Here are a couple more Indianapolis tributes I’ve gotten my hands on thanks to Lovemeknot Kyle, a native who first told me about the city’s “Naptown” nickname. The first one’s by Bill Gaither, also known as “Little Bill” or Leroy’s Buddy (as in Leroy Carr). (This is not the same Gaither as the contemporary gospel singer.) His own Naptown tribute came out some six years after Carr’s.

The other one is by Sid “Hardrock” Gunter, a national treasure who’s still at it. A proto-rocker if there ever was one, he was rockabilly before it existed, crossed over into R&B territory with his cover of Billy Ward and the Dominoes’ steamy “Sixty Minute Man,” and got signed to the forward-thinking, country/R&B mishmash label Sun Records two years before Elvis did.

Bill Gaither (Leroy’s Buddy) – “Naptown Stomp” (1935)

Hardrock Gunter – “Naptown, Ind.” (1953)

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