'Elvis Presley: Stories Behind the Songs' from Matt Shepherd a 200-page volume will be released December 3, 2018. The book was released as a digital series before, and will be issued in print for the first time.
Matt Shepherd has presented several shows for BBC Local Radio on Elvis Presley over the years, including more than 50 with his good friend Freddy Zapp on BBC Radio Cornwall. He was recently interviewed by 20 BBC Local Radio stations, the world service and BBC World TV on the 40th anniversary of Elvis’ passing.
Matt has been a fan of Elvis for more than 30 years and over the years has collected a huge collection of hundreds of records and Elvis information.
He has written Elvis-related articles for Elvis publications and has also interviewed many Elvis friends over the past decades, including Jerry Schilling, George Klein, Larry Geller and the late Joe Esposito.
The book starts in 1969 – 50 years ago – when Elvis was re-discovering himself as an artist, after years in the Hollywood wilderness. He had just performed the 68 comeback special – showing that he was still able to excite as a performer. The book looks at those essential 1969 Memphis recordings, it looks at Elvis’ majestic return to the live stage, and the huge concerts at Madison Square Garden and the Aloha Satellite Show from Hawaii. Although many of Elvis’ countless solid gold hits feature in the book, the author is also keen to explore the lesser known album tracks – all of which he feels deserves their special place centre stage. . The book aims to have the reader look at each song in a different light – maybe go back and play the lesser heard songs and appreciate them in a whole different way after reading the story behind that particular track. If it further builds on the fans’ knowledge about Elvis and brings around a bigger appreciation of Presley’s music then the book will have achieved its purpose.