Likely Stories - The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley and the Partnership that Rocked the World by Peter Guralnick

I've read my share of stories about Parker taking half of Elvis's money and keeping him confined to the United States. This book, however, made me reconsider the man behind the legend and the partnership that truly changed the world of music.

The book was written by the award-winning music writer Peter Guralnick, who is probably the foremost expert on Elvis Presley. He wrote a two-volume, 1300 page biography of Elvis in the 90s and also wrote ‘Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock n Roll’, about the founder of Sun Records, which was Elvis's first record label. Guralnick won a Grammy Award for the liner notes for the album ‘Sam Cooke: Live at the Harlem Square Club in 1994’. He's been called the dean of rock n roll storytellers. The Colonel and the King is his 15th book.

There have been plenty of other books written about Elvis and his life and career, and Colonel Tom usually plays a significant role in most of those. The Colonel and the King, however, talks about the relationship between the two men from Parker's point of view. When Guralnick was working on his two-part Elvis biography in the late 80s, he attended a celebration of what would have been the King's 53rd birthday. In 1988, Guralnick was at the event as a guest of Sam Phillips of Sun Records.

When Phillips told the others at his table that he was going to say hello to Parker. Guralnick just tagged along without actually being invited. Phillips ended up introducing the two and thus began a sort of guarded relationship that lasted nearly until Parker's death in 1997. Parker and Guralnick exchanged letters, and Parker allowed access to the archives of his career in show business, and it appears that he kept every letter and telegram that he ever received. This archive and interviews conducted with Parker are the basis of the Colonel of the King.

Parker had a fairly successful career even before meeting Elvis. He got into the entertainment business, working in concessions and eventually promoting travelling carnivals, a career that began in his native country of the Netherlands. He came to the U.S. in 1929 and continued working in carnivals, served a short stint in the U.S. Army, and then got back into show business. He managed the careers of early country stars Gene Austin, Eddy Arnold and Hank snow. He met Elvis in 1955 and began working with Elvis shortly thereafter.

I had the time to delve into this book a lot over the Christmas break, and I certainly enjoyed it. About half of the 603 pages is dedicated to Parker's story, and the other half contains the letters to and from Parker and his numerous associates in the entertainment industry. Parker mentioned to Guralnick many times in their conversations and correspondence his intent to write the memoir of his life. The last letter printed in the book, From Parker to the author and dated July 10th, 1990, says “The true story of my entire career has been documented for me, and at some future date will be included in my memoirs, which will either be handled by me or my estate, as there's lots still to be added as I expect to be around for some time.”

Well, Parker never got around to writing that memoir, but I’m sure glad that Peter Guralnick did.

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