In the early 1950s, dropping a coin in a jukebox often meant hearing Amos Milburn, the rhythm and blues pioneer whose rowdy anthems about whiskey, vodka and partying until dawn made him the ultimate avatar of a good time. Yet the man behind Bad Bad Whiskey and One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer did not struggle with alcohol at all. This episode unpacks that contradiction and what it reveals about how early R&B personas were engineered. Born in Houston, Texas in 1927, one of 13 children, Milburn was picking out tunes on the piano by age five, enlisted in the U.S. Navy at 15 during World War II, and came home to lead a 16-piece band before a mysterious woman arranged his 1946 recording session with Aladdin Records in Los Angeles.

We trace how Milburn set aside sophisticated jazz for the driving, eight-to-the-bar left-hand piano of jump blu ...