1950-1959

All Let It Roll episodes covering the music of the 1950s.

Let It Roll Originals

• The Complicated Legacy of Chuck Berry, the Inventor of Rock

• Sun Records Presided Over the Dawn of Rockabilly With Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis

• The Peppermint Lounge Took the Twist to the Top

• Doc Pomus Wrote Classic Songs for Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, The Drifters, Dion & the Belmonts and Many More

• Pop Had An Entirely Different Meaning Before 1955

• BB King's Beginnings in Memphis & the Mississippi Delta

• The Outlaw Country of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings was the Second Wave of Progressive Country to Come out of Austin

• The Secrets Behind Elvis Presley's Relationship with Col. Tom Parker

• Etta James Was a First Wave Rock N Roller and Later Led Chess Records’ Soul Music Charge

• The A Team Created The Nashville Sound Behind Stars Like George Jones, Patsy Cline, Roy Orbison and Bob Dylan

• How Jazz and Rock and Roll Came to Be Seen As Completely Separate Genres

• Frank Sinatra Ruled Post-War America, Until He Didn't

• Solving the Mysteries Behind Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel”

• Ray Charles Combined R&B with Gospel to Invent Soul Music

• How The Memphis That Spawned Elvis & Stax Also Birthed The Box Tops & Big Star

• How Jerry Lee Lewis, Howlin' Wolf, & Col. Tom Parker Helped Peter Guralnick Get Lost

• Chess Records Brought Chicago Blues, Rock & Roll and Soul to The World

• Lieber & Stoller Wrote Songs, Produced Records And Helped Create Rock & Roll

• How Elvis Presley Rose To The Top

• The Tragic Legend of Little Willie John

• Screamin’ Jay Hawkins Put a Spell On the Music Biz

• Writing the Life Stories of Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin

• James Brown Hits The One

• Dewey Phillips, Elvis Presley, Otis Redding and Memphis music

• Frank Sinatra, Mitch Miller and the Great American Song

• The Weavers: Folk Music vs the Black List

• Jerry Lee Lewis Starts His Come Back at the Star Club

• Willie Nelson's Honky Tonk Wilderness Years

• Chasing the Blues Legends John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, & Hubert Sumlin

Let It Roll Nightmares

• Little Willie John's dreams turned to nightmares

3 Kings of American Pop

• The Making of Elvis Presley

• Frank Sinatra, the Chicago Outfit and the President of the USA

CountryRoll

• Countryroll 4: Johnny Cash and the Rockabilly Revolution Were Answered by Patsy Cline and the Nashville Sound

• Countryroll 3: Hank Williams, Eddy Arnold, Lefty Frizzell and Kitty Wells Lead a Post-War Country Music Boom

We Dig Mike Judge’s Tales from the Tour Bus

• Waylon Jennings

• George Jones & Tammy Wynette

• Jerry Lee Lewis

Ed Ward’s “History of Rock and Roll”

• 1959 Death and Soul

• 1958 The Year the Music Didn't Quite Die

• 1957 The Miracle Year of Rock & Roll

• 1956 Rock & Roll in Full Flower

• 1955 Rock and Roll is Born....Maybe

• 1953-1954 Rock, Meet Roll

• The Early 1950s and Good Rockin Tonight