He also penned the script for A&E's documentary of the same name, narrated by Billy Bob Thornton. Guralnick wrote the 727-page biography of influential record producer Sam Phillips entitled Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll. He has been called 'the dean of rock 'n' roll storytellers'. In contrast to contemporaries such as Lester Bangs, Ian Penman and Nick Tosches, whose music writings are marked by idiosyncratic, self-referential and highly personal styles, Guralnick's writing is characterized by a colloquial approach that is clean and understated by comparison.

He also contributed the complete text for the 240-page hardcover book accompanying the 2010 30-disc CD boxed set, The Complete Elvis Presley Masters. Guralnick previously wrote about Presley in the 1976 first edition of The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll his article has been reprinted in each subsequent edition. Encompassing more than 1,300 pages (including 1,150 pages of text), the work was an in-depth, scholarly examination of Presley's life and music. His two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley in 1994, followed by Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley in 1999, placed the story of Presley's career into a rise and fall arc.

Mona Dickson, writing in MIT's The Tech (May 13, 1964) gave Almost Grown a favorable review. Guralnick's first two books, Almost Grown (1964) and Mister Downchild (1967), were collections of short stories published by the Larry Stark Press, a small press in Cambridge, Massachusetts, devoted to stories and poems. Music critic Nat Hentoff called Guralnick a “…national treasure ” Bob Dylan said Guralnick's book, Last Train to Memphis “…cancels out all others.” He then began writing books about the history of rock'n'roll, blues, country music, and soul music. Guralnick graduated from Boston University in 1971 with a master's degree in creative writing. He specializes in the history of early rock and roll and has written on Elvis Presley, Sam Phillips, and Sam Cooke.

Peter Guralnick (born December 15, 1943, in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American music critic, author, and screenwriter. Boston University College of Arts and Sciences

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