I WISH I COULD SINGLE OUT each person for his or her own individual contributions, but enumerating them all would be impossible, and to choose some over others would be unfair. For me it’s been an ongoing education in the widest variety of subjects, from the early development of gospel music to the passions of poster collecting, from the intricacies of personal memory to the detective work of documentation. I’ve spent so many rewarding hours in the company of so many from whom I’ve learned so much—to all, my heartfelt thanks.
I would be remiss, though, if I didn’t thank the entire Cook family for their many kindnesses, their graciousness and hospitality, their generous sharing of home and memory.
I promised L.C. Cooke a page of his own—and he deserves it. I couldn’t get a page, but this is his paragraph. He was my goodwill ambassador, my co-interviewer, my reliable guide to Chicago past and present, and an ever-cheerful chronicler and social director.
Bobby Womack, too, was an unflagging guide. As with L.C., we have been talking now for a period of twelve or thirteen years, and the conversation doesn’t seem close to ending. Barbara Cooke and I met fairly late in the day, but she made up for lost time with her frankness, candor, unsparing self-honesty, and dedication to uncovering hard truths. And, of course, J.W. Alexander, who first inspired me to want to write the book when we met in 1982, is never far from my thoughts. We maintained a running conversation for fifteen years, and I wish he were still around not just to set me straight on questions I never thought to ask but to go out to lunch with at his favorite El Pollo restaurant. His widow, Carol Ann Woods, and daughter, Adrienne, have helped keep his spirit alive with both encouragement and advice, just as LeRoy Crume, the last of Sam’s group of Soul Stirrers, has volunteered at every opportunity to take me down not just the broad highways but some of the unexplored byways of his friendship with Sam.
Everyone told his or her own story. The stories didn’t always gibe; perspectives naturally differed. But I hope I’ve been able to suggest enough different voices, and a broad enough range of perceptions and responses, to be fair to all the various parties involved.
The book would certainly have been poorer for the absence of any of those voices, but without Allen Klein, I don’t know that I would have been able to write it at all. Allen knew Sam only for the last year and a half of his life, and, like everyone else, he has his own point of view, but in addition to the business records he accumulated in his role as Sam’s manager, he has over the years compiled an unparalleled archive of Sam’s life and career. He provided me with unimpeded and unconditional access to this archive and was unstinting in his efforts to aid in the research without ever seeking to influence it in any way. My thanks to him, to Jody Klein and Iris Keitel, and to the entire ABKCO office for their help, their unfailing good will, and their enthusiasm for the project from start to finish.
Once again Kit Rachlis offered the most scrupulous, perceptive, and noninvasively confrontational editorial advice, and Alexandra Guralnick patiently read, transcribed, debated, and imagined the details of the story every step of the way. As always, thanks to Jake and Connie, Nina and Mike for their incalculable contributions. And thanks once again to Pamela Marshall not just for her cheerfully stringent approach to copyediting but for her occasional willingness to forsake consistency for feel, not to mention her enthusiasm for obscure Latinate debate. Working with Susan Marsh, whose passionate commitment to elegance of form and unswerving dedication to the text have guided the design of every book I have written since 1979, was, as always, an unalloyed pleasure. And I could say much the same about my editor, Michael Pietsch, whose honesty, loyalty, editorial insight, and friendship have served as guideposts for the last thirteen years.
It’s a great team. I hope we can all do it again!
LOOK FOR THESE OTHER BOOKS BY PETER GURALNICK
Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley
“Unrivaled account of Elvis as he walks the path between heaven and nature in an America that was wide open, when anything was possible. He steps from the pages, you can feel him breathe, this book cancels out all others.”
— Bob Dylan
“A triumph of biographical art. . . . Profound and moving. . . . Even the minor revelations are positively spellbinding.”
—Stephen Wright, New York Times Book Review
Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley
“Peter Guralnick’s two-volume life of Elvis Presley is not simply the finest rock-and-roll biography ever written; 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.”
—Gerald Marzorati, New York Times Book Review
“We all know how the story ends, but Guralnick still manages to break our hearts in the telling.”
— Stephanie Zacharek, Newsday
“Hypnotic. . . . Nothing written about Elvis Presley comes close to the detail, authority, and uncondescending objectivity that Peter Guralnick has brought to his two-volume biography.”
— Andy Seiler, USA Today
Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom
“This is the best history of ’60s soul music anyone has written or is likely to write, but it is much more than that. . . . Sweet Soul Music is as important for what it says about America, class and race issues, and the ’60s as for its outstanding musical insights. Sooner or later, it is going to be recognized as a classic; the time to read it is now.”
— Robert Palmer, New York Times
“A stunning chronicle. . . . What Guralnick has written is cultural history—a panoramic survey of a lost world. . . . [That] world now lives on in the pages of this heartfelt history—one of the best books ever written on American popular music.”
— Jim Miller, Newsweek
Feel Like Going Home: Portraits in Blues and Rock ’n’ Roll
Lost Highway: Journeys and Arrivals of American Musicians
Nighthawk Blues
Dream boogie: the triumph of Sam Cooke Page 94
