A Conversation With the Author of a Ground-Breaking Work on a Neglected Period of Music History
I spoke this week with Preston Lauterbach, author of The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Road to Rock’n’Roll. The critically-acclaimed book was published by Norton in 2011. The Chitlin’ Circuit combines original reporting and historical research in providing a richly detailed overview of the period when African American musicians played a circuit of black-owned or operated venues than fanned out from the south to all corners of the nation. Memphis, Tennessee was a center of the circuit, and it’s there where B.B. King came to prominence in the early fifties.
In our wide-ranging conversation, Lauterbach discusses King’s career in Memphis, as well as W.C. Handy and several behind-the-scenes figures in this important area of musical history.