Last Train To Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley

Description

This is the first volume of a two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, a book that justifies the importance of "The King" to American music and culture. It covers Presley's rise up to his mother's death in 1958. The Presley displayed is bright, articulate, energetic - a young man in a hurry with a very real sense of himself and his art, a man with a disdain for convention and yet a yearning for genteel respectability. This is not the Elvis Presley of tabloid headlines and chat show notoriety. Instead, it restores Elvis to his music, telling the story of a young man who, at 19, emerged as a full-blown artist to the wonder of his friends and the world.

Peter Guralnick is not only an acclaimed biographer but a cultural historian, the author of several famously received books about blues, country and western, and soul music.

'A wonderful book...Guralnick gives us an Elvis of real flesh and blood...the richest and most detailed protrait of Presely we have ever had.' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH "Unrivalled...Elvis steps out of these pages, you can feel him breathe, this book cancels out all others" - BOB DYLAN "Wonderful...Guralnick deserves to live in Graceland" - RODDY DOYLE 'Last Train to Memphis is the first part of Peter Gurlanick's epic two-volume life of rock 'n' roll's founding father--and when no less an authority than Bob Dylan writes that "this book cancels out all others", you know Guralnick must be doing something right. Exhaustive and thorough, though always written from a sympathetic standpoint, this first volume covers the early days: the extraordinary story of a poor young truck driver who came out of nowhere and conquered the world--all within the space of two short years. And while this tale was already one of the more familiar in post-war history, Guralnick always manages to brings something fresh to the telling. The recollections of Marion Keisker, the secretary at Sun records who recognised something special in the polite teenager's voice, help throw some light on the enigma surrounding Elvis: "He was like a mirror in a way: whatever you were looking for, you were going to find in him. It was not in him to say anything malicious. He had all the intricacy of the very simple". Guralnick is a scrupulous biographer, now established as the definitive chronicler of the strange life and turbulent times of Elvis Presley; better still, his enthusiasm for Elvis' music shines through on every page of the text. And in the end, after all else is gone, that music will remain.' - Patrick Humphries, AMAZON.CO.UK REVIEW