Stan Lewis: Made Shreveport A ‘Musical Crossroads’ [VIDEO]

Shreveport historian (and Caddo Parish Registrar of Voters) Ernie Roberson talks with 101.7 / 710 KEEL's Robert J Wright and Erin McCarty about Stan Lewis and the effect his small music store in downtown Shreveport had a major effect - for decades - on the American music scene.

Roberson tells KEEL listeners how Lewis (who passed away this past weekend at the age of 91) broke down racial barriers by exposing what was referred to as "race music", i.e. blues, R&B, etc., to whites across the South and beyond. From what he (Lewis) told me years ago, "says Roberson, "he said he was trying to cover his bases. He didn't know where (songs) were going to land."

Stan's Record Shop, Roberson recalls, "Was off the corner of Texas and Common across from the First Methodist Church. It was a little-bitty place, on the weekends it was packed. It was a small record shop that advertised itself as 'the biggest little record store in the South. Stan had his finger on the pulse of Shreveport...in one of the best ways ever."