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1927, Kansas City Blues
EP. 1
Kansas City Blues
Jim Jackson's "Kansas City Blues" is believed by some to be the first-ever million-selling record — and the first rock 'n' roll release.
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How Long, How Long Blues & It's Tight Like That
Two more early hits that helped shape the sound of popular music before rock 'n' roll had a name.
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Honky Tonk Train Blues & Pinetop's Boogie Woogie
Two piano-driven classics that helped define the boogie woogie craze and laid the groundwork for the rhythmic drive of rock 'n' roll.
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Runaway Blues & Bumble Bee
Two more essential early recordings that trace the blues roots running straight through the heart of rock 'n' roll.
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Blue Yodel No. 9
Jimmie Rodgers teams up with Louis Armstrong for one of the most unlikely — and electrifying — recordings of the early rock 'n' roll era.
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EP. 1
Kansas City Blues
Jim Jackson's "Kansas City Blues" is believed by some to be the first-ever million-seller as a recorded disc, mainly because so many copies of it survive today. For me, that makes it CLEARLY the first rock 'n' roll release.
Jim Jackson, who wrote "Kansas City Blues," was born in northern Mississippi around 1884.
He died in the 1930s, well before rock 'n' roll had a name.
"Kansas City Blues" was released in 1927, the same year the first-ever Academy Awards were given. So it seems like, between the turn of the century and the Great Depression, people had enough extra time and money to spend on what we now call POP culture.
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