By Benjamin K. Roe
Music in the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. went far beyond “We Shall Overcome.” You can find the earliest evidence in his boyhood home on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, steps away from the celebrated Ebenezer Baptist Church, pastored by his father, Daddy King. Dr. King may have been the son of a preacher, but he was also the son of a choir director. When you walk in the King house, the first room you enter is an intimate front parlor, dominated by a battered old upright piano. This is the place where King’s mother would lead the Ebenezer choir through weekly rehearsals, the place where his father first noted four-year-old Martin’s fine, clear singing voice, and where he struggled through piano lessons.