Author Guide · Music Writing & Biography
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Peter Guralnick met Sam Phillips, the man who first recorded Elvis Presley, in 1979, and published his biography of him 36 years later. That patience runs through all his work. Born in Boston in 1943, he started out writing about bluesmen such as Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, then spent more than four years on the history of Southern soul and then wrote a two-volume life of Elvis that Bob Dylan said “cancels out all others”. He has also won a Grammy for his liner notes and is in the Blues Hall of Fame. This guide covers his ten key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 10 key books · 1971–2025 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Peter Guralnick’s best-known books are the two-volume Elvis biography Last Train to Memphis (1994) and Careless Love (1999), Sweet Soul Music (1986), Dream Boogie (2005) about Sam Cooke, and Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ’n’ Roll (2015). Start with Last Train to Memphis, the story of how a shy Memphis teenager became the most famous singer in the world.
Where to Start with Peter Guralnick
If you want his defining book
→ Last Train to Memphis (1994) — Elvis’s rise, up to 1958.
If you want the history of a whole genre
→ Sweet Soul Music (1986) — Southern soul from the 1950s to 1968.
If you want the man behind Sun Records
→ Sam Phillips (2015) — the producer of Elvis, Johnny Cash and Howlin’ Wolf.
If you want short portraits first
→ Feel Like Going Home (1971) — his first book of musician profiles.
10 Peter Guralnick Books, in Order
Feel Like Going Home
His first book of nonfiction: portraits of Muddy Waters, Skip James, Howlin’ Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis and Charlie Rich, and of the Sun Records label in Memphis. Much of it is built on his own interviews with the musicians. It shares its title with the 2003 blues documentary directed by Martin Scorsese, for which Guralnick wrote the script.
Lost Highway
A second book of portraits, first published by David R. Godine in 1979. The musicians include Ernest Tubb, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Elvis Presley, Merle Haggard and Sleepy LaBeef, most of them seen on the road, in long interviews about the drive that kept them performing.
Sweet Soul Music
A history of soul music from the mid-1950s to the death of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, with its roots in gospel and its ties to the civil rights movement. Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, James Brown, Otis Redding, Solomon Burke and Aretha Franklin are among the figures. Kirkus noted that it rests on more than four years of research and first-hand interviews.
Searching for Robert Johnson
A short book on the Mississippi bluesman Robert Johnson, who recorded in 1936 and 1937 and died in 1938, and on how little was known about him. It began as a piece in the magazine Living Blues.
Last Train to Memphis
The first of his two volumes on Elvis Presley, following him from his childhood to 1958, when he went into the army and left for Germany. The New York Times called it “a triumph of biographical art”, and Bob Dylan said the book “cancels out all others”.
Careless Love
The second volume covers Elvis’s last two decades, from his army service in Germany in 1958 to his death in Memphis in 1977, and the decline of his career, with his manager Colonel Tom Parker at the centre. It also won the Southern Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction.
Dream Boogie
The life of Sam Cooke, from the gospel group the Soul Stirrers to pop stardom in the late 1950s, his own SAR label (founded in 1959), which launched Bobby Womack, Lou Rawls and Johnnie Taylor, and his friendships with Malcolm X and Cassius Clay. Cooke was shot dead at a Los Angeles motel in December 1964. Kirkus called the book “unsurpassable”.
Sam Phillips
A 600-page life of Sam Phillips (1923–2003), the Alabama farmer’s son who founded Sun Records in Memphis and recorded Ike Turner’s “Rocket 88” (1951), Howlin’ Wolf, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. Guralnick knew Phillips from 1979 and writes as a friend, without leaving out his breakdowns, affairs and drinking. It was a finalist for the Plutarch Award for biography.
Looking to Get Lost
A collection of profiles drawn from his interviews with figures from blues, country and early rock and roll, including an essay on how Ray Charles reworked a gospel song into “I Got a Woman”. It also traces his own path as a writer.
The Colonel and the King
A double portrait of Elvis Presley and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, drawn from previously unpublished correspondence in Parker’s own archives. It challenges the long-held view that Parker simply exploited his client, crediting him with largely inventing the modern superstar, while following the partnership into its darker last years. Little, Brown published it in August 2025.
In What Order to Read Peter Guralnick
The two Elvis volumes belong together and should be read in order: Last Train to Memphis ends in 1958, where Careless Love begins. The Colonel and the King (2025) returns to the same story from Parker’s side, so it works best after both.
Everything else stands alone. The profile collections, Feel Like Going Home, Lost Highway and Looking to Get Lost, are good short introductions to his voice, and Sweet Soul Music sets up both Dream Boogie (Sam Cooke) and Sam Phillips.
A reading path
1. Feel Like Going Home (1971)
2. Last Train to Memphis (1994)
3. Careless Love (1999)
4. Sweet Soul Music (1986)
5. Sam Phillips (2015)
Everything Else Peter Guralnick Published
Beyond the 10 key books: 8 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Fiction
4
4 books · 1964–2026
- 1964Almost Grownshort stories, published when he was twenty
- 1967Mister Downchildshort stories
- 1980Nighthawk Blueshis novel
- 2026Lost Loveshort stories, published by David R. Godine
Reference and edited books
4
4 books · 1982–2003
- 1982The Listener’s Guide to the Bluesa guide to the music
- 1999Elvis Day by Daya day-by-day record of Presley’s life and music, with Ernst Jørgensen
- 2000Da Capo Best Music Writing 2000as editor
- 2003Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: A Musical Journeyas co-editor
The years · 1943–2026
Quick facts about Peter Guralnick
- Known for
- Peter Guralnick is known as the biographer of Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke and Sam Phillips and as one of the most respected historians of American blues, soul, country and early rock and roll.
- 1943
- Born in Boston, Massachusetts
- 1986
- Grammy for Sam Cooke liner notes
- 2010
- Inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame
- 2026
- Lost Love, short stories
- Born
- 15 December 1943, Boston, Massachusetts
- Education
- Boston University (1967; graduate studies 1968)
- Grammy
- Best Album Notes, 1986, for Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963
- Honours
- Blues Hall of Fame (2010); Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award for Careless Love
- Teaching
- MFA programme at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, from 2005
- Screen
- Wrote the script for Martin Scorsese’s blues documentary Feel Like Going Home (2003)
The red mark is 1994: Last Train to Memphis, the first volume of his Elvis biography.
How Peter Guralnick Writes: From the Inside Out
Guralnick builds his books on interviews, often over many years. Sweet Soul Music took more than four years of research and first-hand interviews, he knew Sam Phillips for more than three decades before his biography appeared, and the two Elvis volumes rest on interviews with the people around Presley as well as on the documentary record he also compiled, with Ernst Jørgensen, in Elvis Day by Day.
He has described his aim as writing “from the inside out”: he wants to be “the fly on the wall” and says he is “not interested in approving or disapproving what anyone does.” In practice that means long, chronological narratives told close to the subject’s own experience, with little commentary from the author.
His prose is plain and understated, which sets him apart from the louder rock critics of his generation such as Lester Bangs and Nick Tosches. He also writes fiction: two early story collections, a novel, Nighthawk Blues (1980), and Lost Love (2026).
Watch
Peter Guralnick on Elvis in Las Vegas
In the first episode of Graceland’s own web series Gates of Graceland (2015), host Tom Brown talks with Guralnick about Elvis’s years in Las Vegas.
Frequently asked questions about Peter Guralnick’s books
How many books has Peter Guralnick written?
Sixteen as author or co-author, plus two anthologies he edited. Ten are the key books on this page, from Feel Like Going Home (1971) to The Colonel and the King (2025); the others are three story collections, a novel, a listener’s guide to the blues and Elvis Day by Day, written with Ernst Jørgensen.
What are Peter Guralnick’s books in order?
Feel Like Going Home (1971), Lost Highway (1979), Sweet Soul Music (1986), Searching for Robert Johnson (1989), Last Train to Memphis (1994), Careless Love (1999), Dream Boogie (2005), Sam Phillips (2015), Looking to Get Lost (2020) and The Colonel and the King (2025).
Where should I start with Peter Guralnick?
With Last Train to Memphis (1994), the first volume of his Elvis biography, which runs from Presley’s childhood to 1958. If you would rather begin with something shorter, try the musician portraits in Feel Like Going Home.
What is Peter Guralnick’s most famous book?
His two-volume Elvis biography, Last Train to Memphis (1994) and Careless Love (1999). Bob Dylan said Last Train to Memphis “cancels out all others”.
In what order should I read the Elvis books?
Last Train to Memphis first (to 1958), then Careless Love (1958 to his death in 1977). The Colonel and the King (2025) tells the story again through Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, and Elvis Day by Day (1999) is a reference book to keep beside them.
Does Peter Guralnick defend Colonel Tom Parker?
In part. The Colonel and the King (2025), based on Parker’s own unpublished correspondence, challenges the long-held view that Parker simply exploited Elvis and credits him with largely inventing the modern superstar, while also showing how the partnership darkened in its final years.
Has a Peter Guralnick book been adapted?
He wrote and co-produced the documentary Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ’n’ Roll, narrated by Billy Bob Thornton, and in 2016 it was announced that Leonardo DiCaprio would play Sam Phillips in a film based on the book. He also wrote the script for Martin Scorsese’s blues documentary Feel Like Going Home.
What awards has Peter Guralnick won?
A Grammy for Best Album Notes in 1986, for Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963, out of six nominations; the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award for Careless Love; and induction into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2010.
Is Peter Guralnick still alive?
Yes. He was born on 15 December 1943 in Boston, published The Colonel and the King in 2025 and a new collection of short stories, Lost Love, in 2026.
Does Peter Guralnick write fiction?
Yes. He published two short story collections in his early twenties, Almost Grown (1964) and Mister Downchild (1967), a novel, Nighthawk Blues (1980), and in 2026 Lost Love, stories partly set in the Boston and Cambridge of the 1950s and 1960s.
Footnotes
- Peter Guralnick — Wikipedia
- The man behind the King — Boston University, 2025
- Peter Guralnick — Grammy Awards
- Sweet Soul Music — Kirkus Reviews
- Telling the Damn Truth: interview with Peter Guralnick — Los Angeles Review of Books, 2016
- Lost Love — David R. Godine, Publisher
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Everything I’ve written I’ve tried to write from the inside out.”
— Peter Guralnick, interview with Tom Teicholz, Los Angeles Review of Books (2016)
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