Bar bands, lounge acts, journeymen guitar players and singers who need just that one hit to become stars. Their world is one of night upon night looking and feeling the same, of crowded van rides in between gigs, of diners and drinks after sets when the rest of the world is starting to wake up. It's the world of Al Ward in Willy Vlautin’s The Horse .

Or it was his world until the drink and success at life and love were snatched away from him by bad luck one too many times. Now, he's living in a shack on his late great-uncle's mining claim in the middle of nowhere Nevada. He's living off canned soup, beer and rememberances of real-life dreams come true past.

And oh what rememberances. As a young child living with a single, hard-working mother, Al mainly had his uncle for company. His love of music was noted and he received a guitar for a birthday.

It immediately became his best friend. When not hanging out with his drinking uncle, who shared his beer and booze. Al started playing in Reno casino bands and writing songs.

Throughout the novel, the song titles tell the stories of his lost loves and the small things noticed during the nightly slog of performing the same music over and over. Usually with people who didn't get along with each other. But the joy of making music is solid in his story.

Over the years, good things happened to Al but they never lasted. Finally, his tired soul had enough and he escapes to the mining claim that his late great-uncle, another male relative .