{"podcast":{"title":"American Songcatcher","slug":"american-songcatcher-688699","podcast_index_feed_id":688699,"rss_url":"https://rss.libsyn.com/shows/597330/destinations/5194670.xml","website_url":"http://www.americansongcatcher.com","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/2/a/3/8/2a38672ff32e18e2d959afa2a1bf1c87/AS-20251023-n6dhvh57fq.png","author":"Nicholas Edward Williams","episode_count":53,"summary":"Tracing the roots of American music from its cultured past to artists playing it forward, folk musician, musicologist and host Nicholas Edward Williams takes listeners on a unique documentary-style podcast experience. Dive into the stories of centuries-old Traditional songs and migrants who carried their musical heritage here, and uncover the lives of pioneers and integral musicians who created and shaped styles such as Bluegrass, Ragtime, Jazz and Swing, Country, Gospel, Blues, Old-Time, and the Folk music that's derived from it all. Here's to the songs of old, may they live on forever.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-10T08:21:59.502875+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/american-songcatcher-688699"},"episode":{"title":"S3:E6 // Sam Cooke","slug":"s3-e6-sam-cooke","published_at":"2024-07-24T09:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/american-songcatcher-688699/s3-e6-sam-cooke","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/american-songcatcher-688699","url":"https://a1526ccb-749b-4804-ba7b-a9ed7525149e.libsyn.com/s3e6-sam-cooke","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/a1526ccb-749b-4804-ba7b-a9ed7525149e/68bad4eb-dea6-257c-3883-85f5e49aa65b.mp3?dest-id=5194670","summary":"Today on the program, we present the story behind the Father of Soul, Sam Cooke. Growing up in the church, Sam knew he wanted to be a singer by the time he was five years old. There was a magnetic and infectious quality to this young Gospel singer, and he knew he was destined for bigger things than singing sacred music. The risk he took in becoming a pop singer was massive, but it produced the first records of what is now known as Soul music. Sam also was a pioneer when it came to being savvy about the music business, owning his own publishing company, negotiating contracts, and creating a container to nurture up and coming soul singers. At the height of the civil rights movement, and the pinnacle of his career, Sam's life was cut short. Here is his story. __ Support Educational Programming: ⁠Tax-Exempt Donations⁠ Join the ⁠ Patreon Community⁠ One-time donations: ⁠ Venmo⁠ or ⁠ PayPal⁠ Follow American Songcatcher ⁠ on ⁠Instagram⁠ Credits: Jonah Nordeen - Research, Writing Teddy Chipouras - Editing Nicholas Edward Williams - Production, Editing, Recording and Distribution References: Campbell, L. E. (2013, February 16). Jesus Gave Me Water . Archive. Today. DeCurtis, A., Henke, J., & George-Warren, H. (Eds.). (1992). The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll: The definitive history of the most important artists and their music (3rd ed). Random House. Guralnick, P. (2005). Dream boogie: The triumph of Sam Cooke (1st ed). Little, Brown. James, E., & Ritz, D. (2003). Rage to survive: The Etta James story (2. ed). Da Capo. Ritz, D. (2022). Sam Cooke. In Encyclopedia Britannica . Robinson, L. (1964, December 31). Tragedy-Filled Life of Singer Sam Cooke. Jet , XXVII (13), 56–65. Runtagh, J. (2021, January 21). Why Mystery Still Shrouds Singer Sam Cooke's Shooting De…","meta_description":"Today on the program, we present the story behind the Father of Soul, Sam Cooke. Growing up in the church, Sam knew he wanted to be a singer by the time h…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2063,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/american-songcatcher-688699/episodes/s3-e6-sam-cooke/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/american-songcatcher-688699/s3-e6-sam-cooke.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}