Plenty of people know Michael L. Jones as Louisville Business First's economic development and restaurants reporter. But he's also a music guru, local history buff and author of three books.
On the Access Louisville podcast this week, we talk with Jones (a regular on the show) about his latest book  "Soulful Sounds of Derby Town," which just launched.  Jones and his collaborators on the book look back at some of the history of Black music in Louisville.
On the show, he tells us about how the book is a culmination of eight years of work.
"You can imagine six music nerds sitting and talking about who's important enough to go in the book — should they go in gospel? Should they go into jazz?," Jones said on the show.
The pages are filled with stories about musicians who began in Louisville and went on to make a mark in the industry at large. As Jones explains,  singer Helen Humes and jazz trumpeter Jonah Jones were among a slew of people who got their start playing in a community band here in Louisville.
The book is going from the "page to the stage" on March 2 with a book launch event and performances by some of the living musicians featured in it. That takes place at Kentucky Performing Arts and tickets are available here.
Also on this week's show, we chat about the lineup that was just announced for Louder than Life — a metal focused music festival that is happening again this September.
And late in the show, we talk about a leadership change at Endeavor Louisville and some of the things that are happening with the local startup scene.
Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. You can find it on popular podcast services. Access Louisville Live is coming up. Be apart of it as we record a live episode of the show on March 26. Tickets are available here.