"In Before Billy the Kid, author Melody Groves explores the early life of the infamous outlaw, the teenage boy who loved to sing and dance. The young man who was polite, educated, and popular. A boy who had the bad luck to be orphaned at fifteen and left with no one to guide him through life. How different history might have been if Billy had pursued his love of music instead of a life of crime"-- Provided by publisher.

And so it begins --Little house on the frontier -- Catching the "fever" -- Halcyon days in Silver City -- The day the music died -- The making of the kid -- Outlaw days and the kid returns -- Tried to go straight -- All Hell breaks loose -- Betrayed by Garrett and Wallace -- Becoming Billy the Kid -- "A man more sinned than sinning" -- The rest of the story.