Aubrey Preston is a Nashville-area real estate entrepreneur, avid preservationist and lifelong student of music history. He founded the nonprofit Americana Music Triangle preservation project to educate visitors from around the world on the geographic and creative roots of America’s most influential cultural export: the nine genres of music born in the culturally rich region between New Orleans, Nashville and Memphis.
At the core of the project is AmericanaMusicTriangle.com, an online history resource and travel guide featuring some of the world’s most significant music heritage sites. The guide blends music history and cultural tourism, offering a self-guided road trip through the heart of the American South, considered by many historians to be the birthplace of Jazz, Blues, Country, Rock&Roll, R&B/Soul, Gospel, Southern Gospel, Cajun/Zydeco and Bluegrass. Since its 2015 launch, the project has successfully established a five-state coalition of music communities united for the purpose of education, heritage tourism, preservation and community development.
Some of Preston’s other community projects include preservation and redevelopment of the historic village of Leipers Fork, an effort that helped launch the nonprofit Land Trust for Tennessee; developing the Tennessee Trails and Byways initiative, executed by the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development; preserving and restoring the historic Franklin Theatre in downtown Franklin, Tennessee; establishing the Kids on Stage Foundation; the purchase and preservation of the endangered historic RCA Studio A on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee, and most recently; the purchase and preservation of the Thomas Hart Benton historic homesite.