Air Week: March 23-29, 2026

Imperial Records was a major player among the indie labels of the late 1940s and the entirety of the 1950s. Started in Los Angels in 1946 by Lew Chudd, a Canadian raised in Harlem, Imperial began filling the ethnic and cultural voids left by the majors at the time. Chudd knew there was a large market for Latino Music in America, so he headed to Mexico City and recorded some Mexican jump bands that sold very well. He then included square dance records which also racked up sales as now square dances could be held without callers. He began recording Rhythm & Blues in 1947 and by ’49, he had hired Dave Bartholomew to scout talent in fertile New Orleans. The Braun Brother had beat him to The Crescent City by recording Paul Gayten and Annie Laurie first, but with Bartholomew’s help, Chudd was able to sign Fats Domino, Smiley Lewis, Archibald and Jewel King, dominating the New Orleans R&B scene. This week, we continue our Imperial series with part two, focusing on the 78s released during the 2nd half of 1950 and into the first half of ’51. Fats, Smiley and Jewel are back, but with the departure of Bartholomew over an argument in late ’50, Imperial turns to more down-home blues recordings. We’ll dig on some stellar records from accomplished bluesmen: Country Jim, Smokey Hogg, Mercy Dee and Lil’ Son Jackson. The future Guitar Slim made his very first records for Imperial before topping the charts in ’54 for Specialty with “The Things That I Used To Do.” Child actor and future music producer H.B. Barnum made his musical debut on shellac with Chudd and Imperial in 1950 and blues icons T-Bone Walker and Big Joe Turner recorded some fine sides for the label as well. Matt The Cat keeps those records spinning as he features part two of the Imperial Records Story on this week’s “Juke In The Back.”

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Air Week: March 16-22, 2026

Imperial Records was a major player among the indie labels of the late 1940s and the entirety of the 1950s. Started in Los Angels in 1946 by Lew Chudd, a Canadian raised in Harlem, Imperial began filling the ethnic and cultural voids left by the majors at the time. Chudd knew there was a large market for Latino Music in America, so he headed to Mexico City and recorded some Mexican jump bands that sold very well. He then included square dance records which also racked up sales as now square dances could be held without callers. He began recording Rhythm & Blues in 1947 and by ’49, he had hired Dave Bartholomew to scout talent in fertile New Orleans. The Braun Brother had beat him to The Crescent City by recording Paul Gayten and Annie Laurie first, but with Bartholomew’s help, Chudd was able to sign Fats Domino, Smiley Lewis, Archibald and Jewel King, dominating the New Orleans R&B scene. This week, we begin a series looking at the huge impact that Imperial Records had on R&B during the late 1940s into the mid-1950s. In part 1, Matt The Cat will showcase Imperial’s earliest R&B releases from 1947-1950. We’ll see how the boogie woogie stylings of Dick Lewis, “Poison” Gardner, Charlie “Boogie Woogie” Davis and Lloyd Glenn gave way to the New Orleans blues of Tommy Ridgley, Jewel King, Smiley Lewis and Fats Domino, who would become the biggest artist ever on the Imperial label. It’s Imperial Records, part 1 on this week’s “Juke In The Back.”

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Air Week: March 9-15, 2026

This week, the “Juke In The Back” presents a unique program designed to put the listener in a front row seat for a live rhythm review performance. So often, we wonder what a live program would have been like before the dawn of Rock n’ Roll? Well, thanks to the preservation of this 2 week program in Los Angeles from late September and early October of 1951, we can catch a glimpse. Promoter Bill Lester intended to hold weekly midnight concerts at the Olympic Auditorium in downtown LA, but after 2 weeks, the late-night shows were scraped, due to the fact that they were losing money. Lester hired LA disc jockey, Hunter Hancock, who was a trailblazer in playing R&B on the radio to emcee the shows. Some of the biggest names in West Coast R&B performed; Big Jay McNeely, Floyd Dixon, Maxwell Davis and Peppermint Harris. What’s spectacular is the lesser-known talent; Madelyn Perkins, Ernie Andrews, Smilin’ Smokey Lynn and the Gospel group, the Golden Keys. Radio station KMPC agreed to air the first half hour of these 2 hour concerts, which should have led to greater promotion of the event, but alas, after 2 weeks it was done. We are so fortunate that Bill Lester recorded portions of these shows, so that 75 years later, we can still experience the excitement and joy of the music. Sit back as Matt The Cat takes you to the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles for the Midnight Matinee, an exciting jaunt into the world of the live R&B review show.

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