Chicago Music, Seen
100 Portraits
A coffee table edition of photos that capture the souls of the city’s musicians
Cloth – $49.95
978-0-252-04988-0
Publication Date
Cloth: 10/20/2026
About the Book
Photographer Jim Newberry documented Chicago and its musicians for more than thirty years, shooting for the artists and labels that put the city’s music scene on the map in the ’90s, as well as for the Chicago Reader and other publications. Blending an expert eye with a talent for capturing truth beneath the veneer of performance, Newberry chronicled both the stars and experimental artists of the era with an insider’s aplomb.Chicago Music, Seen collects images that reveal the diversity, depth, and dynamism of the city’s creative community. The selections reflect Newberry’s gift for intimate and authentic portraiture and his knack for catching many of his subjects in the early years of their careers. Reflections and stories by critics, friends, and by the artists themselves accompany the images.
Distinctive and vivid, Chicago Music, Seen presents, as Grammy award-winning author Bob Mehr says in his foreword, “a critical cultural history of a city, but moreover, a testament to a gifted Chicago artist in his own right.”
* Publication of this book was supported in part by a grant from the Laurie C. Matheson Endowment for American Music.
About the Author
Jim Newberry is an editorial and fine art photographer originally from Chicago and now based in Los Angeles.Reviews
“Any great independent music scene, like Chicago's, is made up of many elements: the clubs, the record stores, the recording studios, the journalists, and of course the artists. Too often left off that list are the photographers who capture it all. Jim Newberry is one of the best, not just in Chicago, but in music history, and this book illustrates why, not only with images that capture the soul of each artist he portrays, but the stories of what those images meant to them, a unique approach that makes his book all the more valuable as a stunning document of the sounds and the times.”—Jim DeRogatis, cohost of Sound Opinions
“Jim’s photographs capture the quirky authenticity of Chicago’s Nineties music scene. Even in carefully composed moments, there’s a congenial chaos that gives each image the feeling that something unexpected might be happening just beyond the frame.”
—Mark Seliger, author of The City that Finally Sleeps
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