In Sweet Soul Music Summary

On October 27, 2016, Vanderbilt University gathered three of popular music’s top writers and biographers to discuss the state of music scholarship. Towards the end of the discussion, Dylan Goes Electric and Escaping the Delta author Elijah Wald interrupted the proceeding to personally and publicly thank his co-panelist Peter Guralnick. According to Wald, Guralnick in his two volume biography transformed Elvis Presley from a bloated and bedazzled caricature lazily revising his past on the glitzy stages in Las Vegas back into a relevant figure in both music and American history. Additionally, Guralnick’s overviews of certain genres of music’s provided not only the template for future music historians, but placed popular and vernacular music
He explores how social, political, cultural, and economic circumstances effected the artist and industry and conversely their influence on society and culture. He develops a strong and compelling historical narrative in four effective ways. First, his books use a variety of primary sources to recount and recollect the history in a detailed and well-rounded manner. While Guralnick uses many oral histories and interviews as source material, he never allows them to stand on their own. He insures their accuracy to his argument with either corroborating source material or comment acknowledging its potential questionability. Second, Guralnick places the music into a larger historical narratives of concurrent social, political, cultural, and economic histories. Third, Guralnick conveys a deep appreciation and respect for the music and the artists who create it. He avoids the low-hanging fruit of music journalism’s desire to critique and evaluate the music’s quality and authenticity. Finally, Guralnick avoids notions of romanticism and primitivism in his subjects and their