Ed Ward

The legendary guitarist, songwriter and singer died Saturday at the age of 90. Rock historian Ed Ward looks back on Berry's music and career. Originally broadcast in May 2008.

It's been 40 years since The Ramones released their self-titled first album. Rock historian Ed Ward remembers the debut as a confrontational and divisive record with a "cartoonish overlay."

Rock historian Ed Ward remembers Jamaican singer Desmond Dekker, who died last week at the age of 64. His 1969 hit "Israelites" was for many Americans the first reggae they'd ever heard.

Carter's influence on pop and soul predates his best-known hit, "Patches," and is still felt today. Rock historian Ed Ward revisits the early career and the lasting impact of the expert songwriter.

Singer Conley had a number of hits before disappearing in the '70s, a few years after his mentor Redding died in a plane crash. So where did he go? To Europe, where he changed his name.

Bakersfield, Calif., has become famous for its own brand of country music, with such stars as Merle Haggard and Buck Owens given credit for putting the town on the musical map. But they evolved through a music scene that was wild and wide-open during the 1950s and '60s, and Fresh Air's Ed Ward has the story.

Huey Meaux wound up in jail twice, but he sure had a knack for finding talent in unlikely places.

In 1958, Lewis suffered a precipitous decline in popularity when people learned that his new wife was not only 13, but also his cousin. Nobody would touch his records. Then, in 1963, he signed a deal with Smash and it looked like things were getting better.

Before he became the guitarist for ZZ Top, Billy Gibbons was in a band called the Moving Sidewalks that just missed its shot at stardom. The album the Moving Sidewalks never released in the late 1960s was released in late 2012 and is very much a period piece, albeit a very well-made one.

Franklin found her voice in songs such as "I Never Loved a Man" for Atlantic Records in the 1960s. Before Atlantic, however, Franklin recorded for Columbia, and in those early recordings you can hear the legend just beginning to emerge.