Walk A Lonely Street - now available

[George Smith]

Dear friends and fellow fans,

All things being well, tonight I will press the PUBLISH button on the book that has taken me almost ten years to research and write. Assuming all goes smoothly with the Amazon administration process, the book should be available as a paperback before the end of the week.

Many of you have journeyed with me on this epic undertaking, offering advice, photographs, revelations, support and good criticism, and I find myself unable to adequately express my gratitude. This book would have been impossible to complete without the good people on this forum, so I hope you will accept my simple but heartfelt Thank You in this post.

I've read and re-read the proofs dozens of times and, doubtless, there will still be errors or sections that could have been written in a clearer or better fashion but, to quote from Scorsese's recent gem, "It is what it is", and it's time for me to abandon the re-writes and print.

Below you will find the details of the publication and I'll add a link once the page itself is up and running. I have also sent out a number of early-copies to movers and shakers within the Elvis world and I include the encouraging reviews that I have so far received.

Thank you, once again, for your support and patience!

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Walk A Lonely Street: Elvis Presley, Country Music & The True Story of Heartbreak Hotel is a unique volume that tells the tale of Elvis Presley’s rise to fame as viewed through the lens of his era-defining first hit record, “Heartbreak Hotel”. Presented as a series of consecutive short stories, it offers a new perspective on Presley’s musical and cultural achievements, and reveals the true and dramatic saga behind the breakthrough song that launched his career and changed the world.

• WALK A LONELY STREET: Elvis Presley, Country Music & The True Story of Heartbreak Hotel by Tony Plews
• Published week beginning 14th December 2020 via Amazon
• £17.99 + postage
• The in-depth story of Elvis Presley’s rise to fame, as viewed through the lens of “Heartbreak Hotel”
• An Elvis Presley book like no other
• Almost a decade of research, writing and revisions
• 200,000 words, 700 pages and 563 tales to be told
• 33 photographs, documents and articles, most previously unpublished or unseen since the 1950s
• A chapter devoted to every Presley recording session 1953-1956
• Made with the assistance of the families and estates of Tommy Durden, Mae Boren Axton, Agnes Sampson and Delta Pinney, including the only living witness to the event that inspired the songwriters

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Review by Justin Gausman, December 2020, host of TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast and director of Never Been to Graceland.

To refer to Walk A Lonely Street as merely a book about Elvis Presley would be a great disservice to what Tony Plews has crafted. It is a sweeping historical rock-and-roll epic, a true story as eminently digestible and cleverly written as a mystery thriller. The subtitle Elvis Presley, Country Music & The True Story of Heartbreak Hotel is just as important to understanding the wide canvas across time and distance that Plews uses to paint his picture.

ELVIS PRESLEY:
Without question, Walk A Lonely Street is one of the most essential books ever written regarding Elvis Presley, right alongside Peter Guralnick's famous two-part biography. But those looking for a straightforward biography will not find it here. Where Guralnick wrote a definitive recounting of the events of Elvis Presley's life, Plews has written perhaps the definitive book on understanding Elvis Presley's career as an artist. Plews is clear very early on that he will be using literary techniques rather than biographical ones, and the work is stronger for it.

Plews' prose is concise but never clinical; on the contrary, it's often warm and shows great compassion or affection for the story's many characters, even hucksters like Elvis' manager Tom Parker. Plews doesn't seek to aggrandize, but merely to humanize and in doing so restores some sense of why what archetypal figures like Hank Williams or Elvis Presley were doing was all that remarkable to begin with.

COUNTRY MUSIC:
My favorite pieces of Walk A Lonely Street are the chapter titles. Broken up into several hundred separate entries, often only one or two pages at a time, each chapter highlights a relevant character or scene in broadly chronological order. Immaculately researched, Plews finds and highlights connections and coincidences throughout the history of popular and country music in the early-to-mid-20th century that seem so narratively convenient one would be forgiven for initially believing they couldn't possibly be true, but upon further investigation, are in fact very real. Plews plays with expectations, uses foreshadowing brilliantly, and has made Walk A Lonely Street the first book relating to Elvis Presley that I've read in over a decade offering genuine surprises and revelations.

Those who have been long-time Presley fans and have dove into the history of the era will be deeply rewarded comparable to the way comic book movie fans are served up Easter Eggs within a cinematic universe.

As an example of my favorite: one entry is titled "Hank Snow's first American recordings." Set in 1949, the title is a literal descriptor as the chapter describes Snow, a Canadian country musician who later inspired Elvis, making his first recordings in the United States, including a song entitled "I'm Movin' On," in a session produced by RCA Victor artist & repertoire man Steve Sholes - who served in the same capacity for Presley in the 1950s. But near the end of the book, in a scene set in 1969, we read a chapter titled "Elvis Presley's first American recordings." The title takes on a different meaning as Elvis arrives at Memphis-based American Sound Studios to lay down famous songs like "Suspicious Minds," and as an aside, Plews shrewdly mentions that Elvis also "taped a song from Hank Snow" there. Elvis fans reading this review are already with me - although unspoken, we know it is the same "I'm Movin' On."

Walk A Lonely Street is full to the brim with such knowing winks and nods, all expertly alluded to without losing sight of the story at hand.

THE TRUE STORY OF HEARTBREAK HOTEL:
Because of the nature of the book, its setting, and its subject, attention is inevitably placed more heavily on the predominantly white and male history-makers, but where relevant, Plews does bring into the story people of color whose lives and contributions have too often been overlooked by comparison, such as Lesley Riddle, Johnny Bragg, Arthur Crudup, The Platters, Ray Charles and Big Mama Thornton. I was pleased to see even my favorite deep-cut influence on Elvis, "rock and soul" ballad singer Roy Hamilton get spotlighted in the book.

"Heartbreak Hotel" co-writer Mae Boren Axton, as one of the central figures of the story, receives as thorough a biographical treatment as any of her male counterparts and hers is a remarkable story in and of itself, as a woman and mother fighting to succeed in an industry run by powerful and influential men. Plews not only explores the question that has been raised in some circles as to whether she was deserving of credit for writing the famous hit, but understands the cultural flaws inherent in the premise of the question, and draws a compelling conclusion from the more comprehensive perspective of her greater life story, though is always clear his interpretation is only one.

And finally, the remarkable tragedy behind the very real end of a human life that inspired "Heartbreak Hotel" is just as vital to the overall tale as Presley's or Boren Axton's. The story of Alvin Krolick, the troubled yet fascinating man who described himself as "a person who walks on a lonely street" looms darkly over the entire book, building to a breaking point. It is the one story told in Walk A Lonely Street that cannot be found recounted as thoroughly in any other other telling, and Plews brings the receipts: photos and historical documents finally put faces to the players. I hesitate to spoil anything further as it will likely be a revelation for most readers as it was for me, even more so than all the information about Presley and country music. I will say that the final, autobiographical entry in the book, from Plews' own perspective, is heart-breaking and poetic in its simplicity given the beast of a book that precedes it.

In short, Walk A Lonely Street: Elvis Presley, Country Music & The True Story of Heartbreak Hotel joins the ranks of Peter Guralnick's Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love, Ernst Jørgensen's A Life in Music and Alanna Nash's trio of Elvis-related books as one of the handful of truly essential reads on the subject, and should be on the shelf of any enthusiast of early country and rock music history as well.

I cannot recommend it highly enough.

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Review by Gordon Minto, October 2020, author of Elvis on Television 1956-1960 and writer for Elvis: The Man and His Music.

Walk A Lonely Street has all the hallmarks of a thriller: a complicated plotline, great characters, plus tantalising pieces of the jigsaw which leads up to the denouement of the tale and beyond. Recounted in a sprightly and often comic way, it holds the reader’s attention throughout and does what all good books should do: engage, entertain and illuminate.

The author’s writing style is vibrant, highly literate, and compelling, drawing the reader into the complex narrative, but doing so in a most accessible way, judiciously employing literary devices such as repetition to underscore points and help signpost what is to follow. Coincidences and parallels abound in the careers of Eddy Arnold, Elvis Presley and countless others! People whose names previously have merely been just that – names – have been fleshed out and made real, and their roles put into context with reference to Elvis.

Although much of the material is historical – some it dating way back long before Elvis existed (the first story begins in 1865) – it is extremely well researched (using source material from eminent and highly respected writers) and beautifully written in a rather droll and ironically amusing manner.

Presented as a series of short stories (many bearing pithy titles) - in which the writer seamlessly merges fact and ideas from his own imagination in a very credible way - clues are laid down for the reader to follow as all the bits in the jigsaw (involving a huge cast of players) begin to come together in a coherent and powerful way. Crucially, you get the feeling that you are there – and so can visualise the action in an almost cinematic way - as he unravels the stories and, of course, it makes you want to read on – as you would with a gripping novel.

Fascinating stuff!

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Review by Trevor O'Sullivan, December 2020, host of Elvis Presley: His Truth is Marching On Facebook group.

​As well as being a passionate fan of Elvis, I’ve found myself become, through my Facebook group chat, constantly debunking fake Elvis history. I am passionate about fans of the future being left a legacy of truth. The Elvis story doesn’t need embellishment as it’s a fascinating rags to riches tale. 

With so many books being written on Elvis it seems the well had run dry. That was until a writer by the name of Tony Plews took research and a search for facts and not myth to the utmost degree.

His book on the origins of "Heartbreak Hotel", Walk A Lonely Street,  is a revelatory tome on the history of Elvis and rock and roll music. It’s a tour de force bringing the reader back in time. He does this in a very clever way through short tales which all mesh together to reveal the bigger picture.

In a world where Elvis image often usurps his music and history this book is refreshing change of pace. History can sometimes be daunting to read, but I can assure you that this reads like a short sharp series of mystery and thrillers.

You’ll never listen to "Heartbreak Hotel" the same way again.

[Ben]

I will be ordering this as soon as it's available.

It'll be fantastic.

[John]

I look forward to this. I don't buy many Elvis related books any more, but this looks an interesting one.

[Mister Moon]

A superb way to end this ugly year.

I can't wait.

[Colin B]

Sounds fascinating - I'll be getting it !

[Mojo Filter]

A superb way to end this ugly year.

I can't wait.

Absolutely!

[Mojo Filter]

George Smith...go cat go...

[DerekG]

Looking forward to this. Good luck hitting the PUBLISH button tonight!

[TonyS]

I'm enthusiasticly in !

[OnStage55]

Cool, I know one Christmas present I'll be getting.

As the saying goes, all good things come to those who wait, and wait, and wait.

Thanks, George.

[jbgude]

Good job ! if it is anything like your thread on " That's all right" , it will be terrific! I too, hope to get it soon. Thank you.

[George Smith]

Thank you for all of your kind comments, they are very much appreciated.

I received further feedback from an advance reader last night:

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Review by Trevor O'Sullivan, December 2020, host of Elvis Presley: His Truth is Marching On Facebook group.

​As well as being a passionate fan of Elvis, I’ve found myself become, through my Facebook group chat, constantly debunking fake Elvis history. I am passionate about fans of the future being left a legacy of truth. The Elvis story doesn’t need embellishment as it’s a fascinating rags to riches tale. 

With so many books being written on Elvis it seems the well had run dry. That was until a writer by the name of Tony Plews took research and a search for facts and not myth to the utmost degree.

His book on the origins of "Heartbreak Hotel", Walk A Lonely Street,  is a revelatory tome on the history of Elvis and rock and roll music. It’s a tour de force bringing the reader back in time. He does this in a very clever way through short tales which all mesh together to reveal the bigger picture.

In a world where Elvis image often usurps his music and history this book is refreshing change of pace. History can sometimes be daunting to read, but I can assure you that this reads like a short sharp series of mystery and thrillers.

You’ll never listen to "Heartbreak Hotel" the same way again.

[John]

When does it become available to purchase?

[George Smith]

When does it become available to purchase?

I gave the go ahead last night and, assuming my files are all okay, the Amazon process can take up to 72 hours,

As such, hopefully, perhaps Thursday?

[John]

When does it become available to purchase?

I gave the go ahead last night and, assuming my files are all okay, the Amazon process can take up to 72 hours,

As such, hopefully, perhaps Thursday?

Cheers, I'm keeping an eye on it. I take it we'll have the option to apply the Phoenix special discount (I'm kidding of course).

Good luck with the book.