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 tunes about Cadillacs, Buicks, Mercurys and Model Ts. Chuck Berry, who made his early career on youth-oriented car songs will make a few appearances. Plus, musicologists Billy Vera and Steve Propes drop by the "Juke In The Back" to make their cases that the first rock n' roll song might have been about a car. So, grab your keys and prepare to be taken for a ride.

Vibraphonist Stefon Harris gives us a lesson in empathy on and off the bandstand, with his band Blackout. Join us for a ferocious and intuitive set recorded at Clement’s Place, a small club at Rutgers University, in Newark, NJ.

Jaco Pastorius: World's Greatest Bass Player, Part 1. Featuring the 20th Century musical giant in his first recordings as a leader, with the likes of Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. And with commentary by Pat Metheny and Herbie.

Singer/songwriter and blues and boogie pianist, Eden Brent is a Greenville, Mississippi native from a family of riverboat captains, guitar pickers, big band singers and all the various characters you’d want in a Southern novel. Eden’s new CD, Getaway Blues, is a celebration of her roots and the music that’s surrounded her throughout her life in Greenville, the home of The Mississippi Delta Blues and Heritage Festival, the oldest blues festival in the world. Growing up, Eden heard everything from Hank Williams to Nat Cole around the house, as well as most nights, joining in the post-dinner family singalongs. Greenville neighbor, author Julia Reed, remembers Eden’s home as a soulful and far funnier version of The Sound of Music, and refers to the family as the von Brents.

Coming Soon.

Don Bowman and Dewey Terry never scored a national hit record, but together as the 1950s duo Don & Dewey, they remain one of R&B and early Rock n' Roll's best kept secrets. They grew up as friends in Pasadena, CA, joining fellow students at John Muir High School to form The Squires. In 1955, the group scored a local Los Angeles hit with "Sindy," which has since become a vocal group classic, but when no follow-up hits materialized, Don & Dewey were persuaded to go off on their own by local manager John Criner. After a few sides for local labels Spot and Shade tanked, Criner sold their contract off to Art Rupe, owner of the much larger Specialty Records in LA. Rupe and his A&R man, Bumps Blackwell worked with Don (who was now known as Don Harris) & Dewey, trying to turn their frantic brand of up-tempo jump blues into something, but it never really caught on. Don & Dewey remarkably wrote most of their own material, which was not a standard practice back in the '50s and though they couldn't score hits with their own recordings, other artists were able to. Dale and Grace took Don & Dewey's "I'm Leaving It All Up To You" to the top of the pop chart (#6 R&B) in '63 and the Righteous Brothers cracked the pop chart with their version of "Justine" in '65. The Olympics made a hit out of "Big Boy Pete" in '60, while The Premiers entered the top 20 with "Farmer John" in '64. This week reveals the story of one of early Rock's craziest duos as the ol' Rockola Juke is loaded with their jumpin', jivin' sides.

Coming Soon.

Jaco Pastorius: World's Greatest Bass Player, Part 2. Featuring the 20th Century musical giant on his recordings with Weather Report, plus on tracks with Herbie Hancock. With commentary by Joe Zawinul.

In his most recent book, Dangerous Rhythms, Jazz and the Underworld, author T.J. English explores the symbiotic relationship between jazz musicians and the mob during the first half of the 20th Century, and how that mutually beneficial partnership helped the music flourish but kept the deeply racist attitudes of the day solidly in place. I talked with T.J. English in August 2023.

Coming Soon.