The Chitlin' Circuit and the Road to Rock 'n' Roll (W.W. Norton), by Preston Lauterbach

Cultural historians usually write off the “chitlin' circuit” that sustained African-American musicians from the 1930s through the '60s as a cruel, exploitative system. Preston Lauterbach thinks otherwise. In his endlessly fascinating and richly evocative account, Lauterbach traces the circuit to its origins in Depression-era black communities, where hustlers stitched together a web of live venues for traveling bands in barns, colored schoolhouses, corner bars and Mason halls throughout the South. The network floated on the revenue from the numbers racket and guns, and the Mob was never far from sight. The Chitlin' Circuit is a funny, revealing look into the seedy side of town that birthed rock 'n' roll and R&B.