Photos by Jay Goldz

INCREASE without much, Kyle Long was forced to search Goodwill stores, local library sales, and Indian supermarkets for used records and tapes. This unleashed his fascination and obsession with sound and motivated him to dive deep into local music history. As a result, he became a DJ and music journalist, as well as the driving force behind two WFYI-FM radio shows, Cultural Manifesto and Echoes of Indiana Avenueon which he unearths the works of unheralded musicians who helped build the songs of our city and state.

You’ve probably never heard of Lester Johnson, who was with the Ebony Rhythm Funk Campaign, a soul and funk band. Or Billy Wooten, a jazz vibraphonist who also recorded with several Blue Note Records artists. Or the Haughville Slickers, who played the Cleveland-style polka. But Long did, and he can tell you why they’re significant. Did you know there was a lesbian music scene in Indianapolis in the 1970s? Do you know why the first Beatles record came out on a record label in Indiana? Or what else was going on musically in Gary when the Jacksons were getting ready to break out?

Kyle Long knows. And while he usually focuses on the lesser-known, he got the notoriously difficult Brian Wilson to talk about the influence Indianapolis quartet The Four Freshmen had on the Beach Boys. He also spoke with Carlos Santana about the importance of legend Wes Montgomery to Santana’s guitar playing. Lucky for Long — and for us.

“I think a lot of people think they’re just pulling this stuff off Wikipedia or something,” Long says. “Couldn’t be further from the truth. Many of the episodes in the programs I produce are literally in production. It’s just that mystery of, Where did this music come from? and wanting to better understand what existed before I came. And the more I learn about these things, the more compelling the story becomes.”

Long is 49 years old. He is tall and lean and looks like a younger version of the late comedian Norm MacDonald. We’re in a WFYI studio temporarily housing his latest acquisition—a collection of tapes that belonged to a local soul songwriter named Tony Black. Black died in 2020, after which his son Evan decided to give Long his father’s extensive archive, which contains the earliest known excerpts of Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds’ original music; lost sessions from Lamp Records, the Indianapolis version of Motown Records; and early recordings from WTLC-FM.

The collection includes music on microcassettes, floppy disks, flash drives and several reel-to-reel sizes, all delivered in bin bags. Eventually, Long will sort through them and use them to tell another previously hidden story. “When Kyle started with us, we had no idea the depth and passion of his knowledge,” says WFYI Radio Director Roxanna Caldwell. “It was a hidden gem, honestly — a buried treasure we didn’t know we were about to unearth.”

Long began building his knowledge base in an Avon trailer park where he lived with his mother and younger sister. He had few friends and even less interest in school. But he had a constant companion: music. He remembers reading about the iconic Bollywood singer Lata Mangeshkar, who held the world record for the most recordings of any vocalist in history. That led him to an Indian grocery store, where he bought the tapes. Soon, his interest expanded to learning about the music of Indiana’s immigrants. “Immigrants have been here a lot longer than we realize, making contributions to the culture,” he says. “So I’d go to these stores and for hours I’d look at the tapes, I’d look at the covers. And I discovered this whole funk and psychedelic Bollywood music scene that was all the rage in the ’70s.”

He left school at 16 — “I couldn’t figure it out. I wasn’t good at it.” — and instead spent his time at the Indianapolis Public Library. “I remember, you could check up to 80 records at a time and I would have the maximum number of records, cassettes and books at any given time that you could have.” He also worked a series of “horrendous” jobs – clerking at a gas station, stocking shelves at a supermarket. He was 30 years old and working in a restaurant when his mother and sister died within months of each other. “It forced me to reinvent myself and rethink my life,” he says. “And things that I might have been afraid to do or hesitate to do before, I felt more brave to do.”

DJing was one of those things. The idea of ​​being the center of attention terrified him. But he did it anyway. A concert at IUPUI for the International Student Association, where Indiana played Bollywood and Brazilian music, as well as Fela Kuti, the Nigerian performer and political activist, went well. “It’s like I’ve opened something that’s been bottled.” A second concert at the Garfield Park Arts Center went just as well. “People were connecting to this music in a very special way.”

Long was working in the kitchen of a downtown cafe when the owner asked him to play downbeat music between 5 and 9 p.m. Long suggested he play other types of music after 9, leading to a night of Brazilian forró – “like dance music of partners”. with accordions” — which caught fire in the public. So did the Indian music night. Soon, DJ Kyle Long had lines around the building.

The word spread. He and visual artist Artur Silva developed a partnership called Cultural Cannibals, which organizes events in the city. Alternative paper New took an interest and assigned a writer to profile Long. Then New invited Long to contribute stories.

In 2012, he started a weekly column. The subject included the musical heritage of Indiana Avenue and the history of other regional songs, the contemporary underground scene and immigrant music culture, which involved a visit to a west side discount mall where vendors sold Latin American tapes. “I would go to grocery stores in Somalia and Ethiopia and write about the music they were selling. So we covered local music in a different way.” Later, he accompanied the articles with podcasts.

Ed Wenck, then editor of New and a radio veteran, thought Long’s efforts deserved to be on the radio. “I was amazed at the depth of his knowledge with every person he spoke to,” says Wenck. “It was some of the most well-researched stuff I’ve ever heard. And he had a very natural ability when it came to interviewing people and maintaining the flow of a natural conversation while sounding both authoritative, informative and relaxed.” Wenck brought Caldwell’s idea to WFYI. In 2014, she put Long’s Cultural Manifesto on one of the station’s high-definition signals, which would normally have guaranteed that no one heard the broadcast. But Long promoted himself well enough to get listeners. In 2015, it debuted on the main signal, 90.1. Five years later, when A prairie house companion stopped making new episodes, Caldwell saw room to grow Long’s audience. Echoes of Indiana Avenue is the result. Long teamed up with Herman “Butch” Slaughter, who grew up in the Indiana Avenue area and played with a soul group called Words of Wisdom. In 2023, their partnership earned them a regional Edward R. Murrow Award.

Today, Cultural Manifesto averages 8,600 listeners per week and Echoes of Indiana Avenue he still has 6,000. Both shows’ podcasts are downloaded 5,500 and 2,000 times per month, respectively. And Long became the curator and caretaker of Indianapolis music history. Musicians trust him to tell their stories. Families of musicians trust it to remember the contributions of their loved ones.

It’s a heady position for a guy like Long who started with nothing. “It’s interesting how Kyle connects with the musicians,” says Wenck. “Many of those people they profile are just doing what they love and barely making rent, much less money for food. And I think there’s a shared experience there that, consciously or not, he’s kind of talking about.”