Tune into an epic music history project

Andrew Hickey, a reclusive English writer and researcher, is on an extraordinary podcast odyssey that traces the history of rock music as gospel turns into R. & B. into rockabilly into rock and roll and its aftermath, one song and one very intricately told story at a time.

He started in 2018 with "Flying Home" by the Benny Goodman Sextet (1939). The latest episode, from this past March, is the second of two on The Who's "Pinball Wizard" (1969). It's song #183. He's said that the 500th song will be from 1999. There's so much ahead of him and I hope he gets there.

Over time, Hickey's research has deepened and widened significantly and the episodes have grown longer as the overall story expands in scope. Hickey has health issues that sometimes slow his progress but he's open with his listeners and Patreon backers about these struggles and his process as a whole, which adds an interesting dramatic dimension to the endeavor.

This is an incredible undertaking and deserves the support of those of us interested in popular music which is, I would imagine, most. But as Hickey himself says at the end of every episode, "tell just one person that you liked this podcast. Word of mouth, more than any other form of promotion, is how creative works get noticed and sustain themselves. Thank you very much for listening."