Feel Like Going Home: Portraits in Blues and Rock 'N' Roll - Softcover

Guralnick, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0394747062 ISBN 13: 9780394747064

Publisher: Vintage Books, 1981

Synopsis

Examines the cultural factors which have influenced the musical careers and styles of such individuals as Jerry Lee Lewis, Muddy Waters, and Johnny Shines

About this title

Review:

Peter Guralnick pledges in the epilogue to Feel Like Going Home that his writing will henceforth be "younger, less self-conscious and critical." Don't dwell too much on the author's oath, however: the prose here is hardly jaded and awkward. Initially published in 1971, Feel Like Going Home consists of 11 chapters, most of which are single-subject studies of American roots-music artists. Guralnick openly reveres his interview subjects, which isn't to imply that he fawns over them. The likes of bluesmen Howlin' Wolf and Johnny Shines, incorrigible rock & roller Jerry Lee Lewis, and, in particular, moody man-without-a-genre talent Charlie Rich (who was inspired to write a song called "Feel Like Going Home" based on this book--it's the final song on his final album) come across as knotty, vivid, complex characters. Published in tandem with Guralnick's similarly organized Lost Highway and his superb history of southern soul, Sweet Soul Music, Feel Like Going Home provides an early-stage perspective on a music historian who's truly arrived. --Steven Stolder

From the Publisher:

"The most loving book I have ever read about American popular music, and one of the more savvy."--Greil Marcus, Rolling Stone

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage Books
• Publication date: 1981
• ISBN 10: 0394747062
• ISBN 13: 9780394747064
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 260