Friday Night Cat Fight Podcast

“Rock Island Line”

This week’s “Friday Night Cat Fight” features the classic American folk tune, “Rock Island Line,” which was first discovered by musicologist Alan Lomax in 1934. Lomax was making his way through the South recording and preserving folk music for the Library Of Congress. It was at a penitentiary in Arkansas that he came across Kelly Pace and his group and they sang “Rock Island Line” for him. It is documented that this tune was very popular among inmates, who sang it as they worked the prison yards. Leadbelly also heard the tune while in prison and he first recorded it in 1937. The version by Leadbelly up for competition this week, though was taking from a 1940 session he had with the Golden Gate Quartet.

There are also five more versions of “Rock Island Line” vying for your vote, including the most popular one to date by British Skiffle sensation Lonnie Donegan. His version was released in 1955 and went to #8 on the US charts in 1956. Charting versions by Don Cornell and Johnny Cash are also featured.

Listen to the podcast in full and then vote for the version you truly DIG THE MOST at The Friday Night Cat Fight!

The Friday Night Cat Fight Podcast

“Oh, Babe!”

This week’s Friday Night Cat Fight Podcast features a song that was a flicker in time. Back in late, 1950, no less than 6 artists charted with versions of the Louis Prima penned song, “Oh, Babe!.” Many of them charted on the rhythm and blues side of things, but Kay Starr and Prima himself had hits with the tune on the pop lists. Since 1950 and 1951, this song has faded from the public’s musical consciousness, but now it returns thanks to the Friday Night Cat Fight Podcast with Matt The Cat.

Listen to all six versions of “Oh, Babe!”, VOTE and DIG!

Click Here To Listen To The Cat Fight Podcast!

Friday Night Cat Fight Podcast

“Red Hot”

The Friday Night Cat Fight takes on one of the most rockin’, hot burnin’ rockabilly sides of all-time, “Red Hot.” But the tune didn’t start out as a rockabilly barn burner. It began as a cheerleader’s chant “Our team is red hot,” which was turned into a mid-tempo R&B tune by its writer Billy “The Kid” Emerson. He cut his original for Sun Records in 1955, the same label that would issue Billy Riley’s immortal version in 1957. Also in ’57, the great Bob Luman cut a cover of “Red Hot” for Imperial Records. We round off this week’s competition with Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs 1966 stab at it, which went to #82 on the national charts. Then in 1977, Robert Gordon took the tune back 20 years to its rockabilly glory with his rendition, which hit #83 nationally.

So, which version of “Red Hot” is TRULY RED HOT? You decide. Listen to the Cat Fight Podcast and then vote for the one you dig the most in our online poll.

Click HERE to listen to the Cat Fight Podcast!