Air Week: September 15-21, 2025

Atlantic Records was the most influential, significant and important independent record label to come out of the late-1940s, during a time when there were many great, small indie labels being born. What gave Atlantic the advantage over Specialty, Chess, Modern, Vee-Jay, Exclusive, King, etc is the breadth of material, variety of music styles and the sheer number of hit records that led to the Rock n’ Roll explosion of the mid-1950s. Matt The Cat and the “Juke In The Back” present this behemoth, 14 part series celebrating the first 10 years of Atlantic’s existence: 1947-57. This week in part nine, we’ll focus on 1955, one of the biggest years in Atlantic’s storied history. Ruth Brown, Joe Turner and LaVern Baker continue to score solid hits, but the real story of 1955 is Ray Charles. He has two #1 records this year with “I’ve Got A Woman,” heard at the end of last week’s program and “A Fool For You,” which topped the charts in early August. Brotha Ray was knocked out of the top spot by Chuck Berry’s “Maybellene.” We’ll also hear some important vocal group records from The Clovers, The Cardinals and The Regals. So buckle in and prepare yourself for an in-depth, 14 part look at the history of Atlantic Records, which could also be described as a look at the history of American Music itself.

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