Before Elvis The African American Musicians Who Made the King

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King​, author Preston Lauterbach answers these questions definitively, based on new research and extensive, previously unpublished interviews with the artists who blazed the way and the people who knew them.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.

Preston Lauterbach is author of the American music classic The Chitlin’ Circuit (2011) as well as two secret histories of Black culture, Beale Street Dynasty (2015) and Bluff City (2019). Preston has co-authored three memoirs with significant figures in Black music, including Brother Robert (2020) with the stepsister of bluesman Robert Johnson, Timekeeper (2021) with Memphis soul drummer Howard Grimes, and the forthcoming biography of the Blind Boys of Alabama (2023). His works have earned book of the year recognition from the Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Rolling Stone.