Virtual: Days of Miracle and Wonder: Paul Simon and the Trials and Triumphs of Graceland

Continuing the collection of virtual events and conversations about books and music, Kimberly Daniels Taws will have a live conversation Ashley Kahn, author of  DAYS OF MIRACLE AND WONDER: Paul Simon and the Trials and Triumphs of Graceland - the first book to tell the full story of Graceland. Ashley Kahn is the Grammy Award winning music historian who teaches at NYU's Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music. This conversation will take place five days before the 40th anniversary of the release of Graceland. A recording of this conversation will be available following the live conversation.

In 1984, Paul Simon was at a professional and personal crossroads. His new marriage was failing and his career was in danger of stalling. He was forty-two, navigating a digital age, searching for inspiration in a scene driven by music videos, synthesizers, and drum machines.

Driving around that summer, a bootleg cassette of “township jive”—the street music of South Africa—kept him company. It reminded Simon of the sound and the joy of the early days of rock and roll. He began to invent his own lyrics to the groove and became drawn to the idea of recording with the musicians on that tape. But South Africa was in the thrall of a racist apartheid system, and with economic and cultural boycotts in place, such an undertaking was risky. He grew determined to find the right conditions to allow for a collaboration.

 Simon took a fateful trip to Johannesburg in 1985. It would turn out to be the first step on a musical journey that would lead him across New York, Los Angeles, Louisiana, and London, and eventually to the release of Graceland, a critical and commercial triumph, winning multiple Grammys, selling 16 million records, and spawning a five-year, worldwide tour.

The 40th anniversary of the release Graceland is August 25th, 2026 (8/25/1986). 

 DAYS OF MIRACLE AND WONDER: Paul Simon and the Trials and Triumphs of Graceland is the first book to tell the full story of Graceland, offering windows into Simon’s creative process, the technical innovations that brought them to life, the people and places that made the album possible, the forces that helped the album achieve mainstream reach, and the controversies that the music raised—and which remain today. In these pages, Grammy Award-winning music historian Ashley Kahn sheds light on a rare cultural moment, when America opened its doors to the sounds and styles of Africa and other faraway lands.

Drawn from extensive research and exclusive interviews with nearly 100 participants and witnesses including musicians, producers, engineers, record executives, and journalists, DAYS OF MIRACLE AND WONDER is an informed, heartfelt celebration of Simon’s magnum opus—a recording forged in a tense cultural moment, but suffused with hope, change, and a sense of global connection.

Ashley Kahn was a member of the Graceland tour production team, and tour manager for Ladysmith Black Mambazo. In an interview, Kahn and Kimberly Daniels Taws will discuss much. There is so much interesting information here. In 1986, the 45-year old Paul Simon was generally regarded as an artist whose best work was behind him. Graceland spotlights an era when the doors of musical influence from Africa, the Caribbean, and other foreign shores were thrown open. Despite its success, the album continues to be judged for the way it was made. The most unlikely and successful collaborator on Graceland was the group that most intimidated Simon. Days of Miracle and Wonder visits each studio Simon used, producing standout recordings no matter where or with whom. Graceland’s success was neither immediate nor assured. Days of Miracle and Wonder shows how Graceland became a major turning point in Simon’s creative process. Days of Miracle and Wonder reveals that the entire Graceland phenomenon can be traced to the loan of a single cassette tape.

Graceland, was a phenomenon that united musical traditions across the globe, helped throw light on South Africa and its rich musical heritage, and predicted major political shifts in a tumultuous decade, 1980s. The album is a refreshing way of looking back at a time of unity and openness. DAYS OF MIRACLE AND WONDER is an exhilarating and comprehensive celebration of Paul Simon’s career-cresting 1986 album Graceland -- the behind the scenes making of and the shaping of a cultural movement and community. 

Kahn's reason for writing DAYS OF MIRACLE AND WONDER is clear: “My aim was to speak to all those aspects of this complex and revealing story, and find a balance that allowed the reader to fully appreciate the challenges and the crowning achievement that Simon accomplished with one album that refrained from being dogmatic or doctrinaire, that celebrated rather than berated.”

About the Author:

 ASHLEY KAHN is a Grammy Award–winning music historian, author, and producer (he recently won a Grammy in 2026 ‘Best Album Notes'). He cowrote Carlos Santana’s autobiography The Universal Tone, and has written books on such legendary recordings as Kind of Blue by Miles Davis and A Love Supreme by John Coltrane. He teaches at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music.