Shreveport Sounds in Black & White

Kip Lornell teaches at George Washington University. He is author of Exploring American Folk Music: Ethnic, Grassroots, and Regional Traditions in the United States; coauthor of The Beat! Go-Go Music from Washington, D.C.; and coeditor of The Music of Multicultural America: Performance, Identity, and Community in the United States, all published by University Press of Mississippi. Tracey E. W. Laird is associate professor of music at Agnes Scott College and author of Louisiana Hayride: Radio and Roots Music Along the Red River.

To borrow words from Stan "The Record Man" Lewis, Shreveport, Louisiana, is one of this nation's most important "regional-sound cities." Its musical distinctiveness has been shaped by individuals and ensembles, record label and radio station owners, announcers and disc jockeys, club owners and sound engineers, music journalists and musicians. The area's output cannot be described by a single genre or style. Rather, its music is a kaleidoscope of country, blues, R&B, rockabilly, and rock. Shreveport Sounds in Black and White presents that evolution in a collection of scholarly and popular writing that covers institutions and people who nurtured the musical life of the city and surroundings. The contributions of icons like Leadbelly and Hank Williams, and such lesser-known names as Taylor-Griggs Melody Makers and Eddie Giles come to light. New writing explores the famed Louisiana Hayride, musicians Jimmie Davis and Dale Hawkins, local disc jockey "Dandy Don" Logan, and KWKH studio sound engineer Bob Sullivan. With glimpses into the lives of original creators, Shreveport Sounds in Black and White reveals the mix that emerges from the ongoing interaction between the city's black and white musicians.