Memphis Legends

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William Eggleston at home, photo by Stanley Booth

story by RAYMOND J. DUMAS
photographs by WILLIAM EGGLESTON, STANLEY BOOTH and RAYMOND J. DUMAS
WILLIAM EGGLESTON by STANLEY BOOTH

 

WILLIAM EGGLESTON, the legendary American photographer, and STANLEY BOOTH, the chronicler of rock and blues music, have been friends for 40 years. THESE TWO LIVING GIANTS ARE NOW PART OF THE LEGEND OF MEMPHIS, the city of Elvis, Johnny Cash, B.B. King, and Stax Music.

Booth grew up in a turpentine camp in Waycross, Georgia, situated in the middle of the bleak, horrendously hot and humid 700-square-mile Okeefenokee Swamp. When he was 16 he read an interview with Ernest Hemingway that changed his life. Booth regularly wrote for Esquire, Playboy, and Rolling Stone magazines, and he authored The Adventures of the Rolling Stones, about the band’s 1969 tour.

“When I first knew Eggleston,” says Booth, “one…