Anil Prasad is one of the innovators in our field, in that he has been running an online music magazine, innerviews.org, longer than most of you have been using the internet. Since 1994, Prasad has been conducting in-depth, sincere interviews with musicians, and has gained a reputation for his ability to reach an artist and provoke them to speak candidly about subjects other than self-promotion.

In Innerviews: Music Without Borders, Prasad has published a collection of new interviews conducted specifically for the book, as well as extended versions of pieces that previously ran on his long-running website. He shares with us intimate conversations with artists such as Ani DeFranco, Björk, and Chuck D of Public Enemy, as well as many others. As someone who dabbles in the art of the interview, there is much to learn in these pages. Prasad’s approach gets him the stories and insights he is looking for while also garnering the respect of the artist being interviewed. Many of his interviews feel like conversations with an old friend despite the fact that the interaction takes place between strangers.

Innerviews: Music Without Borders is a good read regardless of your level of interest in each artist. The conversations are interesting and may even turn you on to somebody new. If you are looking to learn from someone to hone your interviewing skills, you could do worse than to delve into the pages of Prasad’s collection.