INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Music History Project and the Indiana Historical Society will present “Indianapolis and the Road to Rock ‘n’ Roll” on Thursday, August 21 from 6:30-8:00 p.m., at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center located at 450 W. Ohio St. This free event explores the powerful role that Black Indianapolis musicians and business people played in shaping what would become the global phenomenon of rock ‘n’ roll.
Award-winning author and music historian Preston Lauterbach will take audiences on a journey through the 1930s and 1940s, focusing on the cultural impact of Indiana Avenue legends like businessman Denver D. Ferguson and musical renaissance man Sax Kari. Lauterbach’s research sheds light on how the foundations of rock ‘n’ roll were laid in Indianapolis long before the genre’s mainstream breakout. His book, The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Road to Rock’n Roll, describes how he discovered that the Chitlin’ Circuit, an early tour strategy enabling Black artists to perform in many cities safely during segregated times was created here in Indianapolis, not in the south as he originally expected
Lauterbach’s latest book, Before Elvis: The African American Musicians Who Made the King, continues his groundbreaking exploration of underrepresented figures in American music history. Attendees will have the opportunity to purchase copies of his books and have them personally signed by the author following the program.
For more information about the Indiana Music History Project, visit www.indianafound.org. Registration for the event can be found on the Web site.