Avenue Breakdown: Black Music and the Recording Industry in Shreveport(American Made Music Series)

About the Book

Avenue Breakdown uncovers the rich yet often overlooked legacy of Black music in Shreveport, Louisiana—a city better known for country tunes and the Louisiana Hayride. This compelling history shines a spotlight on the city’s vibrant postwar scene, where blues, R&B, jazz, soul, funk, and gospel thrived in Black neighborhoods despite the pressures of segregation and state-sanctioned violence.

From the iconic downtown record store of Stan Lewis to clubs that pulsed with the sound of legends, Shreveport fostered a dynamic music culture that drew producers and performers from across the region. Yet, systemic racism and economic decline eroded this cultural lifeblood, culminating in moments of unrest like the Cedar Grove Riot of 1988.

Spanning decades of music, struggle, and community resilience, Avenue Breakdown captures the power of sound to challenge, uplift, and endure. It’s a vital record of a city’s past and an invitation to consider what comes next for the music of the Ark-La-Tex.

Table of Contents:

Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. 728 Texas Street
2. Travis Street Boogie: Down Home and Jump Blues in Shreveport, 1948–1952
3. Romp and Stomp: Blues, Rhythm and Blues, and Doo-Wop in Shreveport, 1953–1962
4. Soul Feeling: Soul Music in Shreveport, 1963–1968
5. Soul Power in Sound City: Sound City Recording Studio and Soul Music in Shreveport, 1969–1975
6. Ghetto Disco: The Collapse of Shreveport’s Recording Industry and Live Music in Decline, 1976–1980
7. We Are Drowning: Shreveport Eclipsed, 1981–1988
Conclusion: Memories of a Lost City
Bibliography
Notes
Index

About the Author :
John M. Shaw is an ethnomusicologist with an emphasis in musics of the African diaspora. He received his PhD from the University of Memphis in 2024. He is author of Following the Drums: African American Fife and Drum Music in Tennessee, published by University Press of Mississippi.

Review :
"This much-needed and meticulously researched book will stand as the definitive work on postwar Shreveport’s incredibly rich and influential Black secular music, the musicians who created it, the radio disc jockeys who played it, and the producers and labels that recorded and preserved it." - Gene Tomko, author of Encyclopedia of Louisiana Musicians: Jazz, Blues, Cajun, Creole, Zydeco, Swamp Pop, and Gospel

"Using the local record industry and venues as the foundation for this study, Shaw brings over a decade of exhaustive research to this chronological exploration that focuses on Black popular music in and around Shreveport. Beginning just after World War II ended and closing some forty years later, Avenue Breakdown is encyclopedic, chock-full of new information, and enlivened by a variety of previously obscure handbills, posters, and photos." - Kip Lornell, coeditor (with Tracy E. W. Laird) of Shreveport Sounds in Black and White and professor emeritus at George Washington University

"A history of Shreveport’s vibrant Black music scene of the post–World War II era is a welcome resource. Shaw harnesses decades of information drawn from the city’s historic Black newspaper, the Shreveport Sun. To this, he adds valuable insights gleaned from interviews and commercial recordings. He shares stories of the city’s musicians as well as record label owners, recording studios, and music venues. This is more than just a local history; it’s recommended reading for fans of rhythm and blues." - Chris Brown, Shreveport record collector, disc jockey, and director of the Centenary College of Louisiana Archives and Special Collections

"John M. Shaw is a dogged researcher and an original thinker. His dive into primary materials leads to a compelling story not only about music in Shreveport but about Black industry in America. The conclusions are not always pretty, but Shaw pursues them, resulting in a vivid picture of times past that informs our present." - Robert Gordon, author of Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion