Peter Guralnick’s “The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley, and the Partnership That Rocked the World” is this year’s must-read rock ‘n’ roll biography, taking a close look at how Parker, a towering figure and pioneering businessman, piloted Elvis’ career from journeyman performer into superstardom.

“The Colonel and the King” offers a powerful addendum to Guralnick’s “Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley” (1994) and “Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley” (1999), the author’s acclaimed two-part biography. Working at the behest of Loanne Miller, the Colonel’s widow, Guralnick had originally planned to publish a selection of the manager’s letters. But as he got to know Miller, Guralnick began to discover a very different version of the Colonel, a multifaceted

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