Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom

by Peter Guralnick

Overview

The Blues Foundation’s 1996 Hall of Fame “Classics in Blues Literature” award

One of Vibe Magazine’s “Eight Favorite Music Books,” Vibe, September 2007

One of Pitchfork Magazine’s “50 Favorite Music Books,” 2011.

One of the “Fifteen Books Every Music Fan Should Read,” Billboard 2022.

Renowned music writer Peter Guralnick takes on rhythm and blues in “the best history of ’60s soul music anyone has written or is likely to write” (New York Times).

A gripping narrative that captures the tumult and liberating energy of a nation in transition, Sweet Soul Music is an intimate portrait of the legendary performers—Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, James Brown, Solomon Burke, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and Al Green among them—who merged gospel and rhythm and blues to create Southern soul music. Through rare interviews and with unique insight, Peter Guralnick tells the definitive story of the songs that inspired a generation and forever changed the sound of American music.

“One of the ten books [I] couldn’t live without.”—Ta-Nehisi Coates
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316332736
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	07/01/1999
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.12(d)

Editorial Reviews

The best history of ‘60s soul music anyone has written or is likely to write, but it is much more than that....Written with rare sensitivity and understanding, 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….A classic.”—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 – oneof the best books ever written on American popular music.”—Jim Miller, Newsweek

“One of the ten books [I] couldn’t live without.”—Ta-Nehisi Coates

“A large-scale, near-epic treatment. Few writers have ever discussed the musical partnership [between black and white], the friction…or the moment that gave rise to both, as movingly as it is discussed in this unusual book.”—Chris Morris, Los Angeles Reader

“One of my favorite authors.”—Chuck D

“Guralnick goes beyond the performers, writing of the storefront record labels and publishing companies that brought the music to the public, the songwriters and studio musicians, and the people behind the scenes. He ends up giving more than just history. He gives a feel for the places and circumstances that gave birth to the ‘60s most exciting music.”—Elijah Wald, Boston Globe

“Guralnick has written a vastly important book: it will appeal to soul triviacs, but—more centrally—it is a book that gets to the heart of the politics of race in a vital area of the music business at a time when everything was opening out and the possibilities seemed literally limitless….More than anything else, it is a story of mass prejudice and individual goodwill, of trust and suspicion.”—Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express

“Compelling…Guralnick deftly orchestrates interviews, research, and his own impressions to convey the emotional impact of the music and the atmosphere in which it developed.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

“Guralnick teases some wonderful stories from his subjects….His essays on these giants magically transform interview materials, historical scholarship, critical insight, and unabashed passion into living, breathing, and almost singing portraits.”—Joe Sasfy, Washington Post Book World

“Page after page is simply filled with new revelations, ideas, and perspectives….Essential for anyone with even a passing interest in rhythm and blues in the sixties. It will stand!”—Rob Bowman, Memphis Star

“Sweet Soul Music is a masterpiece, as rich and strange as the life it seeks to comprehend….It should be treasured by all students of American music and culture….Such a book can only encourage and inspire us.”—Bob Cochran, Journal of American Folklore

“One of the liveliest examinations of popular music ever conducted.”—Ken Tucker, Philadelphia Examiner

“A textured, complex story with a multiplicity of fascinating angles….This book [is] no dusty treatise but rather flows with the exuberant detail and fine-tuned style that makes it not only informative but also scintillating to read.”—Gene Santoro, down beat

"[An] epic trajectory, complex and relatable characters, telling details, and sharp prose that emphasizes empathy and clarity over showy idiosyncrasies....The book is as much about tragedy as triumph….Ultimately, this is a book about what was and— just as crucially— what might have been.”—Pitchfork (“Our 50 Favorite Music Books”)

“Buy this book! In year to come it will seem like a bargain compared with all the wonderful records you will have to buy after reading the vivid accounts of Sweet Soul Music.”—Elvis Costello

From the Publisher