The Chitlin' Circuit And The Road To Rock And Roll

NPR (WBUR)
On-Point with Tom Ashbrook

The Chitlin' Circuit And The Road To Rock And Roll

The amazing story of African-America's "Chitlin Circuit," and the road to rock and roll.
Across the country in segregated 20th century America, there was a world where black musicians soared even when the color line held them down.
It was Beale Street in Memphis, the Bronze Peacock Dinner and Dance Club in Houston, an old tobacco barn in South Carolina, where the music went all night long. It was the Chitlin' Circuit.
Grand ballrooms and steamy juke joints. The venues where African-Americans were free to play and be. Where, says my guest today, rock was born.
This hour On Point: a new history of the Chitlin' Circuit..
Guests:
Preston Lauterbach, the author of The Chitlin' Circuit and the Road to Rock 'N Roll
Bobby Rush, a musician, composer and singer.
Mark Anthony Neal, professor of African-American studies at Duke University.  Listen