Words of Our Mouth, Meditations of Our Heart

"[Bilby] writes with a hard-won gravitas that is increasingly rare, and which announces him as a significant new (at least outside academia) voice on black music. The fastidious research recalls another excellent book springing from exhaustive academic research, Michael Veal's Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs In Jamaican Reggae."—Derek Walmsley, WIRE

"[Bilby] writes with a hard-won gravitas that is increasingly rare, and which announces him as a significant new (at least outside academia) voice on black music. The fastidious research recalls another excellent book springing from exhaustive academic research, Michael Veal's Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs In Jamaican Reggae."—Derek Walmsley, WIRE

"[A] lovingly rendered new book Word Of Our Mouth takes a non-standard look at reggae's broader evolution, delivered through brief textual passages and evocative colour portraits, drawn from interviews conducted with a range of music practitioners from across the island, both familiar and unknown. And much of the material collected here is priceless."—David Katz, Riddim Magazine

"Bilby celebrates his roots in Jamaica in this magnificent book through beautiful photographs and interviews with musicians. Bilby unveils the backstory of Jamaican music, and his work will be cherished by all who love Jamaican music."—William Ferris, author of Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues

"Bilby doesn't just tell the story that's never been told—delivering an homage to the heroes who helped shape Jamaican music—he lets these heroes tell the story in their own words, writing their own chapter in history.""—Baz Dreisinger, producer and writer of Black & Blue: Legends of the Hip-Hop Cop and Rhyme & Punishment

"An essential work of Jamaican musical scholarship. The interviews are engrossing on multiple levels. Our understanding of the black musics of the New World would have fewer gaps in it if there were more of the kind of thorough oral history that Bilby does here. He proves himself to be not merely a good collector but a good listener.""—John Jeremiah Sullivan, author of Pulphead

"Bilby celebrates his roots in Jamaica in this magnificent book through beautiful photographs and interviews with musicians. Bilby unveils the backstory of Jamaican music, and his work will be cherished by all who love Jamaican music."—William Ferris, author of Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues