Imagine a concert where the band has no idea what the frontman will play next. No set list, no planned encore, just requests shouted from the crowd and pulled from a mental library of more than 2,500 songs spanning blues, jazz, rock and roll, country, and Latin music, all played flawlessly on the spot. That was a typical night for Fird Eaglin Jr., the New Orleans guitarist known as Snooks Eaglin and nicknamed the Human Jukebox. This episode explores how a boy who lost his sight to glaucoma shortly after his first birthday used a radio dial to build a borderless musical universe in his mind.

Born around 1936 or 1937, Eaglin got a guitar from his father at five and taught himself by ear, absorbing race records, hillbilly music, jazz, and Latin sounds without ever seeing the segregated packaging that kept them apart. He won a WNOE talent conte ...