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There's No Traffic on the Extra Mile: Lessons on the Road from Dreams to Destiny
The ultimate American Idol insider reveals what it takes to achieve your dreams, recalling his journey from South Central to center stage.
As a highly successful musician and producer, Rickey Minor has worked with some of the world’s most celebrated performers. He knows firsthand that there are reasons why some people succeed, while others fail despite their talent. As American Idol’s music director, Rickey Minor helps contestants reach for their dreams week after week. He’s seen it all behind the scenes at the wildly popular show.
In There’s No Traffic on the Extra Mile, Minor spins stories from his life in the music business into inspirational gold, imparting the lessons he has learned the hard way, including:
• Always give people more than they were expecting. But remember that you can’t please everyone all the time.
• Look for mentors. Minor recounts how Quincy Jones became his.
• Why every action moves you closer or farther away from your aspiration—and how to tell the difference.
• If you can’t get what you want, it may be because you’re not ready yet. When the time comes, you’ll know.
He also provides juicy behind-the-scenes anecdotes about Idol contestants, and the keys to their success. He sees the show as a condensed version of life itself. The setbacks the performers face, and their triumphs, mirror our own. But his bottom line, no matter what your field of endeavor, is this: If you drive hard enough, sooner or later you will be the only one left on the road.
As a highly successful musician and producer, Rickey Minor has worked with some of the world’s most celebrated performers. He knows firsthand that there are reasons why some people succeed, while others fail despite their talent. As American Idol’s music director, Rickey Minor helps contestants reach for their dreams week after week. He’s seen it all behind the scenes at the wildly popular show.
In There’s No Traffic on the Extra Mile, Minor spins stories from his life in the music business into inspirational gold, imparting the lessons he has learned the hard way, including:
• Always give people more than they were expecting. But remember that you can’t please everyone all the time.
• Look for mentors. Minor recounts how Quincy Jones became his.
• Why every action moves you closer or farther away from your aspiration—and how to tell the difference.
• If you can’t get what you want, it may be because you’re not ready yet. When the time comes, you’ll know.
He also provides juicy behind-the-scenes anecdotes about Idol contestants, and the keys to their success. He sees the show as a condensed version of life itself. The setbacks the performers face, and their triumphs, mirror our own. But his bottom line, no matter what your field of endeavor, is this: If you drive hard enough, sooner or later you will be the only one left on the road.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published December 24, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 31, 2015
I picked this book up because I resonated with the title. I had never heard of Ricky Minor but his story seemed intriguing. It turns out that his life story is more than intriguing. He shares the kind of wisdom that makes me wish I could sit down and have a conversation with him about life in general. This book is chocked full of conclusions that he has drawn from his experiences and many are in the form of metaphors and one liners that with almost every section I caught myself saying "Whoa, that's really good, I have to remember that!" I marvel at the insightfulness that he shares with his ability to eloquently explain how to diffuse situations, stay focused, put an ego in check, be a better person, go from having an idea to fulfilling a dream, etc. There's a great many lessons to learn from this book (thermostat vs.thermometer... chisel vs. sledgehammer) and they are presented in a manner that make them easy to remember.
March 6, 2017
Wonderful book for musicians who want to be successful, YET true to themselves.
May 15, 2020
Rickey Minor is on the ball in this direct and influential book on making a difference in your life and career.
September 26, 2011
The first thing that grabbed me was the title: There's No Traffic on the Extra Mile. Doesn't that make you want to pick it up and read it and see what he's talking about? I did.
It's a fascinating book about how one man many people have never heard of, Rickey Minor, has become one of the premier musicians for television. He's the singing coach on American Idol, has worked with many celebrity singers, arranges music for American Idol, and oh yeah, he plays electric bass. How cool is that?
Rickey Minor goes through his life, how he started playing bass, then started his own band, and kept improving, and got invited to play in other bands that performed alongside famous stars like Whitney Houston.
Throughout, he sprinkles stories from when he was already famous, but still learning how to deal with people. This book is essentially about tips that he learned the hard way about how to deal with people.
One note of caution: he talks about positive and negative energy and not putting out negative, but focusing on positive energy and how that makes you and other people feel better. And then he intersperses God with it, so I'm not sure where he stands on religion, but he sure ain't Christian. However, that doesn't detract from some of the helpful advice that he gives in his book.
It's a fascinating book about how one man many people have never heard of, Rickey Minor, has become one of the premier musicians for television. He's the singing coach on American Idol, has worked with many celebrity singers, arranges music for American Idol, and oh yeah, he plays electric bass. How cool is that?
Rickey Minor goes through his life, how he started playing bass, then started his own band, and kept improving, and got invited to play in other bands that performed alongside famous stars like Whitney Houston.
Throughout, he sprinkles stories from when he was already famous, but still learning how to deal with people. This book is essentially about tips that he learned the hard way about how to deal with people.
One note of caution: he talks about positive and negative energy and not putting out negative, but focusing on positive energy and how that makes you and other people feel better. And then he intersperses God with it, so I'm not sure where he stands on religion, but he sure ain't Christian. However, that doesn't detract from some of the helpful advice that he gives in his book.
October 2, 2008
This one was a bit too "same old same old" for me--the advice is exactly the same sort of stuff you'd get from any other self-help book, and I just didn't feel like Minor (the music director for American Idol) brought enough to the table to make it stand out. There's some good bits -- Minor has obviously done some pretty awesome things in his life, and when he's most excited about them, it shows; I wish more of the book had been like that.
November 11, 2010
A necessary voice that reminds us all in the entertainment business isn't what it seems. Minor's journey is ours to share and learn from, and he gives us plenty to consider and apply to our own lives. Very much worth the read.
February 2, 2013
A nice insight into the music business as well as some food for thought for the everyday. Bass players, good bass players, (cf: Victor Wooten's Music Lesson) are the link between the rhythm and the harmony. Often, this role is not exclusively musical... or so I'd like to think.
June 27, 2014
Wished it was more dishy about Idol.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews