Sound of History

A music history podcast exploring the songs, culture, and stories of people who lived and dreamed 100 years ago.

September Spirituals

Soulful spirituals for the golden days of late September. Slow down, settle in, and let these voices from the past...

Zonophone’s Earliest South and West African Recordings: Sol T. Plaatje, Roland C. Nathaniels and Josiah Ransome-Kuti Before vinyl, before radio...

Songs for long afternoons, open windows, and days in bloom.A sunny summertime playlist of songs from 1906 – 1919. John...

Discover the Joys of Noise: Leo Ornstein, Henry Cowell, and the Birth of Ultra-Modern Music. Long before distortion, industrial music,...

Escapism in the Edwardian Era When life starts speeding up, people don’t just cope – they escape. And in the...

Exploring The Hidden History of Country Music: Before It Had a Name. When most people think about the history of...

The Mystical Origins of Modern Art: Hildegard of Bingen, Georgiana Houghton, Anna Mary Howitt, Hilma af Klint & Emma Kunz....

Haunting Hits For A Strange Season: Songs From 1898 To 1913 An end-of-year playlist featuring dark, weird & catchy songs...

An episode about the history of World Music recording and how the first global sounds were captured The history of...

The Humbert Affair: How a Financial Scandal Sparked Henri Matisse and the Birth of Fauvism The Scandal That Shook Paris...

The History of the synthesizer: From the Musical Telegraph to the Telharmonium When we think of electronic music today, we...

In this episode I explore the birth of the commercial music industry, the creation of pop music, the surprising story...