John Troutman was an assistant professor at the University of Louisiana and working on a book about the Native American musicians who toured the United States in the early 1900s when he noticed the names of Hawaiian musicians were popping up repeatedly on the same tour circuits.

The result was a second book, “Kika Kila: How the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Changed the Sound of Modern Music,” which documented the impact of Hawaiian steel guitarists on American pop music, country music and the blues in the early 20th century.

Troutman, 43, will be in Honolulu to talk about the book at 2 p.m. May 7 in the Alana Hawaiian Culture Pavilion as part of the 2017 Hawai‘i Book & Music Festival.

JOHN BERGER: Which of the many Hawaiian musicians who toured outside Hawaii had the most influence in the United States?

JOHN TROUTMAN: July Paka and Joseph Kekuku were the first to demonstrate the steel guitar concept to vast audiences, as they toured extensively throughout North America from 1907 through 1917 or so.

JB: Were Hawaiians considered “colored” when they were in the South, or did they get a “pass” because they were from Hawaii?

JT: No, but Hawaiians learned quickly to adopt strategies for navigating the Jim Crow South. Members of Ka Bana Lahui, the Hawaiian National Band, decided to speak only in Hawaiian when in public in the South in order to confuse the locals, (but) it’s also important to note that ill treatment was not reserved to that region. In Denver in 1911, for example, Hawaiian musicians were reported to the police by white men who accused them merely of winking at white women.

JB: What have you been working on since “Kika Kila” was published in 2016?

JT: My life changed dramatically when I was hired in December of last year to serve as the new curator of music at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. Right now I am planning new exhibits for the galleries, and I hope to feature Hawaiian music and musicians throughout our future music exhibitions.

“On the Scene” appears weekly in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Sunday Magazine. Reach John Berger at jberger@staradvertiser.com.