In his upcoming book “Songbooks: The Literature of American Popular Music,” writer Eric Weisbard talks about Tosches’ impact on rock writing, and the many cultural touchstones and detours he brought to his musical history lessons. “In the chapter ‘Orpheus, Gypsies, and Redneck Rock ‘n’ Roll,’” Weisbard writes, “Tosches invented what Greil Marcus — formally, an intellectual peer — would call secret history, tracing the folk song ‘Black Jack David’ back to Orpheus, with stops for early modern diarist Samuel Pepys and TV gameshow host Wink Martindale.” His language “linked him to Richard Meltzer and Lester Bangs in the punky ‘noise boys’ brigade of rock critics. But he brought a folklorist’s passion” to his work, too, Weisbard says.