{"podcast":{"title":"Groundwater: The Blues Beneath American Music","slug":"groundwater-the-blues-beneath-everything-7851197","podcast_index_feed_id":7851197,"rss_url":"https://feeds.transistor.fm/groundwater-the-blues-beneath-everything","website_url":"http://groundwater.fm","image_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/eO2moOimY-Ty6SdnGifeKnx9fb8w63_TaEqswwmGwqw/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS82NTJh/MzU4ZDljNmI5ZmE4/MzUxMThkZjE3ZGE2/MDhlYi5wbmc.jpg","author":"Thomas Stubbs","episode_count":12,"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.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-08T20:18:19.773007+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/groundwater-the-blues-beneath-everything-7851197"},"episode":{"title":"The Blues Professor, Part 1: Piedmont Blues, the Allman Brothers, and Atlanta's Living Scene","slug":"the-blues-professor-part-1-piedmont-blues-the-allman-brothers-and-atlanta-s-living-scene","published_at":"2026-06-23T09:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/groundwater-the-blues-beneath-everything-7851197/the-blues-professor-part-1-piedmont-blues-the-allman-brothers-and-atlanta-s-living-scene","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/groundwater-the-blues-beneath-everything-7851197","url":"https://groundwater.fm/episodes/the-blues-professor-part-1-piedmont-blues-the-allman-brothers-and-atlantas-living-scene","audio_url":"https://op3.dev/e/media.transistor.fm/8ad1f6c1/6d15a4d9.mp3","summary":"Piedmont blues, the Allman Brothers, Lonnie Holley, and the long road the blues took out of West Africa: Thomas Stubbs sits down with Rich Pettit, the man Atlanta knows as the Blues Professor — part one of two. For forty years, Rich has hosted Good Morning Blues on WRFG 89.3, Atlanta's community radio station. He grew up in New Orleans and came to the blues backwards — through classic rock — until he started noticing how many of those songs were covers. Part one is about where the blues comes from and where it went: West Africa and Congo Square, the banjo nobody remembers is African, Atlanta's living blues scene, and the Piedmont players who taught each other on back porches outside Covington — Savannah Weaver, Curly Weaver, Blind Willie McTell, Bar-B-Q Bob, Buddy Moss — before the music climbed the East Coast and rode the rail north. Along the way: Lonnie Holley improvising the blues on a high wire, the night the Dirty Dozen Brass Band rolled in late and blew Michelle Shocked's horn section off the stage, and the $30 loophole that keeps a Grant Park living room packed. Part two, we head to Chicago. Groundwater is the companion podcast to Thomas Stubbs's book Race Records: The Lie That Split American Music — and the Blues That Ran Underneath. More at groundwater.fm. Music Theme — \"Guitar Rag,\" Sylvester Weaver (OKeh, 1923). Public domain. \"Crazy Blues,\" Mamie Smith (OKeh, 1920). Public domain. \"Come On In My Kitchen,\" The Allman Brothers Band, from Shades of Two Worlds (Epic Records, ℗ 1991). Excerpted as commentary under fair use.","meta_description":"Piedmont blues, the Allman Brothers, Lonnie Holley, and the long road the blues took out of West Africa: Thomas Stubbs sits down with Rich Pettit, the man…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1354,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/groundwater-the-blues-beneath-everything-7851197/episodes/the-blues-professor-part-1-piedmont-blues-the-allman-brothers-and-atlanta-s-living-scene/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/groundwater-the-blues-beneath-everything-7851197/the-blues-professor-part-1-piedmont-blues-the-allman-brothers-and-atlanta-s-living-scene.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}