Podcast

Groundwater: The Blues Beneath American Music

Author: Thomas Stubbs
Feed episode count: 12
Official site: http://groundwater.fm
RSS: https://feeds.transistor.fm/groundwater-the-blues-beneath-everything
JSON: /v1/public/podcasts/groundwater-the-blues-beneath-everything-7851197
Markdown: /podcast/groundwater-the-blues-beneath-everything-7851197.md

Summary

In 1927, the record industry split American music in two and sold it to separate audiences. We've believed the split ever since. Groundwater is a music history podcast that follows the current underneath — the blues, running from Congo Square to the South Bronx, from Robert Johnson to Aretha Franklin to hip-hop. Each episode traces a moment the industry tried to keep apart: the soul sessions at Stax and Muscle Shoals that crossed every line; Louis Armstrong working race and commerce from New Orleans to Chicago; the Great Migration carrying Muddy Waters and the Delta sound up the Illinois Central to Memphis, Chicago, and Detroit; and the state's long campaign against the singers who got political, from Billie Holiday to the Dixie Chicks. If you want to understand why American music sounds the way it does, start here and follow the water.

Episodes

Sep 8, 2026 · not_requested

Rooms Where the Walls Came Down Part 1: Sun Studio and Chess Records

Duration seconds: 1151
Source: https://groundwater.fm/s1/8

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Aug 13, 2026 · not_requested

The Moondog: Alan Freed, the Payola Scandal, and the First Rock and Roll Riot

Duration seconds: 1073
Source: https://groundwater.fm/s1/7

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Jul 31, 2026 · not_requested

The Same Music: The Bristol Sessions, Hank Williams, and the Lie That Split Blues from Country

Duration seconds: 1633
Source: https://groundwater.fm/s1/6

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Jul 16, 2026 · not_requested

We Both Speak African: Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and How Jazz Crossed the Atlantic

Duration seconds: 1221
Source: https://groundwater.fm/s1/5

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Jul 2, 2026 · not_requested

The Country's Memory: Jimi Hendrix, Strange Fruit, and American Music at 250

Duration seconds: 934
Source: https://groundwater.fm/episodes/the-countrys-memory-jimi-hendrix-strange-fruit-and-american-music-at-250

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Jun 25, 2026 · not_requested

The Blues Professor, Part 2: Muddy Waters, the Mardi Gras Indians, and Where to Start with the Blues

Duration seconds: 1032
Source: https://groundwater.fm/episodes/the-blues-professor-part-2-muddy-waters-the-mardi-gras-indians-and-where-to-start-with-the-blues

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Jun 23, 2026 · not_requested

The Blues Professor, Part 1: Piedmont Blues, the Allman Brothers, and Atlanta's Living Scene

Duration seconds: 1354
Source: https://groundwater.fm/episodes/the-blues-professor-part-1-piedmont-blues-the-allman-brothers-and-atlantas-living-scene

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Jun 13, 2026 · not_requested

Groundwater Trailer: Why American Music's Genre Labels Are a Lie - A Music History Podcast

Duration seconds: 76
Source: https://groundwater.fm/episodes/trailer-start-at-the-mouth-of-the-river

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Jun 9, 2026 · not_requested

Twelfth Street Station: The Great Migration and How New Orleans Music Reached Chicago

Duration seconds: 820
Source: https://groundwater.fm/s1/4

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May 26, 2026 · not_requested

The Drain: New Orleans Music From Professor Longhair to Katrina

Duration seconds: 1029
Source: https://groundwater.fm/s1/3

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May 7, 2026 · not_requested

Little Louis: Louis Armstrong and the Birth of Jazz

Duration seconds: 933
Source: https://groundwater.fm/s1/2

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May 7, 2026 · not_requested

Below Sea Level: How New Orleans Built American Music

Duration seconds: 985
Source: https://groundwater.fm/s1/1

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