Let It Roll
by Pantheon Media
Latest episode
Roy Acuff, Bob Wills, Gene Autry & Woody Guthrie Lead Country Music…
Roy Acuff, Bob Wills, Gene Autry & Woody Guthrie Lead Country Music…
About this podcast
"Let it Roll" is a podcast about the history of popular music from the 19th Century to the 21st. Proud part of Pantheon - the podcast network for music lovers.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 673 episodes
- Roy Acuff, Bob Wills, Gene Autry & Woody Guthrie Lead Country Music Through Hard Times: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 5.4 · 42 minWhen the record business collapsed in the Depression, country music didn't go away - it moved to the radio. A record cost as much as a steak dinner, but once a family owned a set…
- Bob Wills & Western Swing: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 5.3 · 45 minBob Wills and His Texas Playboys finally got onto the Grand Ole Opry, and the Opry made the drummer sit behind a curtain so nobody would know there were drums. Wills never went…
- Mambo hit New York hard in the 1930s, 40s and 50s: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 5.2 · 49 minHost Nate Wilcox welcomes back Tony Fletcher, author of “All Hopped Up and Ready to Go: Music from the Streets of New York, 1927-77,” to discuss the mambo explosion that kept…
- Milton Brown Mentored Bob Wills and Invented Western Swing: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 5.1 · 43 minMilton Brown never had a national hit and never wrote a famous song, and he was dead at 32. But Cary Ginell argues that he did something almost nobody in popular music has done…
- Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Frank Sinatra and the Swing Era: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.12 · 28 minHost Nate Wilcox welcomes back Peter Doggett, author of “Electric Shock: From the Gramophone to the iPhone - 125 Years of Pop Music,” in a conversation first released in 2019 and…
- Robert Johnson Revised: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.11 · 43 minHost Nate Wilcox brings back Dr. Yuri Campbell, scholar and musician, to weigh what the previous episode’s conversation with Elijah Wald about “Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson…
- Robert Johnson: Escaping the Delta: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.10 · 42 minHost Nate Wilcox talks with Elijah Wald, author of “Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues,” in a conversation first released in 2018 and returning now…
- Devil at the Confluence: The Pre-War Blues of St. Louis: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.9 · 51 minHost Nate Wilcox talks with Kevin Belford, artist, illustrator and author of “Devil at the Confluence: The Pre-War Blues Music of St. Louis, Missouri,” in a brand-new…
- Chick Webb's Big Beat Style of Swing Led Directly to Rock 'n' Roll: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.8 · 44 minHost Nate Wilcox talks with Stephanie Stein Crease, author of “Rhythm Man: Chick Webb and the Beat That Changed America,” in a conversation first released in 2023 and returning…
- Swing King Chick Webb Brought Ella Fitzgerald to the World: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.7 · 52 minHost Nate Wilcox talks with Jeff Kaufman, director, writer and producer of the documentary film “The Savoy King: Chick Webb and the Music That Changed America,” in a conversation…
- How Kansas City Vice Birthed Kansas City Jazz: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.6 · 47 minHost Nate Wilcox talks with Chuck Haddix, co-author with Frank Driggs of “Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop - A History,” in a conversation first released in 2020 and…
- Alan Lomax, Pete Seeger, Josh White & Jean Ritchie and the first Folk Revival: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.5 · 51 minHost Nate Wilcox talks with Dave Thompson, author of “An Evolving Tradition: The Child Ballads in Modern Folk and Rock Music,” in a conversation first released in 2025 and…
- Rhythm & Blues from Bessie Smith to Louis Jordan: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.4 · 56 minHost Nate Wilcox and the late Ed Ward, author of “The History of Rock & Roll, Volume One: 1920-1963,” close Season 3 of Let It Roll From the Beginning... with a conversation…
- Ted Gioia Talks the Songs Jazz is Built On: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.3 · 40 minHost Nate Wilcox is joined again by Ted Gioia, author of “The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire,” in a conversation first recorded in 2019 and returning now as part of…
- Record Men From Thomas Edison to John Hammond & Chris Blackwell: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.2 · 51 minGareth Murphy set out to write an obituary for the record man. A French label boss had told him over lunch that the record producer was a dying breed, and in the 2010s, with the…
- Bing Crosby's Swing Brought Him Superstardom: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.1 · 45 minGO TO THE LET IT ROLL SUBSTACK TO HEAR THE FULL EPISODE -- The final 15 minutes of this…
- The Jazz Age of Pop From the ODJB to Bing Crosby: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 3.12 · 39 minHost Nate Wilcox is joined again by Peter Doggett, author of “Electric Shock: From the Gramophone to the iPhone - 125 Years of Pop Music,” in a conversation first recorded in…
- Thomas A. Dorsey Went From 'It's Tight Like That' to 'Precious Lord': Let It Roll From the Beginning... 3.11 · 47 minThe same man wrote “It’s Tight Like That” and “Take My Hand, Precious Lord.” As Georgia Tom, Thomas A. Dorsey cut it with Tampa Red in 1928 - one of the dirtiest hits of the…
- Ralph Peer Brought Blues, Jazz, Country, and Latin Music to Record: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 3.10 · 42 minBefore OKeh would bet on records made by Black artists for Black buyers, somebody had to go and find out whether that market existed. The company sent Ralph Peer. He went into…
- The Beginnings of Country Music According to Ken Burns: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 3.9 · 50 minHost Nate Wilcox is joined by James Porter - Chicago writer, DJ and musician - to open CountryRoll, their run through Ken Burns’s “Country Music” series, in a conversation first…
- Ed Ward on The Bristol Explosion: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 3.8 · 36 minHost Nate Wilcox is joined by Ed Ward, his original co-host and the author of “The History of Rock & Roll, Volume 1: 1920-1963,” for a conversation first recorded in 2018 and…
- The Carter Family popularized the Child Ballads and Burl Ives built a new tradition: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 3.7 · 53 minHost Nate Wilcox is joined again by Dave Thompson, author of “An Evolving Tradition: The Child Ballads in Modern Folk and Rock,” for the next installment of Let It Roll From the…
- Paul Whiteman Was the King of Jazz in 1925, to Music Critics: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 3.6 · 1 h 0 minIn this episode, host Nate Wilcox welcomes Elijah Wald to discuss his controversial but informative book "How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'N' Roll" which actually has a lot more…
- Vernon Dalhart: The forgotten first superstar of country music: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 3.5 · 32 minHost Nate Wilcox tells this one alone, as a Let It Roll seance - the guest is the late Jack Palmer, author of “Vernon Dalhart: First Star of Country Music,” who died before Nate…
- Ed Ward on Rock Pre-History the 1920s & 30s: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 3.4 · 43 minHost Nate Wilcox and the late Ed Ward, the rock historian of NPR’s Fresh Air kicked off their discussions of Ed’s History of Rock and Roll, Volume 1 1920-1963 with a discussion…
- The Holy Trinity of Texas Gospel and a Devilish Businessman: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 3.3 · 52 minHost Nate Wilcox asks Michael Corcoran to share the stories of Texas gospel greats Arizona Dranes, Blind Willie Johnson and Washington Phillips as well as the notorious Don…
- House of the Rising Sun Before Bob Dylan And After The Animals: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 3.2 · 41 min · Season 3 Episode 2Host Nate Wilcox and Ted Anthony, author of “Chasing the Rising Sun: The Journey of an American Song”, work through what a “version” even is when a song has thousands of them…
- From Louis Armstrong to the White Stripes, 'St James Infirmary' Connects Folk Traditions to Jazz and Rock: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 3.1 · 44 min · Season 3 Episode 1Season 3 of Let It Roll: From the Beginning… opens with host Nate Wilcox talking to Robert W. Harwood about “I Went Down to St. James Infirmary” - a book about one song and about…
- Pop Had An Entirely Different Meaning Before 1955: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 2.12 · 36 minHost Nate Wilcox welcomes Bob Stanley to discuss “Let’s Do It: The Birth of Pop Music, A History” - the prequel to his own earlier book, “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!: The Story of Pop…
- Irving Berlin Defined American Music: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 2.11 · 39 minHost Nate Wilcox welcomes James Kaplan to discuss his book “Irving Berlin: New York Genius” — a life that runs from a Lower East Side childhood to a fifty-year career at the…
- Pioneering Gospel Composers: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 2.10 · 44 minHost Nate Wilcox was joined again by Garrett Cash for the second episode of the Holy Roll series which we’re recasting as part of our Let It Roll: From the Beginning… series…
- Ted Gioia on The Birth of Jazz in New Orleans: Let It Roll From the Beginning...2.9 · 40 minWe're continuing our recast of all the Let It Roll episodes in chronological order by topic with Ted Gioia on “The History of Jazz,” and host Nate Wilcox takes him all the way…
- The First Recording Stars: Enrico Caruso, Bert Williams and Al Jolson: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 2.8 · 60 minTRIGGER WARNING: This episode discusses minstrelsy and blackface and includes a recording of a 1902 ‘coon song,’ presented as historical evidence. Racial slurs occur in the…
- Edison's Phonograph vs. the Gramophone: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 2.7 · 48 minTRIGGER WARNING: This episode discusses minstrelsy and blackface and includes a recording of a 1902 ‘coon song,’ presented as historical evidence. Racial slurs occur in the…
- Beginning the Jazz Age: Vaudeville, Minstrelsy, WC Handy's blues and Louis Armstrong's Signifying on the Old Songs: Let It Roll From the Beginning...2.6 · 42 minWe're relaunching Let It Roll by reposting every episode in chronological order by subject matter. In this episode, host Nate Wilcox interviews Gary Giddins to discuss the…
- The Vaudeville Roots of Country Music: Let It Roll From the Beginning...2.5 · 48 minWe're relaunching Let It Roll by reposting every episode in chronological order by subject matter. In this episode, host Nate Wilcox interviews Henry Sapoznik, one of the…
- Jubilee Singers and Barbershop Quartets Continued the Evolution of African-American Music: Let It Roll From the Beginning...2.4 · 42 minWe're relaunching Let It Roll by reposting every episode in chronological order by subject matter. In this episode, host Nate Wilcox is joined by Garrett Cash to continue their…
- How 19th Century American Music Got Hot: Let It Roll From the Beginning...2.3 · 45 minWe're relaunching Let It Roll by reposting every episode in chronological order by subject matter. In this episode, host Nate Wilcox is joined by author David Wondrich, to…
- American Music Developed in the 19th Century NYC Underworld: Let It Roll From the Beginning...2.2 · 45 minWe're relaunching Let It Roll by reposting every episode in chronological order by subject matter. In this episode, host Nate Wilcox interviews author Dale Cockrell about the…
- My Old Kentucky Home's Century of Myth: Let It Roll From the Beginning...2.1 · 43 minWe're relaunching Let It Roll by reposting every episode in chronological order by subject matter. In this episode, host Nate Wilcox interviews Emily Bingham, the author of "My…
- Francis Child Collected Ballads and Kicked Off a Craze: Let It Roll From the Beginning...to the End 8 · 43 minWe're relaunching Let It Roll by reposting every episode in chronological order by subject matter. In this episode, host Nate Wilcox welcomes back Dave Thompson to continue…
- The most popular American musician of the 19th century connected Cuba and New Orleans: Let It Roll From the Beginning...to the End 1.11 · 36 minWe're relaunching Let It Roll by reposting every episode in chronological order by subject matter. In this episode, host Nate Wilcox welcomes back Ned Sublette to continue the…
- Scott, Pepys, Dickens - The Literary Roots of The Ballads: Let It Roll From the Beginning...to the End 1.10 · 42 minWe're relaunching Let It Roll by reposting every episode in chronological order by subject matter. In this episode, host Nate Wilcox welcomes back Dave Thompson to continue…
- Beethoven freed music from the tyranny of patronage: Let It Roll From the Beginning...to the End 1.9 · 39 minWe're relaunching Let It Roll by reposting every episode in chronological order by subject matter. In this episode, host Nate Wilcox welcomes Norman Lebrecht author of "Why…
- In America African Culture Survived as The Spiritual: Let It Roll From the Beginning...to the End 8 · 47 minWe're relaunching Let It Roll by reposting every episode in chronological order by subject matter. In this episode hosts Nate Wilcox and Garrett Cash dive into the roots of…
- The Subversive Side of Classical Music: Let It Roll From the Beginning...to the End 7 · 47 minWe're relaunching Let It Roll by reposting every episode in chronological order by subject matter. In this episode, host Nate Wilcox welcomes back Ted Gioia to continue their…
- Clave and the contradance in the colonial Caribbean: Let It Roll From the Beginning...to the End 6 · 40 minWe're relaunching Let It Roll by reposting every episode in chronological order by subject matter. In this episode, Nate Wilcox and author Ned Sublette have the second of several…
- The musics of Europe and Africa collided in Cuba: Let It Roll From the Beginning...to the End 5 · 43 minWe're relaunching Let It Roll by reposting every episode in chronological order by subject matter. In this episode, Nate Wilcox and author Ned Sublette have the first of several…
- The Ancient Repertoire the Folk Genre Built On: Let It Roll From the Beginning...to the End 4 · 44 minWe're relaunching Let It Roll by reposting every episode in chronological order by subject matter. In this episode,Nate Wilcox and author Dave Thompson discuss the first chapter…
- The Cultural Blend That Made New Orleans Music Unique: Let It Roll From the Beginning...to the End 3 · 44 minWe're relaunching Let It Roll by reposting every episode in chronological order by subject matter. In this episode, host Nate Wilcox welcomes Ned Sublette, author of "The…
