Air Week: March 11-17, 2019

Big Joe Turner, Pt. 2 – 1951-56

This week, we continue our salute to the great blues shouter, Big Joe Turner with part 2 of 2. The show opens in 1951, with Turner’s first recording session for his new label, Atlantic and continues through to his cross-over pop success in 1956. This is the most successful stretch in Joe Turner’s long recording career. He would score 19 R&B hits during the 1950s and only 1 of them would ever touch the pop top 50. Matt The Cat talks to the late Ahmet Ertegun about signing Turner to Atlantic and James Austin talks to the late Joe Turner about signing with that great label. Joe Turner’s records almost single-handedly invented rock n’ roll, so don’t miss this great tribute to one of America’s true blues treasures.

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