Everyone knows the first rock song was Jackie Brenston's "Rocket 88" (1951). Except that it wasn't.
I'd been listening to a good bit of T-Bone Walker, which led, as these things will, to Goree Carter. I'd never heard of him but there's a good claim that his song "Rock Awhile," which came out two years before Brenston's, was really the first rock song. Take a listen & while you're at it read this terrific piece in Texas Monthly.
Isn't it amazing how much great art there is? Great music, great poetry, great painting—& so much I'm lucky to stumble on.