A bluesman in a head-to-toe zebra print tuxedo, singing in a piercing high voice, looks like a novelty act. Then you hear the lyrics. This episode explores how J.B. Lenoir, born March 5, 1929 in Monticello, Mississippi with a given name that was literally just the letters J.B., used visual spectacle as a Trojan horse for razor-sharp social and political commentary. We follow his early years absorbing Blind Lemon Jefferson records from his father, his 1940s apprenticeship in New Orleans alongside Sonny Boy Williamson II and Elmore James, and his 1949 move to Chicago, where Big Bill Broonzy introduced him to a scene that included Muddy Waters and Memphis Minnie.

We dig into his 1954 hit Mama Talk to Your Daughter for Parrot Records, Korea Blues for Chess, and the moment Parrot executives panicked over Eisenhower Blues and forced him to re-rec ...