Let It Roll

Roy Acuff, Bob Wills, Gene Autry & Woody Guthrie Lead Country Music Through Hard Times: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 5.4

When 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 own

Introducing Before The Moment with Nile Rodgers

Pantheon Media CEO Christian Swain invites you to check out the Before The Moment podcast. Legendary Producer Nile Rodgers sits down with artists to explore the decisions

Bob Wills & Western Swing: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 5.3

Bob 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 neve

Mambo hit New York hard in the 1930s, 40s and 50s: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 5.2

Host 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 tha

Milton Brown Mentored Bob Wills and Invented Western Swing: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 5.1

Milton 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 ha

Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Frank Sinatra and the Swing Era: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.12

Host 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

Robert Johnson Revised: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.11

Host 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

Robert Johnson: Escaping the Delta: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.10

Host 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 retur

Devil at the Confluence: The Pre-War Blues of St. Louis: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.9

Host 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 con

Chick Webb's Big Beat Style of Swing Led Directly to Rock 'n' Roll: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.8

Host 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 ret

Swing King Chick Webb Brought Ella Fitzgerald to the World: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.7

Host 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 conv

Introducing Before The Moment with Nile Rodgers

Pantheon Media CEO Christian Swain invites you to check out the Before The Moment podcast. Legendary Producer Nile Rodgers sits down with artists to explore the decisions

How Kansas City Vice Birthed Kansas City Jazz: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.6

Host 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 a

Alan Lomax, Pete Seeger, Josh White & Jean Ritchie and the first Folk Revival: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.5

Host 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 an

Introducing Before The Moment with Nile Rodgers

Pantheon Media CEO Christian Swain invites you to check out the Before The Moment podcast. Legendary Producer Nile Rodgers sits down with artists to explore the decisions

Rhythm & Blues from Bessie Smith to Louis Jordan: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.4

Host 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 conversat

Ted Gioia Talks the Songs Jazz is Built On: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.3

Host 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 pa

Record Men From Thomas Edison to John Hammond & Chris Blackwell: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.2

Gareth 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, w

Bing Crosby's Swing Brought Him Superstardom: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 4.1

GO TO THE LET IT ROLL SUBSTACK TO HEAR THE FULL EPISODE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -- The final 15 minutes o

The Jazz Age of Pop From the ODJB to Bing Crosby: Let It Roll From the Beginning... 3.12

Host 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 recorde