![]() ![]() ![]() GQ: The first thing I want to say is thank you for opening my ears to Skip James. ![]() “When I write, I always try to live up to what Sam Philips told me,” he says, “’If you don’t tell the goddamn truth, you ain’t the motherfucker I thought you were.’” Guralnick is 76 years old and, like many of the artists he loves, his powers are undiminished by age. It will be a rewarding journey, trust me. ![]() If you haven’t read those, you might need to start there, and then work your way back to Looking to Get Lost. That includes Elvis Presley, about whom Guralnick wrote a masterful two-volume biography, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love. Many of the blues and country artists he covers in this collection- Robert Johnson, Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Howlin’ Wolf, Tammy Wynette, Chuck Berry - are huge figures, but because Guralnick is such a fine-grained storyteller and so driven by a deep passion for the music, even familiar characters emerge in a revealing new light. After reading his essay on Skip James, I lost a solid two hours on Spotify. As good a writer as Guralnick is, he would be the first to argue that there is no substitute for listening. Peter Guralnick’s new book Looking to Get Lost: Adventures in Music and Life is a slow read - slow because it’s impossible not to keep stopping and listening to music. ![]()
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