“The Boys,” as the Harlin family affectionately called them, made Indianapolis IN their home.  

At the turn of the century, Mom and Pop Harlin were sharecroppers, beginning their family in TX. Harlin’s last child was born in Detroit MI. In just under two decades, the family journeyed from an agrarian dependency to the lure of higher wages and improved standard of living in industrialized Detroit MI. Twelve persons strong in Detroit were the five boys and five girls with their parents.

In 2021 Beth Harlin, Jay’s daughter romanticized, “I can only imagine music coming from the rhythmic practice of working the land…Someone(s) along the way, gave the gift of music to my aunts and uncles. My father was gifted particular musical genius; J D Harlin invented the first commercially viable pedal steel guitar, the Multi-Kord.”