The greater Oxford area has long been a creative crossroads—a place where the ghosts of William Faulkner and Barry Hannah linger alongside the sounds of guitars spilling out from bars on the Courthouse Square. It’s a place where words and music have always shared the same stage. In that spirit, Cool Dog Sound, a small but ambitious publishing outfit based in Water Valley, is blurring the line between the written page and the rock-and-roll stage.
Founded by Tim and Susan Lee, Cool Dog Sound calls itself “a rock-and-roll book label,” and the name fits. Their authors are almost all musicians, many with deep local roots, and the books—like the music that inspired them—refuse to be confined by category.
Born from the Pandemic
Cool Dog Sound’s origin story begins during the pandemic, when live music stopped cold. Tim Lee—a veteran musician, and recently the production director for Thacker Mountain Radio Hour—channeled that downtime into writing his memoir, I Saw a Dozen Faces and I Rocked Them All. Susan, an accomplished graphic designer, handled the visual side. Together, they discovered a love for the process of bringing a book to life.
Then came the turning point. Oxford rocker Tyler Keith reached out to Susan for a hand in designing the cover for his debut novel, The Mark of Cain. The Lees read the manuscript and eventually began to play with the idea of publishing it themselves. With that, Cool Dog Sound began its evolution from a personal project into a full-fledged publishing house.
A Unique Roster of Writer-Musicians
What makes Cool Dog different from other indie presses is that its authors live in two separate worlds. They’re storytellers and songwriters, equally at home with pen or guitar. The lineup includes:
Tyler Keith, whose gritty Southern noir mirrors the raw honesty of his music, has released over a dozen albums with multiple groups and received a master’s degree in Southern Studies at University of Mississippi. Keith’s first novel was nominated for the award in fiction from the Mississippi Institute for Arts and Letters in 2023.
Max Hipp, a literature and creative writing teacher at University of Mississippi, also alum and former student of Barry Hannah, distinctly blends literary craft with a musician’s rhythm. Hipp’s collection of short stories won the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters award for Fiction this year.
Sherry Cothran, a lifelong writer and longtime musician, brings lyrical depth to the page, and has taken opportunities to convert written works into songs for her various bands.
Sean Kelly is a music journalist, musician, and the author of a definitive biography on the cult-favorite band The Continental Drifters, a project that opened doors from Louisiana to Southern California.
The catalog spans novels, memoirs, short stories, poetry, and band biographies—each infused with the voice of someone who knows what it means to create art from experience.
Grassroots Growth, One Event at a Time
Running a small press means learning on the fly. To avoid warehouses full of unsold books, Cool Dog relies on presales, gauging demand before ordering prints. That model has helped the label stay lean and sustainable.
Events are central to Cool Dog’s identity, often blending music and literature into something more dynamic than the typical book reading. Square Books in Oxford has been a key partner, alongside Lemuria Books in Jackson and music-minded venues like Goner Records in Memphis and T-Bones Records & Café in Hattiesburg.
“When we do an event, we try to make it special,” Tim said. “Sometimes that means a reading, sometimes it means music, and sometimes it’s both. It keeps it interesting.” That multimedia approach paid off for Sean Kelly’s Continental Drifters biography, which led to a New Orleans book event and even a stop in Los Angeles, drawing fans from the band’s heyday.
The Cool Dog Name and Its Future
The name Cool Dog Sound might sound like a record label, and that’s not far from the truth. It began as Susan’s design brand, Cool Dog Creative, and carried over to some of the Lees’ self-released music projects. “We laugh about a book label having ‘Sound’ in the name,” Tim admits. “But given that most of our writers are musicians, it works.”
As far as what’s next, 2026 will mark Cool Dog’s fifth anniversary, and the Lees are already planning a celebratory anthology featuring all their writers—and maybe a few new ones. There’s also talk of a book by Mississippi musician Will Griffith (a.k.a. The Great Dying), blending poetry and lyrics.
And while the label remains proudly regional, its most recent release, Sagamore, may soon find a national audience thanks to a promising publicity push from a close friend of the book’s late author Jack Sonni.
For now, Cool Dog Sound is proving that Mississippi’s creative crossroads can still produce something fresh—where music and literature meet, mingle, and make noise together. For updates and a look at their titles, visit
Cool Dog Sound online or stop by Square Books to discover what happens when Oxford’s literary tradition plugs into an amplifier.
Cool Dog Sound Catalog
- Tim Lee – I Saw a Dozen Faces … and I Rocked Them All (Diary of a Never Was) – memoir, 2021
- Tyler Keith – The Mark of Cain – novel, 2022
- Tyler Keith – The Outlaw Biker – play, 2023
- Max Hipp – What Doesn’t Kill You Opens Your Heart – short stories, 2024
- Sean Kelly – White Noise & Lightning, The Continental Drifters Story – band bio, 2024
- Sherry Cothren – Gadflay: A Lifetime of Writings – poetry, lyrics, prose, 2025
- Jack Sonni – Sagamore – novel, 2025
About the Author
So many talented folks, so great to see this happening!