Searching For The First Rock And Roll Song (Auto Download Version)

Series produced by Jamie Dell'Apa

Series image
Image by: Regular Listener, J.T. Lindross, From Finland 

FOR MANUAL DOWNLOADS GO TO "SEARCHING FOR THE FIRST ROCK AND ROLL SONG (MANUAL DOWNLOADS)" at:
https://exchange.prx.org/series/48434-searching-for-the-first-rock-and-roll-song-manual

We, the rock and roll generation, have never found our self-defining first rock and roll song. Host Jamie Dell'Apa presents music and musicians you've never heard from the small regional record companies who pioneered rock and roll. Songs that could have been the first rock and roll song. Songs that fill the gap in understanding where we came from and who we are.

Searching For The First Rock and Roll Song features records coveted by collectors from the era when rock and roll was emerging but hadn't yet settled on a definition of itself. Music from before rock and roll was domesticated into a commercial music industry. When country and western sounded like swing, pop music sounded like rockabilly, rockabilly sounded like rhythm and blues, and doo wop sounded like girl groups and all those musics sounded an awful lot like what we now call, “rock and roll”.

Not a hits, oldies, or “history of” radio show. it's all the songs that influenced our now-legendary musicians who are regularly featured in all those hits, oldies, and “history of” radio shows.

Hosted by WWOZ in New Orleans for the last 18 years, the show is carried by a dozen stations.

P.S. We never find the first rock and roll song. Just like our journey through life, the search is the joy. Finding the final destination in life or music is something to continually delay until after next week's episode.
Hide full description

Searching For The First Rock and Roll Song features records coveted by collectors from the era when rock and roll was emerging but hadn't yet settled on a definition of itself. Music from before rock and roll was domesticated into a commercial music industry. When country and western sounded like swing, pop music sounded like rockabilly, rockabilly sounded like rhythm and blues, and doo wop sounded like girl groups and all those musics sounded an awful lot like what we now call, “rock and roll”.Not a hits, oldies, or “history of” radio show. it's all the songs that influenced our now-legendary musicians who are regularly featured in all those hits, oldies, and “history of” radio shows. Hosted by WWOZ in New Orleans for the last 18 years, the show is carried by a dozen stations. ... Show full description


303 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Caption: Masked Men and His Agents
Looking for the first rock and roll song in the unexplored corners of the trash cana of Americana. Rooting around in unsung, talking "lyrics" and ...

  • Added: Aug 31, 2024
  • Length: 02:59:00
Caption: The Del-Phis (Martha Reeves and the Vandellas)
Searching for the first rock and roll song means looking before songs and musicians found acceptance and popularity. Before the art could be a com...

  • Added: Aug 20, 2024
  • Length: 02:59:00
Caption: Rudy Preston
Before rock and roll was dollars, it was mere cents so a song featuring a car noise meant the studio wouldn't buy a $1 special effects record. "Yo...

  • Added: Aug 18, 2024
  • Length: 02:58:59
Caption: Kathy Lynn and the Playboys (Buffalo, NY)
At the beginning of rock and roll a fad was to add a couple gong strokes and play the black keys on a piano to imitate what Americans thought was a...

  • Added: Aug 18, 2024
  • Length: 02:59:00
Caption: Ada "Cry Baby" Ray
Of all the song lyrics about tears, crying, and laughing; it's a rarity when the singer actually cries or laughs during the song. That's why this ...

  • Added: Aug 18, 2024
  • Length: 02:59:00
Piece image
Adding noises to a song was a phase in music around the beginning of rock and roll. Familiar examples are barking dogs, hot rod car engines, and c...

  • Added: Jul 31, 2024
  • Length: 02:59:00
Caption: One of the first "girl groups" Shirley Gunter and the Queens
Searching for the elusive first rock and roll song means searching where other explorer's lights haven't shined. Tonight it's Jefferson High Scho...

  • Added: Jul 24, 2024
  • Length: 02:59:00
Caption: Velvetones Beetle Walk
Trying to summarize the sound of my almost two decades long show for the new stations previewing the program; this is a show featuring some of my f...

Bought by KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio], Delmarva Public Media, Raven Radio, and KSLU


  • Added: Jul 24, 2024
  • Length: 02:58:59
  • Purchases: 4
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
Piece image
To convert the Rickie Lee Jones promo from my show to a general promo/station ID for your radio station, just edit out my show name and she'll say,...

Bought by KFCF FM and Prairie Public


  • Added: Jul 13, 2022
  • Length: 06:30
  • Purchases: 2
Piece image
1. (Short) Searching for the 1st R&R record on Saturday Night NOLA radio from Saturday 9pm to midnight on KFCF Fresno 2. (Short) Locally o...

Bought by KFCF FM and KFCF FM


  • Added: Sep 24, 2021
  • Length: 02:58:38
  • Purchases: 2
Piece image
Exclusive membership pitching content for KFCF. The regular show for stations other than KFCF is at: https://exchange.prx.org/pieces/369498-210...

Bought by KFCF FM and KFCF FM


  • Added: May 14, 2021
  • Length: 02:58:10
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: I had an couple ideas for promos and station ids for your station
Two 25 second promos for my show without any day or time schedule information. After the outro (which is your station's legal id), you can add (o...

Bought by KPRG, KFCF FM, Prairie Public, and GCR (Global Community Radio)


  • Added: Mar 10, 2021
  • Length: 04:14
  • Purchases: 4

  • Added: Feb 24, 2021
  • Length: :34
  • Purchases: 1
Piece image
Promo and station ids only. This is not a show (although many prefer I shorten my show from 180 minutes to less than one minute).

Bought by KFCF FM


  • Added: Jan 04, 2021
  • Length: :59
  • Purchases: 1
Piece image
Transcripts per station id is printed in the transcript section

Bought by KFCF FM


  • Added: Nov 10, 2020
  • Length: 01:54
  • Purchases: 1
Piece image
Urban musicians often chose country music because it was lucrative. They wore the country music costumes, played the instrumentation, and made the...

  • Added: Oct 21, 2019
  • Length: 02:52:29
Piece image
In music there are hard and fast categories between so many demographic populations all in the service of selling music to a specific population. ...

  • Added: Aug 17, 2019
  • Length: 02:58:08

  • Added: Apr 27, 2019
  • Length: :16