Air Week: July 7-13, 2025

Tiny Bradshaw

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Tiny Bradshaw put in his time, spending 16 years of making music with various big bands, including his own, without ever scoring a national hit. But when things turned around for the drummer, pianist, composer and bandleader, his star began to rise. He scored a #2 R&B smash with “Well Of Well” in 1950, just as he was beginning his 9 year association with Cincinnati’s King Records. This would be his biggest hit and best seller, but not his best remembered. That distinction would go to his composition, “The Train Kept A-Rollin'” from ’51. Though his version didn’t make the national lists, it did inspire covers from Johnny Burnette’s Rock n’ Roll Trio, The Yardbirds and Aerosmith, making it a rock n’ roll classic. In all, Bradshaw scored 5 charting singles, but as Rock n’ Roll came into fashion in the mid-’50s, Tiny Bradshaw suffered a stroke that sidelined him from crossing over. Then a second stroke ended his life in 1958 at the age of 53. Though he’s not remembered much today beyond his jumpin’ composition, “The Train Kept A-Rollin’,” the “Juke In The Back” fills up the ol’ Rockola with a stack of Tiny’s prime shellac. Give a listen and cut a rug to a true originator. 

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