When
Where
A Talk with John Troutman:
B.B. King Called it "That Sound!" Finding the Indigenous Roots of Popular Music
Join us on April 28, 2026 at CESL room 102 at 7:00 PM for a talk with John Troutman! John Troutman, AIS M.A. Alumnus, is a Curator of Music and Musical Instruments and Chair of the Division of Culture & the Arts at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. His first book, Indian Blues: American Indians and Politics of Music, 1879--1934, won the Western History Association’s 2011 W. Turrentine Jackson Prize. His book Kīkā Kila: How the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Changed the Sound of Modern Music, won five book awards, including the Organization of American Historians’ Lawrence W. Levine Award and the American Musilogical Society’s Music in American Culture Award. Troutman received two GRAMY nominations for his work on the 2023 Smithsonian Folkways box set, Playing for the Man at the Door: Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick, 1958--1971.