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" takes you back 70 years to the biggest jukebox hits of 1950 as we feature another Jukebox Rhythm Review. This week, in part ...

Bought by KCSM, KTRT RADIO INC, WHRV, WOUB, KMXT and more


  • Added: Feb 02, 2020
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 6
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The "Juke In The Back" takes you back 70 years to the biggest jukebox hits of 1950 as we feature another Jukebox Rhythm Review. This week, in part ...

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


  • Added: Jan 26, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 7
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 KCSM, WHRV, KTRT RADIO INC, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, WOUB and more


  • Added: Jan 19, 2020
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 6
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 KCSM, KMUW, KTRT RADIO INC, WHRV, WOUB and more


  • Added: Jan 08, 2020
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 7
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The Hollywood Flames recorded for nearly 20 different record labels and had numerous personnel changes over their 18 year history, but they always ...

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


  • Added: Jan 05, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 6
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
Herb Cox, the primary singer and songwriter for the Cleftones passed away on December 7, 2019 at the age of 80. Cox was a founding member of this u...

Bought by KTRT RADIO INC, WHRV, WOUB, KMXT, and Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting


  • Added: Dec 29, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 5
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The "Juke In The Back" presents part 2 of our 2 part vintage Christmas Rhythm & Blues extravaganza that Matt The Cat is calling "Cool Yule." Dig on...

Bought by WHRV, WOUB, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, KSRQ, Royalton Community Radio and more


  • Added: Dec 21, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 6
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The "Juke In The Back" begins a 2 part Holiday Music Extravaganza with a tribute to Santa Claus. This week, we find the "man in red" doing the boog...

Bought by KSRQ, WHRV, WOUB, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, Royalton Community Radio and more


  • Added: Dec 14, 2019
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 7
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
This week, the entire "Juke In The Back" is loaded with records from the catalog of Duke/Peacock Records. Don Robey created one of the great R&B la...

Bought by WHRV, KTRT RADIO INC, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, WOUB, and KMXT


  • Added: Dec 08, 2019
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 5
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
This week, the Juke In The Back celebrates its 500th episode. Matt The Cat marks the milestone with a very special show on one of R&B and Rock n' R...

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


  • Added: Dec 01, 2019
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 6
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The "Juke In The Back" is proud to feature The Channels, one of New York City's finest and most influential vocal groups of the mid-1950s. Earl Lew...

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


  • Added: Nov 24, 2019
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 6
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The ol' Rockola Juke is jumpin'. Drop a nickel in and throw a few back with the “king of R&B drinking songs,” Amos Milburn. We'll hear all about “B...

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


  • Added: Nov 17, 2019
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 6
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
The "Juke In The Back" is loaded this week with records by one of R&B's greatest and most underrated bandleaders, Lucky Millinder. He worked with v...

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


  • Added: Nov 10, 2019
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 6
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
This week, the "Juke In The Back" features a rhythm & blues vocal group from Winston-Salem, NC that not only influenced James Brown, but quite poss...

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


  • Added: Nov 03, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 6
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 Royalton Community Radio, WHRV, WOUB, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, and KMXT


  • Added: Oct 27, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 5
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
This week, the "Juke In The Back" looks at how one of R&B's greatest voices, LaVern Baker, got her start. It's part two of a two part feature on th...

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


  • Added: Oct 20, 2019
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 7
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
This week, th "Juke In The Back" looks at how one of R&B's greatest voices, LaVern Baker, got her start. It's part one of a two part feature on the...

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


  • Added: Oct 13, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 8
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
Drop a nickel in the ol' Rockola Juke to hear one of the best selling and most influential bluesmen and guitarists of all-time, T-Bone Walker. This...

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


  • Added: Oct 06, 2019
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 6
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
Jack Lauderdale started Downbeat Records in 1947, making it one the first Black owned record companies in America. The jazz magazine Downbeat force...

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


  • Added: Sep 29, 2019
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 7
Caption: Juke In The Back with Matt The Cat, Credit: Public Domain
Willie Mae Thornton was a trailblazer, who in making her own rules paved the way for other groundbreaking female artists like Janis Joplin and Mado...

Bought by KAZU Seaside, Calif., KTRT RADIO INC, WHRV, KZUM, WOUB and more


  • Added: Sep 22, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 7