In these pages, Dr. John, the alchemist of New Orleans psychedelic funk, tells his story, and what a story it is: of four decades on the road, on the charts, in and out of trouble, but always steeped in the piano-based soulful grind of New Orleans rhythm and blues of which he is the acknowledged high guru.

He grew up in the 1950s New Orleans, grooving to Little Richard and Fats Domino. At sixteen he was a journeyman rocker, a record producer, a junkie. From recording studio to back alley to whore house to juke joint, he saw every corner of the wide-open city, living one step ahead of the law - until the law caught up with him, and he landed in the penitentiary, with no time to play and hard time to pay.

Years later, he mixed all his New Orleans memories into a salty musical gumbo, added a little voodoo spice, and crowned himself Dr. John the Night Tripper - a psychedelic Pied Piper whose crackling voice and eye-opening lyrics made him one of rock's eccentric visionaries. Through the 1970s, his records - Gris-Gris, Gumbo, "Right Place, Wrong Time" - sold millions.

And in the 1980s, after kicking the addiction affliction, he became (in the words of the New York Times) "traditions's elegant suitor," his jazzy r&b albums In a Sentimental Mood and Goin' Back to New Orleans winning back-to-back Grammys.