Air Week: June 17-23, 2019

Red Robin Records

This week, the “Juke In The Back” salutes one of R&B’s greatest unsung labels, Red Robin Records. Bobby Robinson started Robin Records in 1952 as a way to expand the business in his Harlem record store, Bobby Record Shop. He was a natural-born entrepreneur with a keen ear for musical talent and early Robin releases focused on local New York talent ranging from the screaming saxes of Morris Land, Charlie Singleton and Red Prysock to the smooth teen vocal group sound of The Mello-Moods, The Velvets and The Vocaleers. Robinson also recorded the already established Blues titans of Champion Jack Dupree, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Robinson was forced to change the name of Robin Records to the now iconic Red Robin Records, after he was threatened with a lawsuit from a Country Music Label of the same name. Matt The Cat digs through the racks of shellac to pull out the most prime sides from Red Robin Records and load them into your source for 1940s and ’50s Rhythm & Blues, the “Juke In The Back.” 

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