Before Elvis, Preston Lauterbach
Before Elvis, Preston Lauterbach
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

Before Elvis
The African American Musicians Who Made the King

Author: Preston Lauterbach

Narrator: Jaime Lincoln Smith

Unabridged: 7 hr 39 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Da Capo Press

Published: 01/07/2025


Synopsis

In this thought-provoking book, the Black musicians who influenced Elvis Presley's music finally receive recognition and praise.

After Baz Luhrmann’s movie, Elvis, hit theaters, audiences and critics alike couldn't help but question the Black origins of Elvis Presley’s music and style, reigniting a debate that has been circling for decades. In Before Elvis: The African American Musicians Who Made the King​, author Preston Lauterbach answers these questions definitively, based on new research and extensive, previously unpublished interviews with the artists who blazed the way and the people who knew them.   

Within these pages, Lauterbach examines the lives, music, legacies, and interactions with Elvis Presley of the four innovative Black artists who created a style that would come to be known as Rock ’n’ Roll: Little Junior Parker, Big Mama Thornton, Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, and mostly-unknown eccentric Beale Street guitarist Calvin Newborn. Along the way, he delves into the injustices of copyright theft and media segregation that resulted in Black artists living in poverty as white performers, managers, and producers reaped the lucrative rewards.   

In the wake of continuing conversations about American music and appropriation, Before Elvis is indispensable.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Brian

Preston Lauterbach’s new book, “Before Elvis: The African Musicians Who Made the King” is an important, welcomed, and needed book. There have been a few books that have explored these topics, and even some of these artists but it is nice to put the focus on some of the artists that inspired Elvis an......more

Goodreads review by Dan

My thanks to NetGally and Hachette Books for an advance copy of this book that looks at the history of those musicians that had an influence on a young Elvis Presley, the African American pioneers who sang, wrote, produced and performed so that rock n' roll could be born. In comic books there are tw......more

Goodreads review by Michael

Lauterbach profiles the black performers who influenced Elvis and then follows their careers after Elvis became "Elvis". "Before and After Elvis" might have been a more accurate title. Some of Elvis' influences are obvious. "Hound Dog" is a Big Mama Thornton song. "That's All Right" was a song Elvis......more

As a passionate singer and music enthusiast, I truly appreciated the book's exploration of the rich musical history of the United States, particularly the diverse influences that shaped rock and roll, blues, R&B, and jazz. It highlights the artists who played pivotal roles in Elvis's rise to fame, i......more

Goodreads review by Bruce

This is one of those great books that takes a familiar subject and injects new life into it. Having lived in Memphis for a few years in the 1990s, I was peripherally familiar with Willie Mae Thornton, Junior Parker, and Arthur Crudup as they related to the Elvis legacy but was surprised at the impor......more