Tom Jackson on checking in to Hotel California

Over the years, musician, actor and activist Tom Jackson has generated millions of dollars for food banks and disaster relief through his Huron Carol series of concerts and other events. His new album is titled Ballads, Not Bullets. If you're a fan of musicians like Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell or the Eagles, Jackson suggests you pick up a copy of Hotel California by Barney Hoskyns.

ON CELEBRATING A MUSICAL COMMUNITY

The book chronicles California country. There was this whole period of time where country fans leaned towards California ​music. It became very popular, and it included all these artists who had gone down the west coast to California and spent time in a small village somewhere near Silicon Valley. They had a whole community where they were creative, they made love and they thrived as musicians and composers. That era was so vibrant and poignant, in terms of writers — what they were saying, and how they were saying it.

Tom Jackson's comments have been edited and condensed.