NAMM has launched a new podcast called The Music History Project, which focuses on "the people and products that define our audible experience," from music product innovators and creators to influential music store retailers, performing artists and audio professionals.

The podcast draws from the NAMM Resource Center’s vast archives of around 3,000 interviews, along with new material, to create both thematic and long-format interviews that will cover a wide variety of topics.

The Project will feature a new podcast every two weeks on Thursday, and the first episode tells the story of Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. The two-part series explores the efforts of Sun’s founder Sam Phillips to capture and record the “Memphis sound,” covering artists such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and more.

Interviewees include Sun Records engineer, Matt Ross-Spang; Sun house drummer, J.M. VanEaton; Sun house guitarist, Roland James; drummer, W.S. Holland; lead sheet writer, Vernon Drane; Echoplex inventor, Mike Battle; and artists Sonny Burgess, Carl Mann, Scotty Moore and Ike Turner.

Upcoming podcasts will look at Les Paul and stories from those who worked closely with him; a conversation with two-time Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame-inductee Graham Nash; and ‘The History of the DJ’, which will discuss the birth of turntablism and offer contributions from several pioneering DJs.

“In the last seventeen years, we’ve captured over 3,000 fascinating stories from all parts of the industry,” said Dan Del Fiorentino, NAMM Music Historian. “And the one thing that all the interviews have in common is that they articulate an undeniable passion for music. Through the format of the podcast, we’re able to showcase the stories of these living legends in their entirety and further preserve them for generations to come.”

Listen to the first episode of The Music History Project here.