Searching For The First Rock And Roll Song on Saturday Night New Orleans Radio

Series produced by Jamie Dell'Apa

Caption: That's me, compliments of Andy Kerr
That's me, compliments of Andy Kerr 

Music from that time when rhythm and blues and rock and roll were emerging but hadn't yet become a predictable formula. A time when musicians were listening to and incorporating these exciting emergences into their own style of music. We focus on music that is difficult to categorize. C&W that sounds like rockabilly and rockabilly that sounds like R&B which sounds an awful lot like rock. That's the sweet spot for the music on the show and, sure enough, that's where the New Orleans sound is centered.

To follow us (and see playlists) on facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Saturday-Night-New-Orleans-Radio/625773220767239

What does music sound like when it is taken out of context?

When John Coltrane quits walking the bar for dance patrons or some English kids leave gentle pop music for the blues of the American south, they're following their muse. Breaking out of the formula. The result can be a disaster or miraculous. Dr. Demento plays the disasters. We play the miraculous.

Music from that time when rhythm and blues and rock and roll were emerging but hadn't yet become a predictable formula. A time when musicians were listening to and incorporating these music's exciting emergence into their own style of music. We focus on music that is difficult to categorize. C&W that sounds like rockabilly and rockabilly that sounds like R&B which sounds an awful lot like rock. That's the sweet spot for the music on the show and, sure enough, that's where the New Orleans sound is centered.

Songs are arranged in sets originating from an overall theme and between songs are short interstitial sound clips that sometimes tell a parallel story or a contrasting story or are simply audio cultural artifacts used that frame the music. Hide full description

What does music sound like when it is taken out of context? When John Coltrane quits walking the bar for dance patrons or some English kids leave gentle pop music for the blues of the American south, they're following their muse. Breaking out of the formula. The result can be a disaster or miraculous. Dr. Demento plays the disasters. We play the miraculous. Music from that time when rhythm and blues and rock and roll were emerging but hadn't yet become a predictable formula. A time when musicians were listening to and incorporating these music's exciting emergence into their own style of music. We focus on music that is difficult to categorize. C&W that sounds like rockabilly and rockabilly that sounds like R&B which sounds an awful lot like rock. That's the sweet spot for... Show full description


637 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Caption: Krazy Kats
And finding not the song, but the feeling, the emotion, the state of mind from where the first rock and roll song emerged. It's what we do in publ...

Bought by KFCF FM, KSLU, Prairie Public, KPRG, Delmarva Public Media and more


  • Added: Nov 06, 2023
  • Length: 02:56:58
  • Purchases: 6
Piece image
Songs from the late 1950s / early 1960s about how skinny legged pants making the wearer a cooler, better dancer. Yep, I'm gonna buy my way into bei...

Bought by KFCF FM, WYAP, KPRG, Prairie Public, KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio] and more


  • Added: Oct 30, 2023
  • Length: 02:57:01
  • Purchases: 7
Caption: Orlons
Rock and roll is the great undefined feeling that is foundational to how we define ourselves, the post-WWII generation. Unfortunately, the first r...

Bought by KPRG, WYAP, KFCF FM, KSLU, Prairie Public and more


  • Added: Oct 23, 2023
  • Length: 02:57:01
  • Purchases: 7

  • Added: Oct 16, 2023
  • Length: 02:57:00
  • Purchases: 7
Piece image
All promos require your outro tag line or outro station id: 1. Rickie Lee Jones, "You're listening to Jamie's quest for the first R&R song 2. Ri...

Bought by Prairie Public


  • Added: Oct 09, 2023
  • Length: 01:02
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Polly Possum
Sly Stone's first record at age 14 when he walked in on established vocal harmony group, The Viscaynes, and told them to follow him to success. Al...

Bought by KPRG, WYAP, KFCF FM, KSLU, Prairie Public and more


  • Added: Oct 09, 2023
  • Length: 02:57:00
  • Purchases: 7
Caption: Big Chenier at His Restaurant
A Louisiana music show! but not from the Bayou Lafitte basin (where New Orleans looks up to sea level). Nah, we always do "music you've never hea...

Bought by KFCF FM, WYAP, KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio], WQCS, KPRG and more


  • Added: Oct 03, 2023
  • Length: 02:56:59
  • Purchases: 8
Piece image
After the regular show, the radio muse still beckons. She whispers, "Tickle the aether to fill the darkness and silence. Don't rely on a format, ...

Bought by KFCF FM


  • Added: Sep 28, 2023
  • Length: 02:56:59
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Sammy Masters and Jimmy Bryant
No seatbelts, air bags, safety glass, padded dashboards, etc. of the bad old days and we get dead teenager song lyrics. Oh also songs about wine a...

Bought by KSLU, KFCF FM, KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio], WQCS, KPRG and more


  • Added: Sep 26, 2023
  • Length: 02:57:00
  • Purchases: 8
Caption: George Martin Along With The Beatles.  Producer For The Beatles.  As "Ray Cathode," Martin Created a 45 rpm Record of "Electronic Music" in the Early 1960s
We won't find the first rock and roll record but in the search we will find the roots of our post WWII generation's musical sensibilities.

Bought by KFCF FM, KPRG, Prairie Public, KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio], Delmarva Public Media and more


  • Added: Sep 20, 2023
  • Length: 02:57:01
  • Purchases: 7

  • Added: Sep 13, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Clinger Sisters
Music from the post WWII era when a fundamental world-wide musical change was recorded under the undefined phrase, "rock and roll." We search fo...

Bought by KFCF FM, Prairie Public, Delmarva Public Media, KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio], KSLU and more


  • Added: Sep 12, 2023
  • Length: 02:57:00
  • Purchases: 6
Caption: My Father
The swirls of the radio muse continue to enchant after the highly planned regular three hour radio show. Turn over the aether to the unfeeling rob...

Bought by WYAP


  • Added: Sep 05, 2023
  • Length: 01:21:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Missfits
Late night radio. Daytime distractions are smothered under darkness and silence. Our minds focus on our most important matters. Our deepest buri...

Bought by KPRG, KFCF FM, Prairie Public, KSLU, Delmarva Public Media and more


  • Added: Sep 04, 2023
  • Length: 02:57:00
  • Purchases: 7
Caption: Jaime Brockett LP
Songs and sentiments from where the long sedimentary history of Great Plains of barren flatness were ripped open by an newer era's upthrust of the ...

Bought by Delmarva Public Media


  • Added: Aug 29, 2023
  • Length: 01:22:03
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: The Liverbirds
Finding the first rock and roll record mean searching the music library of songs before rock and roll was popular. Back before it was even commerc...

Bought by KFCF FM, KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio], Prairie Public, Delmarva Public Media, WQCS and more


  • Added: Aug 28, 2023
  • Length: 02:57:00
  • Purchases: 7
Caption: Nason putting his father's ashes in The Mississippi River after the Krewe Of St. Anne parade on Mardi Gras Day.  A few years later, Nason's ashes followed Nason's steps in the paraded and into the river.
Free form radio in the middle of the night where the surrounding darkness uncovers music and stories about ourselves. Tonight, music of youthful ...

Bought by WPVM 103.7


  • Added: Aug 28, 2023
  • Length: 01:58:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Fabulous Combo Kings
Two generations of experts and they still haven't found the first rock and roll song. The structure of their inquiry is generating too many "first...

Bought by WPVM 103.7, KPRG, KFCF FM, Delmarva Public Media, WQCS and more


  • Added: Aug 21, 2023
  • Length: 02:57:00
  • Purchases: 9
Caption: Van Morrison
It is 3am on Sunday morning. I've finished my formal show but the radio muse still whispers for more. It's free form radio. Unplanned, improvisa...

Bought by KFCF FM, KPRG, Prairie Public, and Delmarva Public Media


  • Added: Aug 17, 2023
  • Length: 58:53
  • Purchases: 4
Caption: Slim Lay
To be first to create new art means you must start as unpopular so that is where we search for the first rock and roll song; in all the music you'v...

Bought by KFCF FM, KPRG, KSLU, KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio], Prairie Public and more


  • Added: Aug 15, 2023
  • Length: 02:57:00
  • Purchases: 7