When the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame set out to record the oral history of the early pioneers of rock music, they came directly to New Orleans.

As reported by Andy Greene in Rolling Stone this week, the Hall of Fame’s oral history project began in 2011 with a gathering of Fats Domino, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Chuck Berry in New Orleans.

No fan of Domino’s should be surprised to find out that it was easier to bring the other three titans of American music to New Orleans than it would have been to get Domino to leave his hometown.

It’s astounding that all four performers have deep ties to New Orleans and Louisiana, connections that often intersect at recording studios owned by Cosimo Matassa.

The Rolling Stone article reports that the oral history project had been kept under wraps until recently, but an emphasis was placed on starting at the beginning with the early pioneers in order to get their stories down before they passed away.

There’s no mention of an interview with Matassa himself before he passed or with the recently departed B.B. King, and Domino’s right hand man Dave Bartholomew was also not listed among the interview subjects.

Other names from the New Orleans music cannon immediately come to mind as potential oral history candidates, from Bartholomew to Allen Toussaint to Dr. John, Huey “Piano” Smith, and Frankie Ford, to name a few.

Who else should the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame come to New Orleans to interview for their oral history project?