Huey “Piano” Smith: 1934-2023 this week on The Juke In The Back!

The "Juke In The Back" focuses on the " soul that came before rock n' roll," the records that inspired Elvis, Buddy Holly, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and countless others.
Unfortunately, Huey Smith is another "hard luck" story of R&B and early Rock n' Roll. He was a talented boogie woogie pianist and as a session player, he contributed to some great New Orleans gems by Earl King, Smiley Lewis, Little Richard and Guitar Slim. As a solo artist, he wrote and recorded some of the most memorable R&B and early Rock n' Roll, but didn't receive all the credit and royalties he deserved.
This week, Matt The Cat pays respects to the late, great Huey "Piano" Smith, who passed away on February 13, 2023 at the age of 89. We dig deep to feature the iconic records that Smith played on as well as his early work with Huey Smith and the Rhythm Aces and his legendary records with The Clowns.
He had 2 national hits with "Rockin' Pneumonia & The Boogie Woogie Flu (1957) and "Don't You Just Know It" (1958). His greatest contribution may have been "Sea Cruise," a song he wrote and originally recorded with Gerri Hall, but Johnny Vincent, owner of Ace Records issued it with a new vocal recorded by white teen idol, Frankie Ford.
Huey Smith persevered through much discrimination in the music industry and this week, we celebrate all he achieved on a very special edition of the "Juke In The Back."
Join Matt the Cat for "Juke in the Back", tomorrow morning at 04:00 AM Eastern, with an encore presentation, Sunday afternoon at 03:00 PM Eastern, after "The Elvis Presley Story" with Wink Martindale and before "Airplay Rewind" with Spencer James, on Mushroom FM, the home of the fun guys, making four decades of magic mushroom memories!
And be sure to check out the complete Mushroom FM schedule at https://mushroomfm.com/schedule.