The Underground River, Part 1: Blind Willie McTell, the Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin

Podcast: Groundwater: The Blues Beneath American Music · Thomas Stubbs

Opublikowano: 2026-10-26

Atlanta, November 5, 1940. In a room at the Robert Fulton Hotel, John Lomax of the Library of Congress asks a blind street singer named Willie McTell whether he knows any complaining songs about hard times for colored people in the South. McTell, who wrote "Statesboro Blues," tells him he doesn't know any. You hear the exchange. This is the first of two episodes about where the blues went when the record industry's shelves stopped selling it, and who got paid when it came back up. The parking lot: McTell playing for tips outside the Pig 'n Wh...