In the mid-1950s a young Elvis Presley made a point of watching Nappy Brown perform whenever he played the clubs in Memphis. Born in October 1929 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and raised by Fred and Maggie Culp after his mother's death, Brown learned to sing in the Gethsemane AME Zion Church, then carried that congregation-moving power, wide vibrato and heavy melisma into a 1954 Savoy Records contract. Don't Be Angry, Pitter Patter, Little by Little and The Right Time followed, along with slots on the big rock and roll package tours of the era.

This episode also confronts the 14-year gap when the industry that profited from his innovations stopped recording him, the European revival and Muddy Waters guitarist Bob Margolin that brought him back with a 1983 Scandinavian tour and the 1984 album Tore Up, and a final act that included the Blind  ...