Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley

We are fortunate to have Peter Guralnick, hands down the best biographer of our time. This book is like a travel time where he takes on a journey to meet The Price of Rock, to later become the The King. The book is chronologically with events and facts. I like that he was neutral with his writing, leaving his readers to make their own minds about Elvis. If you are looking to meet Elvis, I recommend not skipping this book for next volume, Careless Love.

Most people are familiar with the broad outlines of the Elvis Presley story -- how a young man (still a teenager) became an overnight sensation and changed pop music and pop culture forever. But the incandescent heyday of Elvis was so short and his decline was so long that it's hard to appreciate how astonishing the Elvis phenomenon was. This book sets the record sraight and provides a nuanced and sensitive reading of his youth, his musical influences, his personality, and the culture that engulfed him. It's everything you always wanted to know about Elvis, packaged in a way that really makes you feel as if you were there.There's much that sticks in my mind from this book, but the strongest parts are the descriptions of the life he led as a kid and teenager in Memphis. Elvis' family was poor, not quite living on public assistance but poor enough to live in subsidized housing after they moved from Tupelo, Mississippi, to Memphis when his father sought higher-paying factory work. Elvis was about 12 at the time of the move, and he was a country boy. His family left behind their close relatives in Tupelo, which was disorienting. Also, the big city and big-city schools intimidated him, and he never quite recovered. He spent his high school years as an outcast -- a mediocre student, a shy kid with a few close friends, a musician who wasn't very good -- and the burning ambition and unique talent was hard to discern.But all the while, the key influences in his life built in strength. "Last Train to Memphis" captures these pieces eloquently and with telling detail. You can feel yourself sitting on a porch stoop in the heat of a summer evening, with Elvis strumming his guitar and singing gospel and pop songs of the day. You can see Elvis walking down to the Hotel Chisco to watch innovative DJ Dewey Phillips spin popular white tunes and then mixing in the emerging music from Black artists in the South. You can see Elvis' mother cooking him fried chicken, greens, and mashed potatoes, and sitting at the table where they talk about almost nothing at all, for hours and hours. You can hear the sounds coming from bars on Beale Street, the Black Broadway where Elvis tentatively wandered on occasion. And you can see the storefront Sun Records, where Sam Phillips produced records by newcomers Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis -- within an 18-month period of mind-boggling creativity.The book also tries to explain what happened. It punctures myths about Elvis as a dumb, instinctual musician and replaces it with a man who loved many types of music, studied it, and was meticulous in the recording studio. For example, it was common in the early 1950s for bands to make cheap recordings that they would sell to friends and at concerts. But instead of doing that, Elvis went to Sun Records to get a professionally produced recording, and then he went back regularly for 9 months, trying to get Sam Phillips to listen to the recording. So, Elvis' perseverence was part of his success.Also, while Elvis definitely had strange habits and loved the accoutrements of stardom, he was genuinely a nice and caring person. The book has literally a hundred quotes from people of all walks of life who found him to be open, an "innocent" really, who treated everyone with respect and interest. You really feel that you'd have enjoyed meeting him and becoming a member of his entourage for a week.The book also casts Colonel Parker in a fairly positive light. Parker really did have Elvis' best interests at heart, especially in terms of fame and fortune. He brought Elvis from a very promising regional act, a Grand Ole Opry kind of guy, to the biggest showcases in TV and Hollywood in a matter of months. And he protected Elvis' artistic independence in those early years, fighting relentlessly against RCA record execs who wanted him to record as fast as possible while he was hot.Finally, the book details the punishing schedule of performances that Elvis and his band endured in his two-plus years of early stardom. He was doing shows every night, often in cities 500 miles apart. Long drives and even longer train rides -- sometimes 20- or 30-hour train rides -- were the norm. He criss-crossed paths with everyone from Bill Monroe and the top Opry stars of the day to Buddy Holly, BB King, Jerry Lee Lewis, to the great gospel performers -- and he inspired and was inspired by all of them. Meanwhile at each stop, Elvis would encounter a near-riot, scores of ready women, dozens of people seeking favors and handouts, and a phalanx of media. How he could handle it at age 20 or 21 is beyond comprehension.For a great history of the dawn of rock, read this book. You'll find out about the people who started it, and what they were trying to do. You'll find out about life on the road, and the fervent sharing of new music as it swept the land. And you'll learn about the greatest figure of all, Elvis.

Musical innovation is full of danger to the state, for when modes of music change, the laws of the state always change with them. (Plato, The Republic)I only caught something of the aftermath of Elvis' music as I was a child in the seventies, but recently I became intrigued with people like Elvis, Johnny Cash, and the Beatles who rose from poverty and obscurity to unfathomable stardom. What were the circumstances at the time that sprouted such abundance of talent, innovation and catalytic changes in music? I decided to begin by exploring the ascent of the King. Peter Guralnick' portrayal of Elvis' life in this first volume, from early childhood to his departure for Germany, was a remarkable feat of writing. In fact, I could not put the book down, as the author depicts the era so vividly, it feels as if you are taking a journey back in time. Every aspect of Elvis's life is dissected, so much so that that one has the uncanny feeling that the author was omnipresent, able to witness it all firsthand. He mentions the clothes Elvis wore on particular appearances, what he had for dinner, what he said on a particular date with a girl, and so on. It is all done so discreetly, however, that while remaining true to Elvis's portrayal he does not offend by providing information that we would wish to remain private. Guralnick gives a detailed historical background which is vital to understanding the cultural influences on the young, impressionable Elvis growing up in the small, agricultural town of Tupelo, Mississippi in the 30's and 40's. The family's constant struggle to find work, the father, Vernon, well-meaning but somehow always failing to hold down a steady job, the mother, Gladys, labouring in the cotton fields, doing the laundry and sewing to keep up payments, the family's humiliation when Vernon is incarcerated for forging a check, are all chronicled on a background of Church music, sermons by ardent preachers and the sounds of gospel and rhythm and blues emanating from the negro quarter of the town. Elvis comes across as a poignantly sensitive boy, who silently internalizes the suffering of the family's dismal plight, feeling despondent to help, but sensing that he will amount to something one day and will therefore be able to relieve his family from their perpetual financial woes, particularly his beloved mother. His mother's unconditional love and unswerving support provide him with the confidence he needs to retain his nonconformist look despite the bullying from his classmates.But where would such artist be without the visionary Sam Phillips, a talent scout, who opens Sun recording studio in the early 50s, just when Elvis begins to hear his calling for music? Elvis’s first self financed recordings are made in 1954 but rock-et science hits the scene with “That’s all right” and from then on Elvis splits the atom on stage driving his fans to unprecedented frenzy with his sensational energy, charisma and infectious charm. The book is so thourougly researched that most of the names of the musicians contemporary to Elvis are mentioned as well as their influence on the King and the music scene at the time. With the help of the amazing internet I was able to find the ones that interested me, like Big Mama Thornton and her marvelous rendition of Hound dog! Watching videos of the youthful dynamite from the Hayride days, which I had not seen before, justified the stories I had heard about the extreme scenes of adulation, of the young girls wailing and screeching like maenads in orgiastic ecstasy for their Dionysian god. I realized why Elvis was such a threat to the establishment and how extraordinary he must have looked at a time when other performers wore conservative suits and sang sedately with little sexual innuendo.Reading the book was a real treat, a journey back in time which for the five days it took me to read, immersed me in the time of innocence, discovery, promise and expectation. Too bad it was so short lived

As with any high profile person who seemed bigger than life, how much do we really know about Elvis, the person. I'm only to page 145 of this book, but I see a very young man who was spiritual, profoundly kind and respectful to people who was absolutely absorbed in music as if it fed his soul. He never stopped trying to "be a singer." Problem was, he was way ahead of his time, because his "style" was a cross-over between the style of early black groups and a style that had yet to be discovered, until Sam Phillips of Sun Records took an interest in Elvis. By a fluke of just "horsing around" during a very long recording session testing out Elvis' potential, Elvis started joking around singing and slapping his guitar and BAM! Sam heard the style that would bridge black and white music and appeal to the wider audience that included the young generation. I anticipate the rest of this book, which covers the rise of Elvis, will be just as interesting as the first 145 pages.This book is Volume I to Peter Guralnicks duo, Volume II covering the fall of Elvis.

good read

I loved the book; it not only takes us with Elvis from poverty to riches and fame, but it cast a light upon all the supporting cast that was needed to catapult this great talent to the top; without the record makers and the promoters of the Elvis product, he would not have had the national exposure, and the author gives us many interesting characters to learn about who worked with or alongside Elvis. It is really a "who's who" of the music scene in those days.

Muy buen libro

Sou grande fã de Elvis Presley e já li muitas biografias a seu respeito, entretanto nada se compara a "Last Train to Memphis", a qual aborda o início (antes mesmo de seu nascimento) até sua ida ao exército - a história prossegue na segunda parte. Percebi que muitas biografias anteriormente lidas tiveram como fonte "Last Train to Memphis". O livro demorou um pouco para chegar, afinal se trata de compra internacional, mas posso garantir que valeu cada dia de espera, sendo "devorado" em menos de uma semana. Sensacional e definitivo.

Bought this for my daughter and she absolutely loved it

scorrevole e comprensibile, per essere in inglesemolto completo, accurato e dettagliato