Before Elvis
The African American Musicians who made the King
Elvis Presley did not invent rock and roll. He inherited it — from Big Mama Thornton, who recorded "Hound Dog" three years before he did. From Arthur Crudup, who wrote "That's All Right." From Sister Rosetta Tharpe, whose guitar style prefigured everything that came after. From the Reverend W. Herbert Brewster, whose gospel compositions Presley absorbed in the Black churches of Memphis. From Calvin Newborn, whose stage moves Presley watched at the Flamingo Room on Beale Street and made his own.
Before Elvis names these artists, traces their music, and reconstructs the world they built: the Black radio stations, churches, clubs, and recording sessions that produced the sound Elvis refracted at Sun Studio in 1954. It is also a history of what they lost: the royalties stolen by exploitative publishers, the credits erased, the fortunes that flowed elsewhere while the originators were paid once and forgotten. Lauterbach's target is not Elvis but the industry that profited from him — and he recovers, with precision and evident fury, the names and achievements that industry buried.
Named Best Blues Book of the Year by Living Blues magazine. An Amazon Best History Book.
"Elevated by punchy prose (Crudup threw 'his voice around like a fist in a brawl'), this is a fascinating celebration of a vital moment in music history." —Publishers Weekly
“A thrilling cultural history at the root of Rock 'n' Roll.” — The Wall Street Journal
“An essential read that restores the gold and the glory to the originators.” — Rooted
“Meticulous, revelatory, and deeply necessary American music history.” — The Washington Post
“A rich, complicated, and deeply necessary history.”
— Los Angeles Review of Books
Awards
Best Blues Book of the Year, Living Blues Magazine
Finalist for the ARSC Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research, Association of Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) (Best History category)
An Amazon Best History Book
“Preston Lauterbach has long since made a place for himself as the most valuable chronicler of African-American music as a fulcrum and a center of American culture. But here, with astonishingly detailed and serpentine storytelling, with no road of intellectual inquiry ever closed, he has outdone himself. And with humor, the cool eye of a hanging judge, and the flair of a dancer, he has lifted his ongoing argument to the realm of Mark Twain, Damon Runyon, Chester Himes, and Percival Everett.”
Greil Marcus, author of "Mystery Train," "Lipstick Traces," and "Folk Music"
Critical Acclaim
“A thrilling cultural history... a deftly intertwined, fully realized group portrait of performers whose music and performing styles Presley devotedly drew from.
— Eddie Dean, The Wall Street Journal
“Highlights the artists who originated the songs and invented the techniques with which Presley captivated white audiences... while chronicling the injustices Black musical pioneers endured.”
— The New Yorker
“Lauterbach works the backstreets of rock's story, the many accidental and circuitous paths the music takes... landing a major statement on how Presley immersed himself in Memphis.”
— Los Angeles Review of Books
“A definitive accounting of the systemic forces, media segregation, and musical genius that laid the literal foundation for modern American pop culture.”
— Marketplace
“Moves past tired clichés to show how the lives and music of rock's true originators live on... shifting the spotlight back to those who gave the music its original soul.”
— The Minnesota Star Tribune
“A major cultural history diving into the genius of R&B trailblazers... while tackling the deep complexities of mid-century media segregation.”
— The Memphis Commercial Appeal
“Unveils the real royalty of rock and roll... restoring credit to the local legends who gave Memphis its world-changing rhythm.”
— The Memphis Flyer
“Examines the King's debt to Black artists... proving how Presley's legendary television stage presence and physical moves were directly traced from eccentric Beale Street guitarists.”
— The Nashville Scene
“Deeply compelling narrative history that forces us to reexamine everything we think we know about the birth of rock music.”
— Mississippi Today
“A fascinating historical blueprint of the sounds, sanctuaries, and street corners that shaped an era.”
— Style Weekly
“A masterclass in musical archaeology, weaving together the loose, wild threads of Southern vice districts and raw artistic genius.”
— NOLA.com
“A detailed, vital music critique analyzing the lives and mixed fortunes of the five key African American musical figures who fundamentally shaped the dawn of modern pop culture.”
— Americana UK
“A gripping and vital corrective to music history that shines a brilliant, long-overdue spotlight on the true architects of a revolution.”
— The Irish Independent
“Meticulously researched and elegantly written... Lauterbach brings his signature investigative eye to the forgotten titans of mid-century R&B.”
— Arts Fuse
Selected Press
The Wall Street Journal | At the Root of Rock 'n' Roll
The Minneapolis Star Tribune | A look at the trailblazing musicians who came 'Before Elvis'
Los Angeles Review of Books | The Young Dead
Publishers Weekly | Before Elvis: The African American Musicians Who Made the King
The Memphis Commercial Appeal | 'Before Elvis' explores music of Black artists who influenced the King
The Nashville Scene | 'Before Elvis' Examines the King's Debt to Black Artist
The Times-Picayune | 'Before Elvis' digs into the Black music that fueled the success of Presley's rock 'n' roll
Style Weekly | Shook, Rattled and Rolled
Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music | Conversations with Our Curator
Americana UK | Book Review: Preston Lauterbach "Before Elvis
Rooted | Preston Lauterbach is Giving the Gold and the Glory to the Originators
The Riley Rock Report | Hearing Elvis Presley's Memphis
