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.


698 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The "Juke In The Back" with Matt The Cat features Billy "The Kid" Emerson, a talented R&B singer and songwriter who never had a hit record, but his...

Bought by Royalton Community Radio, KTRT RADIO INC, 90.5 WSNC, WHRV, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting and more


  • Added: Mar 04, 2018
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 8
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The Juke In The Back is jumpin' this week with records from the Vita Label and its direct predecessor, Mambo Records. Mambo hit the ground running ...

Bought by Royalton Community Radio, 90.5 WSNC, WHRV, KTRT RADIO INC, WOUB and more


  • Added: Feb 25, 2018
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 8
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The "Juke" continues its feature on Ivory Joe Hunter this week with part 2 of 2. This week's show looks at Hunter's successful run of hits from 195...

Bought by Royalton Community Radio, KTRT RADIO INC, KSRQ, 90.5 WSNC, WHRV and more


  • Added: Feb 18, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 8
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
This week, the "Juke In The Back" spotlights one of the most underrated hit-makers of the 1940s and '50s, Ivory Joe Hunter. Today, most people only...

Bought by WHRV, 90.5 WSNC, KTRT RADIO INC, WOUB, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting and more


  • Added: Feb 10, 2018
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 8
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
Matt The Cat has a thing for record labels and he loves loading the "Juke In The Back" with 78s from one label. This week, we do it again as we fea...

Bought by 90.5 WSNC, KTRT RADIO INC, WHRV, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, WOUB and more


  • Added: Feb 04, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 7
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
This week, the "Juke In The Back" focuses on the great Howlin' Wolf's earliest recordings. Before he became a huge star on Chess Records in Chicago...

Bought by KMUW, Royalton Community Radio, 90.5 WSNC, WHRV, KSRQ and more


  • Added: Jan 28, 2018
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 9
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
Marvin Phillips is one of LA's unsung heroes of 1950s rhythm & blues. He, along with Jesse Belvin popularized R&B duos with their 1952 smash, "Drea...

Bought by Royalton Community Radio, KTRT RADIO INC, 90.5 WSNC, WHRV, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting and more


  • Added: Jan 21, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 8
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The jukebox takes center stages as we travel back 70 years to dig on the hep sounds of 1948. This week, in part 2 of 2, the "Juke In The Back" feat...

Bought by Royalton Community Radio, WHRV, KTRT RADIO INC, WOUB, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting and more


  • Added: Jan 14, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 7
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The jukebox takes center stages as we travel back 70 years to dig on the hep sounds of 1948. This week, in part 1 of 2, the "Juke In The Back" feat...

Bought by Royalton Community Radio, KTRT RADIO INC, WHRV, WOUB, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting and more


  • Added: Jan 07, 2018
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 7
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
"Juke In The Back" kicks off 2018 with a profile of Combo Records, a small, independent Los Angeles record label that only scored one national hit,...

Bought by KISA Digital Studios, Royalton Community Radio, WHRV, 90.5 WSNC, KTRT RADIO INC and more


  • Added: Dec 31, 2017
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 9
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
Matt The Cat has dug up some more R&B Christmas treasures and added a few tunes about New Years for this week’s continuation of the “Juke In The Ba...

Bought by KTRT RADIO INC, Royalton Community Radio, WHRV, KSRQ, and Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting


  • Added: Dec 24, 2017
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 5
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The entire “Juke In The Back” is loaded with the greatest R&B Christmas records from the late 1940s and 1950s. It’s the yuletide soul that came bef...

Bought by WNMU-FM, 90.5 WSNC, KSRQ, WOUB, Royalton Community Radio and more


  • Added: Dec 16, 2017
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 7
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
Much has been said about Ike Turner's personal life, but not enough has been said about his musical legacy. This week's "Juke In The Back" looks at...

Bought by KISA Digital Studios, WHRV, 90.5 WSNC, KSRQ, KTRT RADIO INC and more


  • Added: Dec 10, 2017
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 8
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
This week, "Juke In The Back" highlights the short career of one of R&B's greatest talents: JOHNNY ACE. His great records usually get overshadowed ...

Bought by KISA Digital Studios, Royalton Community Radio, KTRT RADIO INC, WHRV, WOUB and more


  • Added: Dec 03, 2017
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 8
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
Even though The Cardinals only scored 3 R&B hits, they are remembered as one of the most important vocal groups of the 1950s. This week, Matt The C...

Bought by Royalton Community Radio, KTRT RADIO INC, 90.5 WSNC, WHRV, WOUB and more


  • Added: Nov 26, 2017
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 8
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
"Juke In The Back" features one of early R&B's greatest blues shouters, Roy Brown. From his early hits for the DeLuxe Label in the late 1940s to hi...

Bought by Royalton Community Radio, KTRT RADIO INC, 90.5 WSNC, WHRV, WOUB and more


  • Added: Nov 19, 2017
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 7
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
Today Harry "Little" Caesar is best remembered as an actor from movies and TV and the voice behind 1952's "Goodbye Baby," one of the strangest R&B ...

Bought by 90.5 WSNC, KTRT RADIO INC, WOUB, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, KSRQ and more


  • Added: Nov 12, 2017
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 7
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The “Juke In The Back” is proud to feature Fats Domino, who passed away on October 24th at the age of 89. He was one of the most influential and po...

Bought by KCSM, 90.5 WSNC, WHRV, KTRT RADIO INC, WOUB and more


  • Added: Nov 05, 2017
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 8
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The “Juke In The Back” is proud to feature Fats Domino, who passed away on October 24th at the age of 89. He was one of the most influential and po...

Bought by KCSM, KTRT RADIO INC, Royalton Community Radio, WHRV, 90.5 WSNC and more


  • Added: Oct 29, 2017
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 9
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
Matt The Cat celebrates Halloween with the scariest, spookiest and most sinister vintage rhythm & blues records ever made! It's the disembodied "so...

Bought by WNMU-FM, WNMU-FM, WNMU-FM, WNMU-FM, Royalton Community Radio and more


  • Added: Oct 22, 2017
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 11