Air Week: August 9-15, 2021 Arthur Lee Maye & The Crowns Arthur Lee Maye did something that few had ever done. He concurrently had a career as a R&B singer, leading the LA-based group Arthur Lee Maye & The Crowns while also playing minor and major league baseball as an outfielder for the Milwaukee Braves. […]

Air Week: August 2-8, 2021 R.I.P. Willie Winfield of The Harptones On July 27th, we lost the amazing, soaring tenor of The Harptones’ Willie Winfield. The Harptones never had a national hit record, yet they are arguably the finest vocal group to come out of New York City during the 1950s. Winfield’s recognizable vocal style […]

Air Week: July 26-August 1, 2021 The (original R&B) Diamonds The “Juke In The Back” takes a look at one of New York’s greatest, but almost unheard of R&B vocal groups: The Diamonds.  They only got 3 singles released by Atlantic Records during 1952 and ’53 and would fade into history by 1955, but their […]

Air Week: July 19-25, 2021 Chuck Berry, Part 3 – 1958 Chuck Berry has been called the “Father of Rock n’ Roll” and with good reason. He took the blues of T-Bone Walker and B.B. King, the guitar riffs of Carl Hogan and mixed it with the fiddle and Western Swing music of Bob Wills […]

Air Week: July 12-18, 2021 Chuck Berry, Pt. 2 – 1956-57 Chuck Berry has been called the “Father of Rock n’ Roll” and with good reason. He took the blues of T-Bone Walker and B.B. King, the guitar riffs of Carl Hogan and mixed it with the fiddle and Western Swing music of Bob Wills […]

Air Week: July 5-11, 2021 Chuck Berry, Pt. 1 – 1955-56 Chuck Berry has been called the “Father of Rock n’ Roll” and with good reason. He took the blues of T-Bone Walker and B.B. King, the guitar riffs of Carl Hogan and mixed it with the fiddle and Western Swing music of Bob Wills […]

Air Week: June 28-July 4, 2021 Summertime R&B: 4th of July, Food & Baseball Songs The Juke In The Back jumps into summer by spotlighting THE summertime holiday, the 4th of July. We’re diggin’ the 4th in song, ranging from songs about summertime by Sam Cooke, Chuck Berry and The Basin Street Boys to songs […]

Air Week: June 21-27, 2021 The Swallows The Swallows were one of the most underrated R&B vocal groups of the early 1950s. Hailing from Baltimore, they only scored 2 top 10 R&B hits during their 3 year stint with King Records, but collectors and aficionados know their catalog inside and out. The Swallows’ original lead […]

Air Date: June 14-20, 2021 The Story of Deacon Jones & Fanny Brown This week, we take a look at two of the most famous “characters” from 1940s and ’50s R&B: Deacon Jones and Fanny Brown. Sometimes these two were referenced in the same song, as in “Good Rockin’ Tonight” and sometimes they got their […]

Air Week: June 7-13, 2021 R&B Car Songs The juke is jumpin’ with records focusing on classic R&B songs about cars. The automobile is a “road tested” symbol of the American Dream. We have all this land and the car gives us the freedom to get from one place to another. We’ll dig on some […]