Looking to Get Lost

Starred review from August 15, 2020
A career-spanning anthology of profiles by the acclaimed music critic and journalist. Even before his two-volume work on Elvis Presley and subsequent biographies of Sam Cooke and Sam Phillips, Guralnick had established himself as an incisive enthusiast of blues, soul, and country music. He has always been particularly passionate about music that transcends categorization. He has written often about music rooted in the American South, but he seems to prize most of all the intuitive individuality that distinguishes artistry--what makes a Jerry Lee Lewis, a Ray Charles, or a Merle Haggard (all of whom are profiled here) more than the sum of their influences. "Simply put," the author writes at the beginning, "this is a book about creativity," and the sort of creativity that he appreciates in others can be seen throughout his work as well. Some of the book's richest pieces focus on performers whom Guralnick feels haven't been given their due or whose music has to be experienced live because it loses something in the studio. Those who haven't heard of Lonnie Mack, Delbert McClinton, or Dick Curless will be eager to learn more after reading this book. Guralnick is nearly as revelatory when writing about well-known musicians; he invites readers to appreciate Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, and Ray Charles with fresh ears. (He does the same with two favorite novelists, Henry Green and Lee Smith.) Toward the end of the book, Guralnick notes, "I started writing about the blues with one idea, and one idea only. To tell people about this music that I thought was so great. Just to have the chance to put the names of Muddy Waters or Bo Diddley or Howlin' Wolf down on paper, to try to describe the greatness, the grandeur, the scope and the pure theatricality of the James Brown Show for readers who had never experienced it for themselves." A collection that clearly expresses the passion of musical discovery and lasting legacy.

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August 28, 2020

Early on in the prolific and always interesting Guralnick's (Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll) new collection of musical portraits, the author references the old saw that "writing about music is like dancing about architecture." He then spends the next 500-plus pages demonstrating exactly why that quote is so very wrong. Through the very best criticism, the writer instills into readers and would-be listeners the magic, creativity, and the vibrating synapses of excitement that result from the first taste of life-changing sounds. It's not an easy task, but Guralnick is among the greatest at this. Holding forth on everyone from Robert Johnson to Leiber & Stroller, from Ray Charles to Tammy Wynette, Guralnick takes readers through a wide swath of the essential figures in American music, including those we know and those we should know, in a way that demonstrates both the unique qualities of these amazingly artistic individuals and the author's own extraordinary ability to get to the heart of the matter. VERDICT A wide-ranging vision and appreciation of American musical creativity from a writer who is himself an essential voice.--Bill Baars, formerly with Lake Oswego P.L., OR

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2020
Just as their discovery of the blues as teenagers inspired contemporaries like Keith Richards and Eric Clapton to become musicians, journalist Guralnick's obsession with the blues prompted him to become a music scholar with a mission to call attention to a music and a culture that had not simply been ignored but for the most part utterly dismissed as something unworthy even of condemnation by the mainstream white culture. In this collection of articles reaching back to the 1960s, Guralnick interviews and profiles such larger-than-life artists as Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf, Solomon Burke, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Guralnick is drawn to iconic figures, whose inventiveness and audacity removed boundaries and shaped popular music as we know it. Of particular interest is his portrait of Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis Presley's manager, which is surprisingly sympathetic, showing a side of "the Colonel" that wasn't readily apparent in Guralnick's tour de force account of Elvis in Last Train to Memphis (1994) and Careless Love (1999) or in Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock "n' Roll. Must reading for lovers of American popular music.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

December 14, 2020
Music critic Guralnick (Sam Phillips; Last Train to Memphis) digs into his extensive archives in this revealing collection of musician profiles and personal essays. “Many of the subjects of this book,” he writes, “are people that I’ve known for years—in a number of cases, I’ve simply written new profiles of artists that I have written about before.” In “Living with the Blues,” he and Eric Clapton discuss a shared appreciation for blues legend Robert Johnson, and Clapton’s experience of the blues scene in early 1960s London. In “Meeting Chuck Berry,” Guralnick details his first, starstruck introduction to the musical genius, while “I Will Rock and Roll with You” and “’Til I Can Make It on My Own” chronicle time he spent with Johnny Cash and Tammy Wynette, respectively. In the title essay, Guralnick turns his gaze inward (“how do you avoid repetition, how do you keep from tangling up in the web of your own words and ideas?”). “My Father, My Grandfather, and Ray Charles” is a particularly strong reflection on how his family shaped his interest in writing. Guralnick’s prose remains lyrical throughout, yet never becomes overwrought. These stirring essays will inspire music enthusiasts of all ages.