation. In one especially impressive section, she recreates the act of songwriting on the page, and does so convincingly in a literary stream of consciousness....Songcraft is hard work, and so is writing about it. Making it as a runaway female country singer in the 1940s would be more difficult than either. Clifford’s greatest feat is fashioning a convincing underdog tale, one that builds Water Lil into a gritty, no-nonsense heroine with just enough of a self-deprecating streak to invoke our sympathy.” - Post Alley (Seattle)

”Clifford braids past and present, youth and middle age, two Americas. Like many existential protagonists, Lillian is hard-bitten, polarizing, and scrappy. She speaks plainly and directly—questions and challenges her audience, and is not always particularly friendly or interested in being liked by her bandmates or even her fans. She does what she has to do to survive as a woman in the country music industry: one that alternately excludes or pigeonholes her as a model of domestic female respectability. Her life, as we discover in the chapters set in her upbringing, details her fight to make it as the “one woman singer” on a label. Lillian’s behavior exposes double gender standards within and outside the music industry: from record deals to whiskey drinking and to larger social-historical questions about who is remembered and omitted from the canon. From the first pages of The Farewell Tour, Lillian turns a feminist eye to the patriarchal myths of the American West...As much as Lillian loves her home and valorizes it as a bulwark of honesty and freedom against Nashville’s musical and ideological hegemony, Lillian recognizes that women and minorities are subordinated by its allure of prosperity. Lillian asks, what is the role of women in his history of the West? “Girls must sacrifice for their families” is the oft-repeated answer that haunts Lillian and is what she is determined to resist through music. Clifford shows us that country western, or “hillbilly music,” is not as white and parochial as is commonly thought by illustrating how Lillian’s musical career intersects with other marginalized communities and traditions.” - Northwest Review

“Set over a period extending from the main character’s childhood in the Great Depression to her late singing career in the 1980s, The Farewell Tour is rich in historical touches and will appeal to fans of American culture and country music alike. The novel is the second by a New York Times bestselling author with a no-nonsense ear for both narrative and dialog; the style is well-paced and accessible without sacrificing depth. The story follows the life and challenging career of Lillian Waters, a country music singer with roots reminiscent of Coal Miner’s Daughter and an arc which resonates more with that of the character played by Bette Midler in The Rose. Like the latter story, the pseudonymic “Water Lil” opens the novel with a singing tour taking her back to her hometown and forcing her to seek closure in confrontation. Lil is suffering from medical issues with her vocal cords, a device familiar to fans of diva vocalists, and facing the end of her career in her mid-50s as a result. Perhaps the richest characters are the small towns and honky-tonks themselves, giving voice to the surprising and fascinating regional cultural diversity of the American West still discoverable in the last century. The diversity does not disguise the structural racism and sexism of the time, however, and characters such as the Asian-American bluegrass fiddler Kaori, whose parents were shipped to an internment camp during the war, frame Lil’s own struggle to survive in the fact of the conflicting themes of sexualization and shame that marked the public perception of women performers of the time. Her final tour stop is both book-end and epiphany for a woman who had sacrificed self-awareness for a life lived in the minds of others. Recommended reading.” - Historical Novel Society

“What begins as a healing journey proves to be more complicated than Lillian bargained for when she travels to her hometown and is forced to face the life she left behind. If you ever wondered what would happen if Daisy Jones confronted her past, this book is for you.“ — Esquire

“Many details give the book depth, from the history of so-called ‘hillbilly’ music in Washington State during the Great Depression, to rich descriptions of key country figures throughout the genre’s eras. But the most compelling element is the main character herself. Waters is a refreshing and intense artist whose candor kept me rooting for her at every stage. Her story of redemption, unrequited love, and growth brings the reader along on tour. It’s a gig you don’t want to miss.” — Nevada Public Radio

“The book is an American West tale of coming home, with a few forks in the road, that takes readers back in time over the protagonist’s life as she makes her way as a musician on the West Coast….Clifford wanted her story to grapple with the history of Washington state, one that is as lush and varied as its 71,300 square-miles of topography….[Clifford] wrote this book from her roots in the west, a region that has a long record of providing fruitful soil for writers’ seeds to grow: Willa Cather, Joan Didion, Cormac McCarthy…Clifford also centers the novel on historical moments that represent the nation’s fraught past.” — Northwest Public Broadcasting

“A book about music, about country music in particular and the struggle one woman has to achieve stardom in a world dominated by men….but it is so much more than that. Clifford takes the reader on a tour of country music and some of country music’s greatest and most memorable stars, including Buck Owens, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton, as our main character struggles to become a country music legend herself.” — Yakima Herald

“Stephanie Clifford’s ‘The Farewell Tour’ is about a fictional country music star whose fraying vocal cords cause her to take one last road trip back to the place of her birth. But it’s actually the reader who gets to go places. Clifford takes you into the early generations of country music, to the landscape of eastern Washington state, to the vanished world of mid-century America, and into the heart and mind of a hardscrabble, fiercely independent woman….It’s obvious that Clifford knows more than a little about music in general and the growth of American country music in particular. Though few today remember it, Tacoma, Washington, and Bakersfield, California, were early centers for country music. As Lillian struggles to make it in the music world, the reader gets to witness its growth and meet legends of the country music world through her eyes. Those of us not blessed with musical talent can experience it vicariously as Clifford realistically details the creative process of Lillian writing her first hit….It’s tough for anyone to make it in the music world, and it was even tougher for a woman in those days. Clifford considers the question of what would compel a person to go through the kind of struggles Lillian had to go through, and what would give them the necessary personality traits. The answer, of course, is a tough life. And while this concept is not new to country music, and neither is the rags-to-riches narrative, this story never feels cliché. Perhaps it’s the setting, or the character herself, who didn’t get discovered in the flower of youth but instead pounded the pavement by herself, into middle age. She drinks too much, has a hard time connecting with people, and is a bit selfish, yet stops short of becoming unlikeable. In the end, Lillian confronts what happened at the beginning — her abusive childhood — and discovers that it’s both our reality and our perceptions of it, however faulty, that make us into the people we become.” —Fredericksburg Free Lance Star

“The Farewell Tour alternates between the summer of 1980 (the novel’s present) and a retrospective of Lillian’s life as told by the woman herself, beginning with her Depression-era childhood on a subsistence farm. Like real-life midcentury country legends like Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette, Lillian overcomes a hardscrabble background and abusive early years, though she’s the daughter of Swedish immigrant farmers in Washington rather than from Appalachia or the Deep South. Obsessed with the country music she first hears as a girl, Lillian sets out to beat the long odds, learning to play the guitar, writing her own songs and performing on radio stations. Over and over, she faces sexism and misogyny in her quest to make it big. But at the center of this epic story is a quiet mystery, a childhood episode that LIllian can’t quite let herself remember . Full of marvelous period detail about World War II-era Tacoma, Washington, and its proto-country music scene, as well as glitzy 1970s Nashville, Tennessee, The Farewell Tour covers a huge amount of ground, with a correspondingly large number of supporting characters. Like a country ballad, this is a bittersweet testimony to the healing power of old love, long friendships and heartfelt songs.” — BookPage 

"Clifford conveys Lillian’s joy in crystalizing an emotion into a song and connecting with a live audience. . . . a moving tribute to the power of country music.” — Publishers Weekly

Discussions of the book on KUOW (Seattle Public Radio),  Northwest Public Radio, Spokane Public Radio, Utah Public Radio, Vancouver Public Radio, KJZZ (Arizona Public Radio), KGMI, Todd Ortloff Show.

“Years ago, someone told me that you should write as though your characters have immortal souls. I keep trying, but Stephanie Clifford has done it, with a novel that feels like real life, so alive and heartbreakingly authentic. This story is a fictional paean to real survivors, a tribute and a triumph.”  — Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of The Many Daughters of Afong Moy

"Beautifully written, wise, and true, THE FAREWELL TOUR honors the hard-working, hard-living women of country music—their resilience, courage, and powerful devotion to artmaking. I won’t soon forget the indomitable Lillian Waters.” — Elizabeth Wetmore, New York Times bestselling author of Valentine

“What happens when your coming-of-age story begins with your retirement tour? What happens when we become too old to feel young? Stephanie Clifford's novel is about regret, love, despair, country music triumph and failure, and betrayal. It's about ‘the music spreading...out from the migrant camps and down from the mountain towns, over radio waves, into jukeboxes.’ It's about a Nashville where everybody is hungry for fame and a Walla Walla, Washington, where everybody is broken by shame. This is a novel to be read by dusty barlight and wheatfield sunlight. I loved it.” — Sherman Alexie

"Stephanie Clifford nails the character of Depression-era songbird-turned-country crooner Lillian Waters in her fabulous new novel, The Farewell Tour. . . . I saw myself in Lillian’s journey, from the highs to the lows to the numbness, from the bench seat of a roadster rumbling across dirt roads to shiny tour buses humming down interstates. . . . By the last chorus we learn that a life in country is a holy sacrifice to the Gods of hillbilly music—for which The Farewell Tour is a worthy offering." — Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and performer Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show

"Clifford conveys Lillian’s joy in crystalizing an emotion into a song and connecting with a live audience. . . . a moving tribute to the power of country music.” — Publishers Weekly