New York, NY (Top40 Charts) On December 30th, Little, Brown and Company will release the next installment of enhanced e-book reissues from
Peter Guralnick. In advance of what would have been Elvis Presley's 80th birthday on January 8th 2015, Peter's two-part Elvis biography - 'Last
Train To Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley' and 'Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley' - will be uniquely optimized for tablets for the first time ever. Upon their initial release, these books set a new standard for biographies, and have since been heralded as definitive Elvis texts. These e-books include a wealth of supplemental content, from rarely heard interviews with Sam Phillips, to newly shot video segments.
Originally released in 1994, 'Last
Train To Memphis' tracks the first 23 years of Presley's life. From his childhood in Tupelo, MS, through his first Sun Records recordings, to his mother's death in 1958 not long after he was drafted into the US Army. The book was a national bestseller, hailed as a "triumph of biographical art" by the New York Times.
Bob Dylan called it "unrivaled... this book cancels out all others." New content for the e-book includes original interviews with key figures such as famed Sun Studios founder Sam Phillips, producer
Buddy Killen, girlfriend June Juanico, and newly filmed video segments of Guralnick discussing how he came to write the book and bring Elvis' early years to life.
'Careless Love' was originally published in 1999 and chronicles Elvis' tragic downfall during the last two decades of his life. The book was also a national bestseller, cementing Guralnick's place as one of the greatest biographers of our time. As the New York Times wrote in a front-page review, "It must be ranked as one of the most ambitious and crucial undertakings devoted to a major American figure of the second half of the twentieth century." The e-book features audio from original interviews with sound engineer Bill Porter, ''68 Comeback Special' musical director Billy Goldenberg, and bassist Jerry Scheff, as well as new video segments with fascinating anecdotes from Guralnick's research like hanging out with Colonel Tom Parker and Sam Philips at the Colonel's 80th birthday party in Las Vegas.
So far, four indispensable works in Guralnick's catalog have received enhanced e-book treatment - 'Lost Highway,' 'Feel Like Going Home,' 'Sweet Soul Music,' and his
Sam Cooke biography 'Dream Boogie.' These releases were praised as "groundbreaking" by the New York Times, landed
Peter spotlights with Rolling Stone, NPR + more.
A Grammy-winning author, critic and historian, Guralnick has written numerous books on American roots music, soul, and R&B. A member of the Blues Hall of Fame, he has also written scripts for documentaries like
Martin Scorsese's 'The Blues' and the Grammy-winning 'Sam Cooke/Legend' ' and wrote and co-produced 'Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll,'
More praise for 'Last
Train Two Memphis' and 'Careless Love':
*New York Times Notable Book of the Year ('Last Train' + 'Careless Love')
*Ralph J. Gleason Rolling Stone Book Award ('Last Train' + 'Careless Love')
*An Esquire "Book of the Decade" ('Last Train')
*Entertainment Weekly's Book of the Year (1994) ('Last Train')
*Salon.com Book Award ('Careless Love')
*Rolling Stone's Book of the Year ('Last Train')
