Peter Guralnick has been called “a national resource” by Nat Hentoff for work that has argued passionately and persuasively for the vitality of this country’s intertwined black and white traditions (Blues, Gospel, Country, Soul and Rock ‘n’ Roll) as well as for their integral place in mainstream culture. His books include Feel Like Going Home, Sweet Soul Music, Searching for Robert Johnson, all of which have been inducted as Classics of Blues Literature in The Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame, as well as prize-winning, two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love. Guralnick has been writing about the Blues ever since first hearing Blind Willie McTell and Blind Lemon Jefferson on record and seeing Lightnin’ Hopkins perform when he was in high school. His love for the music and his belief in its wide-ranging impact have never wavered since Howlin’ Wolf described Elvis Presley to him a “that Blues singer who went to California.” His latest book, 2005’s Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke, has been hailed as “an epic tale told against the backdrop of brilliant, shimmering music, intense personal melodrama and vast social changes.”
