Behind-the-Scenes Music History

A Pig's Tale includes:

• 336 full color pages
• softcover edition
• a complete discography of the entire TMQ catalog of over 100 LPs and EPs
• well over 350 images of the albums, colored vinyl, and inserts
• the underground tale of how Trade Mark of Quality came into being

This book is essential for record collectors and dealers. 

In that hot summer of ’69 two longhaired music freaks created an underground LP record album of unreleased tracks by one of their music gods and put it out on the streets of Los Angeles. No one had ever been crazy enough to do such an audacious thing before. The god’s official record label was not amused but the music fans were thrilled. Were these guys pirates or heroes? It was so much fun the first time, they soon pressed up even more records of forbidden musical fruit. They were on a roll. The following year, in 1970, one of the culprits put The Pig image in a circular logo with the name “Trade Mark of Quality.” TMQ and Pigman were born!

With a cast of outrageous characters, here is the story of Trade Mark of Quality aka TMQ aka The Pig, the first bootleg record label of its kind, spawning many later imitators. From the end of the '60s to the mid '70s, TMQ and Pigman led the way, trotting down a muddy trail, feeding the habits and needs of music addicts around the world. Who were these fellow travelers? Carl? The Greek? Merlin? Hans? Rob Snout? Casper? Sheldon? The Blue Hasslebeast? Ol’ Fred? (Not to mention, The Brooklyn Boys, The Record Suits and The Feds!) What was the connection between TMQ and the Viet Nam war, revolutionaries, guns, pot and the moon landing? It’s all here!

Included in A Pig’s Tale is not only the Trade Mark of Quality and Pigman saga, but reproductions of all the rubber stamped and illustrated album jackets from every genuine TMQ record release, including the earliest releases from ’69 right up to the last titles in 1976. Everything you ever wanted to know about the real TMQ label is here: A complete discography of artists and track listings, sources of recordings, catalog numbers, master tape and record matrix info, colored vinyl pressings, record labels, graphics, photos, vintage news clippings, articles and more, all collected together, at last, in one volume.

A Pig’s Tale by Ralph Sutherland and Harold Sherrick, with their unique point of view, guides the reader through the never before told history of Trade Mark of Quality. It’s all here for the music lover and fan, the hardcore record collector, and the just plain curious.

WARNING! THESE EVENTS COULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED IN ANOTHER TIME AND PLACE!

(Pigman says, “Be cool, put some sounds on the turntable and groove on with ‘A Pig’s Tale’!”)

"Mysteries in Music: Case Closed" is a book that uncovers the hidden, strange, and fascinating stories in the history of rock and roll. Jim Berkenstadt, known as The Rock And Roll Detective®, has spent years digging into these mysteries.

You'll travel back to the 1950s to find out who really discovered Elvis Presley. In the 1960s, a famous folk musician tried to create a supergroup with members from The Beatles and The Rolling Stones—what happened? Learn how some big-name artists used fake names to hide who they were. Explore a mysterious CIA situation in Jamaica in 1976, involving an election and the reggae legend Bob Marley. Did The Beach Boys really steal a song and its copyright from the infamous cult leader Charles Manson, keeping all the money? And dive into the secrets behind Nirvana's "Nevermind" album, which many consider the most influential rock album of the 1990s.

These mysteries have fascinated rock and roll fans for a long time because no one has asked the right questions or looked deeply into the evidence—until now. After many years, the untold stories of pop and rock music history are finally uncovered, revealing the truth in "Mysteries in Music: Case Closed."

See the review of Mysteries in the Music on CultureSonar.

Bluesdaddy gives music memoir readers a vivid, funny, hard-won life story in which rock-and-roll legend is not the prize, but the weather Will Johns had to survive before the blues could give him a voice of his own.

Bluesdaddy is scheduled for release September 1, 2026. Order yours today! 

Will Johns was born close to rock-and-roll royalty. That did not make life easy. It made the ghosts louder.

The son of legendary producer Andy Johns and nephew of Glyn Johns, Will grew up in the orbit of Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, George Harrison, Pattie Boyd, Eric Clapton, Cream, and the complicated mythology of modern music. He saw the rooms most fans only imagine. He knew the people behind the records. He inherited stories, wounds, expectations, and a name already tangled in history.

But Bluesdaddy is not a backstage victory lap. It is the story of a boy searching for steadiness, a guitarist searching for his own sound, and a man learning that being near greatness does not save you. The blues does.

With humor, bite, and disarming honesty, Johns traces a life of unlikely refuge, family chaos, musical apprenticeship, road-warrior absurdity, addiction’s shadow, love, loss, near-misses, and moments so surreal they could only happen in rock and roll. He plays with heroes, loses opportunities, survives collapses, sells treasured guitars, and keeps chasing the sound that tells the truth.

When Buddy Guy finally hears him play and says, “Now that’s what you call the blues,” the moment lands not as celebrity approval but as something deeper: recognition earned the hard way.

Bluesdaddy is the story of a man born into noise, raised on chaos, and saved by the blues.

Watch Buddy Guy's reaction to Will Johns playing the blues. 

(Video copyright WillJohnsMusic)