Acknowledgments
IN WRITING A BOOK over so long a period (and one that stretches back well beyond its formal start), one incurs debts that one can never repay. Literally hundreds of people have helped me with my research and my interviews, and I thank them all. The following are just some of the people who gave me a hand over the weeks, months, and years:
Mrs. Lee Roy Abernathy, Curtis Lee Alderson, J. W. Alexander, Hoss Allen, Terry Allen, Chet Atkins, James Ausborn, Mae Axton, Buddy and Kay Bain, Eva Mills Baker and Sarah Baker Bailey, Jimmy Bank, Jonnie Barnett, Dick Baxter, Bob Beckham, Fred and Harriette Beeson, Bill Bentley, Bettye Berger, Freddy Bienstock, Steve Binder, Evelyn Black, Johnny Black, James Blackwood, George Blancet, Arthur Bloom, Arlene Piper Blum, Barbara Bobo, Barbara Boldt, Dave Booth, Stanley Booth, Joella Bostick, Ernest Bowen, Horace Boyer, Will Bratton and Sharyn Felder, Avis Brown, Jim Ed Brown, Monty and Marsha Brown, Tony Brown, James Burton, Sheila Caan, Trevor Cajiao, Louis Cantor, Jerry Carrigan, Martha Carson, Johnny Cash, Anne Cassidy, Marshall Chess, Gene Chrisman, Galen Christy, Dr. Charles L. Clarke, Quinton Claunch, Rose Clayton, Jack Clement, Jackie Lee Cochran, Jim Cole, Biff Collie, L. C. Cooke, Al Cooley, Daniel Cooper, X. Cosse, the Country Music Foundation, Floyd Cramer, Jack Cristil, Peter Cronin, Mike Crowley, T. Tommy Cutrer, Bill Dahl, Pete Daniel, Sherry Daniel, Fred Danzig, Fred Davis, Hank Davis, Richard Davis, Joan Deary, Bill Denny, Jesse Lee Denson, Jimmy Denson, Howard DeWitt, Jim and Mary Lindsay Dickinson, Duff Dorrough, Carole Drexler, Vince Edwards, Leroy Elmore, Sam Esgro, David Evans, Eddie Fadal, Charles Farrar, Charlie Feathers, Robert Ferguson, Lamar Fike, D. J. Fontana, Buzzy Forbess, Trude Forsher, Alan Fortas, Lillian Fortenberry, Fred Foster, Sharon Fox, Ted Fox, Andy Franklin, Ann Freer, Donnie Fritts, Anne Fulchino, Lowell Fulson, Ray Funk, Marty Garbus, Honeymoon Garner, Galen Gart, Gregg Geller, Larry Geller, Gary Giddins, Homer Gilliland, Cliff Gleaves, Glen Glenn, Billy Goldenberg, Stuart Goldman, John Goldrosen, Kay Gove, Betty Grant, Sid Graves, Tom Graves, Alan Greenberg, Bob Groom, Jimmy Guterman, Joe Haertel, Rick Hall, Jim Hannaford, Terry Hansen, Glenn D. Hardin, Gary Hardy, Sandy Harmon, Dottie Harmony, Phyllis Harper, Homer Ray Harris, Randy Haspel, Dot Hawkins, Martin Hawkins, Rick Hawks, Joseph Hazen, Skip Henderson, Curley Herndon, Lamar Herrin, Jake Hess, Leonard Hirshan, Charlie Hodge, Lester and Sterling Hofman, Bones Howe, Eliot Hubbard, Tom Hulett, Maylon Humphries, Nick Hunter, Bill Ivey, Mark James, Roland Janes, Jim Jaworowicz, Jimmy Johnson, Sandi Kallenberg, Hal Kanter, Jerry Kennedy, Stan Kesler, Merle Kilgore, Buddy Killen, Paul Kingsbury, Millie Kirkham, Pete Kuykendall, Sleepy LaBeef, Charlie Lamb, Guy Lansky, Dickey Lee, Mike Leech, Ed Leek, Lance LeGault, Jerry Leiber, Barbara Leigh, Ed Leimbacher, David Leonard, Stan Lewis, Horace Logan, Mary Logan, Larrie Londin, Lorene Lortie, Bill Lowery, Archie Mackey, Kenneth Mann, Brad McCuen, Judy McCulloh, Charlie McGovern, Gerry McLafferty, Andy McLenon, John and Pat McMurray, Scott McQuaid, Sandi Miller, Bill Mitchell, Bill Monroe, Sputnik Monroe, Bob Moore, Bobbie Moore, Steve Morley, John Morthland, Joe Moscheo, Alanna Nash, David Naylor, Jimmy “C” Newman, Thorne Nogar, John Novarese, Herbie O’Mell, Jim O’Neal, Sean O’Neal, Michael Ochs, Bob Oermann, Jay Orr, Terry Pace, Frank Page, Colonel Tom Parker, Ed Parker, Pat Parry, Judy Peiser, Carl Perkins, Millie Perkins, Tom Perryman, Brian Petersen, Pallas Pidgeon, Bob Pinson, Barbara and Willie Pittman, Randy Poe, Gail Pollock, Doc Pomus, Steve Popovich, Bill Porter, John Andrew Prime, Mark Pucci, Ronnie Pugh, Norbert Putnam, Pat Rainer, Charles Raiteri, Jerry Reed, Eleanor Richman, JillEllyn Riley, Fran Roberts, Don Robertson, Jeffrey Rodgers, Steve Rosen, Neil Rosenberg, John Rumble, Wayne Russell, Ben Sandmel, Johnny Saulovich, Jerry Scheff, Tony Scherman, Tom Schultheiss, Joel Selvin, Jan Shepard, Barbara Sims, John and Shelby Singleton, the Reverend and Mrs. Frank Smith, Myrna Smith, Ronald Smith, Hank Snow, the Reverend Jimmy Snow, Jessica St. John, Kevin Stein, Jim Stewart, Alan Stoker, Gordon Stoker, Mike Stoller, Dave Stone, Billy Strange, Peter Stromberg, Marty Stuart, J. D. Sumner, Billy Swan, Russ Tamblyn, Corinne Tate, Bob Terrell, Rufus and Carla Thomas, Linda Thompson, Sam Thompson, Roland Tindall, Nick Tosches, Ruth Trussell, Ernest Tubb, Justin Tubb, Gabe Tucker, Cindy Underwood, Billy Walker, Slim Wallace, Jan Walner, Dick Waterman, Monte Weiner, Ben Weisman, Alfred Wertheimer, Kathy Westmoreland, Jerry Wexler, Jonny Whiteside, Tex Whitson, Willie Wileman, Jimmy Wiles, Charles Wolfe, Gloria Wolper, Terry Wood, Eve Yohalem, Chip Young, Jimmy Young, Reggie Young, and Mrs. W. A. Zuber.
Once again Bill Millar generously provided tapes, clippings, insights, and information, as did Ger Rijff, Karen Loper, Poul Madsen, Stephen Stathis, Rich Kienzle, and Diana Magrann. Robert Gordon energetically uncovered all kinds of arcane Memphis information and lore (and accompanied me to Riverside Park, the site of Rocky’s Lakeside refreshment stand); I’m looking forward to reading Robert’s take on some of this same material in his forthcoming book, It Came from Memphis. Other gracious Memphis hosts and guides were Bill Burk, Shelley Ritter, David and Angela Less, Jackson Baker, Ronny Trout, and the South Memphis gang to whom Ronnie Smith introduced me. In Nashville, too, I couldn’t begin to name all my unflagging guides and personal sponsors, but Mary Jarvis and David Briggs in particular went out of their way to vouch for me and set me off in the right direction on my travels. Elaine Dundy, whom I first met when I began work on the book, soon became a fast friend and introduced me to all of her friends in Tupelo (whom she had met in the course of writing her own book, Elvis and Gladys). Those she didn’t introduce me to personally, local historian and genealogist Roy Turner, who helped Elaine with her research and is Tupelo’s resident expert on Marilyn Monroe, did. In Shreveport, Alton and Margaret Warwick and Tillman Franks fulfilled much the same function, doing everything in their power to provide me with all the background on the Hayride that I could absorb and introducing me cheerfully to many of its key figures.
I am greatly indebted to John Bakke, chairman of the Department of Theatre and Communication Arts, for making available to me both the resources of the Mississippi Valley Collection at Memphis State University and the tapes of the annual memorial service program, which was cosponsored by Dean Richard Ranta of the College of Communication and Fine Arts each August for ten years after Elvis’ death. Andrew Solt and Malcolm Leo each helped immeasurably in opening up to me the resources, contacts, and files (not to mention knowledge, insights, and goodwill) that they developed initially in making This Is Elvis and in their subsequent work both together and individually over the years.
Both Dixie Locke and June Juanico were more than generous in their sharing of personal memories and thoughtful insights. Jerry Schilling, George Klein, and Joe Esposito gave freely of their time, reflection, and good offices. Chick Crumpacker and Grelun Landon were my unfailing guides and friends, taking me down various obscure and pleasurable paths, generally in the way of reminiscence but, in Chick’s case, in semi-corporeal reality, too, when we revisited the old RCA building, studio, and environs with Ernst Jorgensen.
Scotty Moore patiently submitted to interview after interview (over the passage of more than fifteen years), finally played me his Josh White records, and said “Ouch, that hurts!” only often enough to point out what painful brain twisters the past can inevitably present. The late Marion Keisker, too, was the best of friends, always kept me abreast of the latest Memphis news, and was quick to share her views on everything from theater and film (in which she was an active participant) to feminism (ditto) to the Memphis Pyramid. I can’t overstate my thanks to Sam Phillips, Knox Phillips, and the entire Phillips family, for their unstinting friendship and dedication to helping in this project in every way, down to the last, most infinitesimal detail. Sam, Marion, and Scotty all came together at a moment in history, and while their recollection of that moment has sometimes differed sharply, their commitment to its unblinking portrayal, whether presenting them in a flattering or unflattering light, and their sense of its significance independent of their own role in it have remained unswerving.
Kit Rachlis once again provided the most helpful (not to me
ntion annoyingly perceptive) editorial suggestions and advice, and Alexandra Guralnick patiently read, transcribed, debated, and imagined the details of the story every step of the way. Colin Escott read the manuscript for accuracy and supplied clippings, information, and advice toward that end, while Ernst Jorgensen, co-compiler of Elvis’ Complete 50’s and Essential 60’s Masters, RCA’s two definitive five-CD sets, proved even more obsessive than I in running down obscure facts, upsetting theoretical applecarts, and refusing to allow a dream scenario to get in the way of the real one. My thanks to past and present editors Jim Landis and Michael Pietsch; to Dick McDonough; to Debbie Jacobs for her tireless, sympathetic, and cheerfully stringent copyediting; and, once again, to Susan Marsh, not just for her fifteen-year partnership in design but for all her help, encouragement, perspective, and unflaggingly professional passion for the work.
Thanks to all, and to all those not named, from whom I drew encouragement, sustenance, and inspiration, not to mention the courage (and enthusiasm) to begin Volume II!
Permissions
The author is grateful for permission to include the following previously copyrighted material:
Excerpt from America. Copyright © 1956 by America. Used by permission of America.
Excerpt from Billboard. Copyright © 1955 by Billboard. Used by permission of Billboard.
Excerpt from “A Hound Dog to the Manor Born” by Stanley Booth, Jr. Copyright © 1968 by Stanley Booth, Jr. Used by permission of the author.
Excerpt from Charlotte Observer. Copyright © 1956 by Charlotte Observer. Used by permission of Charlotte Observer.
Excerpt from a Steve Sholes interview by Tandy Rice. Used by permission of the Country Music Foundation Collection.
Excerpt from “Inside Paradise” by Hal Kanter. Copyright © 1957 by Hal Kanter. Used by permission of the author.
Excerpt from The Orlando Sentinel. Copyright © 1955 by The Orlando Sentinel. Used by permission of The Orlando Sentinel.
Excerpt from Waco News-Tribune. Copyright © 1956 by Waco News-Tribune. Used by permission of Waco News-Tribune.
About the Author
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 musical traditions. His books include the prize-winning two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love. Of the first Bob Dylan wrote, “Elvis steps from the pages. You can feel him breathe. This book cancels out all others.” Of the biography as a whole, the New York Times Book Review declared in a lead review, “It must be ranked among the most ambitious and crucial biographical undertakings yet devoted to a major American figure of the second half of the twentieth century.” Other books include an acclaimed trilogy on American roots music, Sweet Soul Music, Lost Highway, and Feel Like Going Home; the biographical inquiry Searching for Robert Johnson; and the novel Nighthawk Blues. His latest book, Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke, has been hailed by the San Fransisco Chronicle as “monumental, panoramic… an epic tale told against a backdrop of brilliant, shimmering music, intense personal melodrama, and vast social changes.” He is currently at work on a biography of Sam Phillips.
PeterGuralnick.com
Also by Peter Guralnick
Dream Boogie:
The Triumph of Sam Cooke
Careless Love:
The Unmaking of Elvis Presley
Last Train to Memphis:
The Rise of Elvis Presley
Sweet Soul Music:
Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom
Nighthawk Blues
Lost Highway:
Journeys and Arrivals of American Musicians
Feel Like Going Home:
Portraits in Blues and Rock ’n’ Roll
Searching for Robert Johnson
Praise for Last Train to Memphis
“Peter Guralnick has done the impossible: He has brought a freshness, an innocence, and a seriousness to the life of Elvis Presley…. To accomplish this, he interviewed scores of people, plowed through the mini-industry of Presley publishing, and then wiped the slate clean: Guralnick gives us a life of Elvis as if it had never been told before, and in a sense, it hasn’t, not this way.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Unrivaled account of Elvis as he walks the path between heaven and nature in an America that was wide open, when anything was possible, not the whitewashed golden calf but the incendiary musical firebrand loner who conquered the western world, he steps from the pages, you can feel him breathe, this book cancels out all others.”
—Bob Dylan
“Last Train is a story that crackles and breathes, that brings to life the people, neighborhoods, schools, homes, churches, picnics, recording studios, and clubs that were part of Presley’s life. It has the depth of a good history and the richness of literature.”
—Detroit Free Press
“Guralnick has written a new standard biography…. Like an incarnation of Whitman’s philosophy, the Elvis Presley Peter Guralnick has given us contains multitudes…. Extraordinary.”
—Dave Marsh
“Bound to be the definitive biography… an American epic that belongs on every bookshelf.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“As with his other writings on American music, Peter Guralnick sends you rushing back to the recordings with fresh ears. This is the finest compliment that I can pay someone writing about music.”
—Elvis Costello
* Wertheimer appears to be mistaken in his count, since it was actually the final take that was selected.
Contents
FRONT COVER IMAGE
WELCOME
DEDICATION
MAP
AUTHOR’S NOTE
PROLOGUE: MEMPHIS, 1950
TUPELO: ABOVE THE HIGHWAY January 1935–November 1948
MEMPHIS: THE COURTS November 1948–June 1953
“MY HAPPINESS” July 1953–January 1954
“WITHOUT YOU” January–July 1954
“THAT’S ALL RIGHT” July–September 1954
GOOD ROCKIN’ TONIGHT October–December 1954
FORBIDDEN FRUIT January–May 1955
MYSTERY TRAIN June–August 1955
THE PIED PIPERS September–November 1955
STAGE SHOW December 1955–February 1956
THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN March–May 1956
“THOSE PEOPLE IN NEW YORK ARE NOT GONNA CHANGE ME NONE” May–July 1956
ELVIS AND JUNE July–August 1956
LOVE ME TENDER August–October 1956
THE TOAST OF THE TOWN October–November 1956
THE END OF SOMETHING December 1956–January 1957
LOVING YOU January–April 1957
JAILHOUSE ROCK April–September 1957
WALKING IN A DREAM October 1957–March 1958
“PRECIOUS MEMORIES” March–September 1958
LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
DISCOGRAPHICAL NOTE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PERMISSIONS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALSO BY PETER GURALNICK
PRAISE FOR LAST TRAIN TO MEMPHIS
COPYRIGHT
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 by Peter Guralnick
Cover design by Michael Ian Kaye. Cover photograph © Alfred Wertheimer / courtesy of Staley-Wise Gallery, New York. Cover copyright © 2012 Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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ISBN 978-0-316-20677-8
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