# Let It Roll "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. Page: Feed: --- ## Jubilee Singers and Barbershop Quartets Continued the Evolution of African-American Music: Let It Roll From the Beginning...2.4 _2026-08-19_ We'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 discussion of the evolution of American Gospel music with a look at Afro-American music in the late 19th Century. Source materials include ⁠Robert Darden's "People Get Ready!: A New History of Black Gospel Music"⁠ and… [Listen](https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/PAN7754113933.mp3) ## How 19th Century American Music Got Hot: Let It Roll From the Beginning...2.3 _2026-08-17_ We'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 discuss his overlooked classic: “Stomp and Swerve: How American Music Got Hot 1843-1924.” In this episode, David takes Nate way way back into the history of American music, long before the invention of recording, to discuss how… [Listen](https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/PAN3954243206.mp3) ## American Music Developed in the 19th Century NYC Underworld: Let It Roll From the Beginning...2.2 _2026-08-14_ We'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 musical ferment bubbling under the New York demimonde in the 1800s as described in his book "Everybody's Doin' It: Sex, Music, and Dance in New York, 1840-1917". This episode originally dropped in 2022. GO TO THE LET IT ROLL… [Listen](https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/PAN4686987449.mp3) ## My Old Kentucky Home's Century of Myth: Let It Roll From the Beginning...2.1 _2026-08-12_ We'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 Old Kentucky Home: The Astonishing Life and Reckoning of an Iconic American Song." Host Nate Wilcox asks Emily to detail the 150 years of myth-making around Stephen Foster's song. This episode originally dropped in 2022. GO… [Listen](https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/PAN4216781297.mp3) ## Francis Child Collected Ballads and Kicked Off a Craze: Let It Roll From the Beginning...to the End 8 _2026-08-10_ We'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 discussing Dave's book An Evolving Tradition: The Child Ballads in Modern Folk and Rock Music. This episode covers James Francis Child himself, how he came to collect British ballads and how they were published. We also discuss… [Listen](https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/PAN2610703178.mp3) ## 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 _2026-08-07_ We'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 discussion about his book "Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo." Ned and Nate discuss Louis Moreau Gottschalk, the most popular and important 19th Century American composer who connected New Orleans to… [Listen](https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/PAN2834296892.mp3) ## Scott, Pepys, Dickens - The Literary Roots of The Ballads: Let It Roll From the Beginning...to the End 1.10 _2026-08-05_ We'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 discussing Dave's book An Evolving Tradition: The Child Ballads in Modern Folk and Rock Music. This episode covers the very oldest examples of The Child Ballads, with lyrical themes dating back to the ancient Egyptians and… [Listen](https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/PAN4443282551.mp3) ## Beethoven freed music from the tyranny of patronage: Let It Roll From the Beginning...to the End 1.9 _2026-08-03_ We'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 Beethoven: A Phenomenon in One Hundred Pieces." Nate asks Norman about Beethoven's innovative business practices, his conflicts with royalty, his opposition to the sexual mores of imperial Vienna and more. This episode… [Listen](https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/PAN3007530440.mp3) ## In America African Culture Survived as The Spiritual: Let It Roll From the Beginning...to the End 8 _2026-07-31_ We'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 African-American spirituals and Gospel's deep roots in African musical practice. Based on Robert Darden's "People Get Ready!: A New History of Black Gospel Music." Buy the book and support the show. This episode originally… [Listen](https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/PAN5615312237.mp3) ## [Watch Chovy Code Live (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/X0xkGPQlwf9c) _2026-07-31 · **Sponsored**_ Join live coding streams with real-time collaborative screen sharing, open source and free. ## The Subversive Side of Classical Music: Let It Roll From the Beginning...to the End 7 _2026-07-29_ We'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 discussion of his book “Music: A Subversive History.” Nate and Ted talk about the less than perfect realities of the lives of the great composers. From the murderous makers of madrigals to the sometimes sordid antics of J.S.… [Listen](https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/PAN9400156914.mp3)