Juke In The Back With Matt The Cat

Series produced by Matt "The Cat" Baldassarri

Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
Image by: Public Domain 
Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat 

Matt The Cat presents the soul that came before rock n' roll: 1950s rhythm and blues. Each week, this underrated and rollicking music plays on that old Rockola Jukebox in the back.

If you wanted to hear rhythm & blues during the 1950s, you couldn't get it from the juke box in the front. No, no! In order to hear that glorious, down and dirty R&B, you had to go to the low-lit, spit-shined "Juke In The Back." These songs are the building blocks of rock n' roll. These are the records that inspired Elvis and single-handedly led to the rock n' roll explosion of the mid-1950s. Big Joe Turner, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Ruth Brown, Ray Charles, Wynonie Harris, LaVern Baker, Roy Brown, Joe Liggins, Professor Longhair and many more take center stage on The Juke In The Back. Matt The Cat hosted a similar program on XM Satellite Radio called "Harlem" and now he brings this great music and information to PRX.


711 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
Clyde McPhatter had one of the sweetest and most powerful tenor voices in all of Rhythm & Blues and early Rock n' Roll. This week, Matt The Cat foc...

Bought by Royalton Community Radio, KJZX-Austin, WHRV, KIOS-FM Omaha Public Radio, WOUB and more


  • Added: Jul 21, 2024
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 8
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The Drifters would become the most successful vocal group in history, charting hit after hit for over 20 years, with no less than a dozen different...

Bought by KJZX-Austin, Royalton Community Radio, WOUB, KCSM, WHRV and more


  • Added: Jul 14, 2024
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 8
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
Tommy Brown is one of the unsung blues shouters of the Rhythm & Blues Era. His only two charting records were done with the Griffin Brothers on Dot...

Bought by KTRT RADIO INC, KJZX-Austin, KSRQ, KIOS-FM Omaha Public Radio, WHRV and more


  • Added: Jul 07, 2024
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 8
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
What’s more American than celebrating America’s birthday with some good ol’ red, white and Rhythm & Blues about THE Fourth of July staple: food? Di...

Bought by Royalton Community Radio, KJZX-Austin, WHRV, WOUB, KIOS-FM Omaha Public Radio and more


  • Added: Jun 30, 2024
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 8
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
This week, The "Juke In The Back" features the songs of one of R&B's greatest songwriters: Rudy Toombs. This underrated cat wrote some of the most ...

Bought by Royalton Community Radio, KJZX-Austin, WHRV, WOUB, KMXT and more


  • Added: Jun 23, 2024
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 9
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
This week, the "Juke" is jumpin' with the honey jumper himself, Oscar McLollie. Record mogul Leon Rene and his son, Googie Rene wrote tunes for the...

Bought by Royalton Community Radio, KCSM, KJZX-Austin, WOUB, WUTC and more


  • Added: Jun 16, 2024
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 9
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
Memphis Slim dubbed himself the "Ambassador Of The Blues" and for good reason. He spread the gospel of America's music around the world during his ...

Bought by WNMU-FM, KCSM, Royalton Community Radio, KJZX-Austin, WOUB and more


  • Added: Jun 09, 2024
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 10
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The "Juke In The Back" continues a 3 show look at The Midnighters, one of early R&B's most successful groups. In part 3, the "Annie" songs take the...

Bought by KJZX-Austin, Royalton Community Radio, KCSM, WHRV, KIOS-FM Omaha Public Radio and more


  • Added: Jun 02, 2024
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 7
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
This week, the "Juke In The Back" continues a 3 show look at The Midnighters, one of early R&B's most successful groups. As 1954 begins, Charles Su...

Bought by Royalton Community Radio, KJZX-Austin, KIOS-FM Omaha Public Radio, WHRV, WUTC and more


  • Added: May 26, 2024
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 9
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
This week, the "Juke In The Back" begins a 3 show look at The Midnighters, one of early R&B's most successful groups. Before they topped the R&B ch...

Bought by WHRV, KJZX-Austin, Royalton Community Radio, KCSM, WOUB and more


  • Added: May 19, 2024
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 9
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The "Juke In The Back" spotlights a true blues legend, Lowell Fulson. From his 1948 breakthrough, "Three O'Clock Blues" to his 1954 legendary smash...

Bought by WNMU-FM, KJZX-Austin, Royalton Community Radio, KCSM, WHRV and more


  • Added: May 12, 2024
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 9
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
"Juke In The Back" is proud to dedicate an entire show to Jesse Belvin, one of greatest talents to come out of LA in the 1950s. After meeting Marvi...

Bought by KCSM, Royalton Community Radio, KJZX-Austin, WHRV, WOUB and more


  • Added: May 05, 2024
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 9
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
Elmore James never tried to have crossover success. He was a bluesman through and through; an ambassador of the Mississippi Delta Blues with a mode...

Bought by Royalton Community Radio, KJZX-Austin, WHRV, RadioFreePalmer, WOUB and more


  • Added: Apr 28, 2024
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 8
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
Like Columbia and Decca, RCA Victor released some stellar Rhythm & Blues during the late 1940s into the early 1950s, before the label signed Elvis ...

Bought by Royalton Community Radio, WHRV, KJZX-Austin, WOUB, KIOS-FM Omaha Public Radio and more


  • Added: Apr 21, 2024
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 9
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
In late 1953, RCA Victor launched a new subsidiary to focus on the Rhythm & Blues market, called Groove Records. It's hard to imagine, but Piano Re...

Bought by WHRV, Royalton Community Radio, KJZX-Austin, KCSM, WOUB and more


  • Added: Apr 14, 2024
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 9
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The "Juke In The Back" pays tribute to the great R&B vocalist, Lil Greenwood. You'll hear her greatest early recordings from 1950-1954, before she ...

Bought by Royalton Community Radio, KCSM, KJZX-Austin, WHRV, WOUB and more


  • Added: Apr 07, 2024
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 9
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
Some songwriters and singers just know how to tap into deepest regions of sadness, passion and truth. Such is the musical prowess of Percy Mayfield...

Bought by Royalton Community Radio, KJZX-Austin, WHRV, WOUB, KIOS-FM Omaha Public Radio and more


  • Added: Mar 31, 2024
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 7
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
Eddie Jones grew up in Hollandale, MS, pickin' cotton and dreaming of a better life when ambition and musical talent plucked him from his situation...

Bought by Royalton Community Radio, KJZX-Austin, WHRV, KCSM, WOUB and more


  • Added: Mar 24, 2024
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 9
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
This week, Matt The Cat looks at one of the greatest Doo Wop groups, The Cleftones, through an archival interview with the late Herbie Cox. Cox was...

Bought by KJZX-Austin, Royalton Community Radio, KCSM, WHRV, WOUB and more


  • Added: Mar 17, 2024
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 9
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
This week, we honor the "Prince Of Vout," Mr. McVouty himself, Slim Gaillard. He was a one-of-a-kind-o-reenee as he spoke 7 languages including his...

Bought by KJZX-Austin, Royalton Community Radio, WHRV, KCSM, KIOS-FM Omaha Public Radio and more


  • Added: Mar 10, 2024
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 9