Peter Guralnick - Böcker

In early 1955, Colonel Tom Parker (the manager of the number-one country music star of the day) heard that an unknown teenager from Memphis had just drawn a crowd of more than 800 people to a Texas schoolhouse and headed south to investigate. Within a matter of days, Parker was sending out telegrams and letters to promoters and booking agents: 'We have a new boy that is absolutely going to be one of the biggest things in the business in a very short time. His name is ELVIS PRESLEY.' The close personal bond between Elvis and the Colonel is something that has never been fully portrayed before. It was a relationship founded on mutual admiration and support. From the outset, the Colonel defended Elvis fiercely and indefatigably against RCA executives, Elvis' own booking agents and movie moguls. But in their final years together, the story grew darker, as the Colonel found himself unable to protect Elvis from himself - or to control growing problems of his own. Featuring troves of previously unpublished correspondence from the Colonel's own archives, revelatory for both their insights and their emotional depth, The Colonel and the King provides a groundbreaking dual portrait of the relationship between the iconic artist and his legendary manager and a unique perspective on not one but two American originals. A tale of the birth of the modern-day superstar (an invention almost entirely of Parker's making) by the most acclaimed music writer of his generation, it presents these two misunderstood icons as they've never been seen before: with all of their brilliance, humour and flaws on full display.

Rock 'n' roll was born in rural Alabama, 1923, in the form of Sam Phillips, the youngest son of a large family living in a remote colony called the Lovelace Community. His father had a gift for farming, which was brought to an end by the Depression. His mother picked guitar and showed the kind of forbearance that allowed her to name her son after the doctor who delivered him drunk and then had to be put to bed himself. And yet from these unprepossessing origins, in 1951 Phillips made what is widely considered to be the first rock 'n' roll record, Ike Turner and Jackie Brenston's 'Rocket 88'. Just two years later a shy eighteen-year-old kid with sideburns, fresh out of high school, wandered into his recording studio to make a record 'for his mother', secretly hoping that it might somehow get him noticed. His name was Elvis Presley. Elvis's success, and the subsequent triumph of rock 'n' roll, was initially propelled to an almost astonishing degree by a limited number of releases by Carl 'Blue Suede Shoes' Perkins, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis - all from this tiny, one-man label.An engaging mix of biography and anecdote, Peter Guralnick's book brilliantly recreates one shining moment in the history of popular culture. And Sam Phillips was the man who brought it all about.

Welcome to the first volume in an exciting new annual series that celebrates the year's best American writing about music and its culture, as selected by one of the genre's preeminent practitioners. Covering the gamut of contemporary styles,rock, pop, rap, jazz, blues, country,Guralnick has chosen the kind of pieces that send you right to the record store, by both established writers and bright new talents. With thirty selections drawn from more than a hundred sources, including mainstream magazines like the New Yorker , music journals like Spin , and tiny'zines and websites where the scribes of the new century are found, this collection will be indispensable for music lovers and lovers of wonderful writing alike.

It covers old ground from new perspectives, offering deeply felt, masterful, and strikingly personal portraits of creative artists, both musicians and writers, at the height of their powers."You put the book down feeling that its sweep is vast, that you have read of giants who walked among us," rock critic Lester Bangs wrote of Guralnick's earlier work in words that could just as easily be applied to this new one. And yet, for all of the encomiums that Guralnick's books have earned for their remarkable insights and depth of feeling, Looking to Get Lost is his most personal book yet. For readers who have grown up on Guralnick's unique vision of the vast sweep of the American musical landscape, who have imbibed his loving and lively portraits and biographies of such titanic figures as Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, and Sam Phillips, there are multiple surprises and delights here, carrying on and extending all the themes, fascinations, and passions of his groundbreaking earlier work.One of NPR's Best Books of 2020One of Kirkus Review/Rolling Stone's Top Music Books of 2020One of No Depression's Best Books of 2020

In his first collection of essays, Peter Guralnick dives deep into question at the heart of his body of work: What is the source of creativity? Spanning his decades-long career as America's foremost music scholar, this book brings us into the minds of the artists who inspire him.Looking to Get Lost brings the reader into Guralnick's one-of-a-kind relationships with his subjects, and we peek into how he was able to engage with musicians, writers, and creators as only he can: as a fan, a student, a peer, and in many cases as a friend.

An electrifying collection of the finest, most entertaining, and illuminating writing on and from the rock and roll scene--from its earliest days to the present, from the brightest moments of the biggest stars to obscure but compellingly significant treasures. The crazy, exhilarating, endlessly creative world of rock and roll has fascinated us--and some of our best writers--since the earliest days of the genre. William McKeen has assembled in this book the writing of those who played the music and pushed it to new limits, as well as those who were on the scene to witness and celebrate its magic. The story of rock and roll music and the rock and roll life lifts from these pages with marvelous immediacy, in selections ranging from Bruce Springsteen on his experience of backing up Chuck Berry, to Joan Didion sitting in on a Doors recording session, to Henry Rollins on Madonna, to Roddy Doyle's The Commitments. Tom Wolfe, Patti Smith, Don DeLillo, John Lennon, Frank Zappa, Nick Hornby, and many others contribute to this portrait of the music and its culture from its ancestors in the blues to its latest variants beyond grunge and rap. The book is organized into sections that create provocative and eye-opening juxtapositions, from "Superstardom" to "Weirdness," from "Present at the Creation" to "Soul." A section on rock critics shows how these writers matched the music with their own sharp rhythm, while "Tributes" rounds off the volume by remembering in their glory some of the greats who are making noise in the hereafter.

Feel Like Going Home vividly brings to life such early blues masters as Muddy Waters , Skip James, and Howlin' Wolf, along with illuminating excursions into the blues-based rock 'n' roll of Jerry Lee Lewis, Charlie Rich, and the Sun Records label. With unique insight and unparalleled access, celebrated author Peter Guralnick (Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley) dramatically depicts the people, the songs, and the performances that forever changed not only the American music scene but America itself.With a brand-new introduction by David Keenan to cast new light on the book today, and published for the first time as part of White Rabbit's Deep Cuts series, Feel Like Going Home takes its place once again as a classic in the world of music literature.

Available in this new hardback edition for the first time in decades, Sweet Soul Music was hailed by Newsweek on publication as 'a stunning chronicle.... a panoramic survey of a lost world [and] one of the best books ever written on American popular music'.Since then it has acquired the status of a classic. Pitchfork included it among its '50 Favourite Music Books of All Time,' the Daily Beast placed it on their 'Essential Civil Rights Reading List,' David Bowie named it one of his '100 Must-Read books', while noted author Ta Nehisi Coates, whose work chronicles the contemporary racial divide, called it 'one of the ten books I couldn't live without.'A gripping narrative that captures the tumult and sweep of a music that will forever be linked to the Civil Rights Movement which inspired it, (think of Sam Cooke's 'A Change Is Gonna Come') Sweet Soul Music provides intimate portraits of performers like Cooke, Ray Charles, James Brown, Solomon Burke, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and Al Green among others, whose passionate gospel-based music embodied the liberating energy of a nation in transition. Through rare interviews, Peter Guralnick tells the definitive story of the music and the musicians, bringing to it the same empathy and insight that has informed all of his other work.As Roddy Doyle writes in his introduction to this new edition: 'Sweet Soul Music delivers all that we love to read in a great, sprawling novel, and still manages to be richly informative, historically and musically precise; it's a work of high scholarship written by a born storyteller.'

In early 1955, Colonel Tom Parker (the manager of the number-one country music star of the day) heard that an unknown teenager from Memphis had just drawn a crowd of more than 800 people to a Texas schoolhouse and headed south to investigate. Within a matter of days, Parker was sending out telegrams and letters to promoters and booking agents: 'We have a new boy that is absolutely going to be one of the biggest things in the business in a very short time. His name is ELVIS PRESLEY.' The close personal bond between Elvis and the Colonel is something that has never been fully portrayed before. It was a relationship founded on mutual admiration and support. From the outset, the Colonel defended Elvis fiercely and indefatigably against RCA executives, Elvis' own booking agents and movie moguls. But in their final years together, the story grew darker, as the Colonel found himself unable to protect Elvis from himself - or to control growing problems of his own. Featuring troves of previously unpublished correspondence from the Colonel's own archives, revelatory for both their insights and their emotional depth, The Colonel and the King provides a groundbreaking dual portrait of the relationship between the iconic artist and his legendary manager and a unique perspective on not one but two American originals. A tale of the birth of the modern-day superstar (an invention almost entirely of Parker's making) by the most acclaimed music writer of his generation, it presents these two misunderstood icons as they've never been seen before: with all of their brilliance, humour and flaws on full display.

INCLUDED IN TIME'S 100 MUST READ BOOKS OF 2025'Guralnick knows the intricacies of this story more than anyone, except perhaps the Colonel and Presley themselves'GUARDIANThe concluding volume of Peter Guralnick's critically acclaimed Elvis Presley biographiesIn early 1955, Colonel Tom Parker discovered a teenage Elvis Presley and declared him destined for greatness. What followed was one of the most extraordinary partnerships in music history and the creation of a bond built on loyalty, ambition and an unshakeable belief in each other.From the meteoric rise that reshaped popular culture to the struggles that shadowed their final years, this concluding volume of Peter Guralnick's acclaimed trilogy reveals the full complexity of their relationship.Drawing on previously unpublished letters and telegrams from Parker's own archives, it offers an intimate, unflinching portrait of two American originals: the visionary manager who invented the modern superstar and the artist who became one. Brilliant, flawed and inseparable, Elvis and the Colonel changed the music world forever.'Guralnick's view of Parker is both clear-eyed and sympathetic, but best of all, it's persuasive'TIME'A riveting and revelatory read'SUNDAY INDEPENDENT

'Homeric in its play of beauty and folly, this is a monumental work'INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY'Riveting ... A masterwork'WALL STREET JOURNALThe second volume of Peter Guralnick's critically acclaimed Elvis Presley biographiesThe next chapter in the definitive biography of Elvis picks up where Last Train to Memphis closed with Presley's military service in Germany 1958 and ends with his death in Memphis, 1977. Careless Love chronicles the unravelling of the dream that shone so brightly, homing in on his very close, and very complex relationship with his lifelong manager, Colonel Tom Parker.It's a breathtaking drama that places the events of a too often mistold tale in a fresh, believable and understandable context. This is the quintessential American story, encompassing race, class, wealth, sex, music, religion and personal transformation.Written with grace, sensitivity and passion, Careless Love is a unique contribution to our understanding of American popular culture and the nature of success, giving us true insight into one of the most misunderstood public figures of our times.'It must be ranked among the most ambitious and crucial biographical undertakings yet devoted to a major American figure'NEW YORK TIMES

'Elvis steps from the pages. You can feel him breathe' BOB DYLAN'Wonderful' RODDY DOYLEThe first volume of Peter Guralnick's critically acclaimed Elvis Presley biographiesLast Train to Memphis is arguably the first serious biography that refuses to dwell on the myth of Elvis. Aiming instead to portray in vivid, dramatic terms the life and career of this outstanding artistic and cultural phenomenon, it draws together a plethora of documentary and interview material to create a superbly coherent and plausible narrative.This is the first of three volumes from music critic and author, Peter Guralnick, and covers Presley's stratospheric rise to stardom up to his departure for Germany in 1958. Last Train to Memphis is undoubtedly the benchmark by which other biographies of Elvis are judged.'Soars above all other accounts of Elvis' Guardian'A triumph of biographical art... profound and moving' New York Times

Stunning stories that explore the countless ways we pursue love and occasionally misplace it, or sometimes just let it slip through our fingers. Peter Guralnick’s storytelling voice is a marvel: uniquely conversational, consistently erudite and witty. In these stories he has created an unforgettable cast of dreamers, misfits, and observers struggling to navigate the distance between who they are and who they set out to be. Like Guralnick’s prize-winning biographies of Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke and Sam Phillips, these stories find their meaning in perfectly observed detail: They are deeply felt and deeply examined, while never failing to show empathy for characters longing to find a place in a world where everyone else seems to have found theirs.In one story, a chance meeting in a Key West bar brings fleeting refuge to two damaged souls. In another, an aging creative writing professor confronts his own loss of self-belief in the face of a student’s unmistakable brilliance. The suicide of a childhood friend twenty-five years after childhood is over brings two teenage lovers together for a brief, fragile time. At the heart of the collection, Guralnick transports readers to the smoky rhythm and blues bars, ragged baseball diamonds, bookstores, and book-lined apartments of Boston and Cambridge in the 1950s and ‘60s. Three stories follow Danny, a young boy growing up in a second-and-third-generation family that is confident in the promise of assimilation: a grandfather brimming over with positive energy; a father returned from the war to pick up an interrupted life he can’t wait to begin; a mother struggling with an increasingly debilitating deafness that threatens to upend her world.Collectively, these stories evince a heartbroken beauty, shot through with a profound sensitivity to all that can hurt us, all that holds us back, all that makes us human. With this collection Peter Guralnick achieves a new creative high point. As writer Mark Harris (Bang the Drum Slowly) said of his novel, Nighthawk Blues, some years ago, “We can all be pleased and grateful that Guralnick came to fiction. We knew he was a comprehensive reporter, and now we know that he is extraordinarily able as a storyteller, too.”

In Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1950s, there was hard-edged blues playing on Beale Street, and hillbilly boogie on the outskirts of town. But at Sam Phillips’ Sun Records studio on Union Avenue, there’s something different going on – a whole lotta shakin’, rockin’, and rollin’. This is where rock ’n’ roll was born.Sun Records: the company that launched Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Carl Perkins. The label that brought the world, “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” “Breathless,” “I Walk the Line,” “Mystery Train,” “Good Rockin’ Tonight.”The Birth of Rock ’n’ Roll: 70 Years of Sun Records is the official history of this legendary label, and looks at its story in a unique way: through the lens of 70 of its most iconic recordings. From the early days with primal blues artists like Howlin’ Wolf and B.B. King to long nights in the studio with Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, you will see how the label was shaped and how it redefined American music. Accompanying the recordings is the label’s origin story and a look at the mission of the label today, as well as “Sun Spot” sidebars—a fascinating dive into subjects such as how the iconic logo was created, the legendary Million Dollar Quartet sessions, and how the song “Harper Valley, PTA” funded the purchase of the label. Written by two of the most acclaimed music writers of our time, Peter Guralnick and Colin Escott, and featuring hundreds of rare images from the Sun archives as well as a foreword by music legend Jerry Lee Lewis, this is a one-of-a-kind book for anyone who wants to know where it all started.

THE ILLUSTRATED STORY OF SUN RECORDS AND THE 70 RECORDINGS THAT CHANGED THE WORLDSun Records: the company that launched Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Carl Perkins. This is where Rock 'n Roll was born.Written by two of the most acclaimed music writers of our time, The Birth of Rock n' Roll: 70 Years of Sun Records looks at this history of this legendary label through the lens of 70 of its most iconic recordings. Accompanying the recordings is the label's origin story and a look at the mission of the label today, as well as fascinating dives into subjects such as the legendary Million Dollar Quartet, and how the song "Harper Valley, PTA" funded the purchase of the label.Featuring hundreds of rare images from the Sun archives as well as a foreword by music legend Jerry Lee Lewis, this is a one-of-a-kind book for anyone who wants to know where it all started.