Remembering Teenie Hodges on his birthday

Remembering Hi Rhythm guitarist/songwriter Teenie Hodges with a 1966 performance with Fred Ford, an interview and more.

Happy Birthday William Bell

Cheers to Memphis-born singer/songwriter and producer William Bell on his birthday. Here are a few stellar performances. 

Happy Birthday William Bell

Cheers to Memphis soul great William Bell on his 85th birthday! Here's some interview clips and a couple of overlooked gems. 

Southern soul great William Bell previews new album with "One Day Closer To Home"

Stax survivor William Bell conspired with Bo-Keys pal Scott Bomar for the Hi-style groover "One Day Closer To Home" 

Happy Birthday William Bell!

Celebrating the birthday of Stax soul legend William Bell with a version of his classic "Private Number" with Joss Stone. 

Stax soul great William Bell sits in with North Mississippi Allstars

William Bell joined North Mississippi Allstars for "Never Want To Be Kissed" off their new album Set Sail out January 28th.

Here's the scoop...

North Mississippi Allstars will release Set Sail on January 28th via New West Records. The 10-song set was produced by Luther and Cody Dickinson and follows their Grammy Award nominated 2019 album Up and Rolling. Set Sail features an appearance by Stax Records legend William Bell on the album standout “Never Want To Be Kissed” (which Bell also co-wrote and co-produced). The album has already been met with critical acclaim with Uncut Magazine stating, "Bloodlines and geography figure into every NMAs album, but on Set Sail, Luther and Cody Dickinson make family and setting the conjoined theme..." in their 8 out 10 Star rated review. 

 

The video for  “Never Want To Be Kissed” was shot at William Bell’s recording studio outside of Atlanta, GA.  Luther Dickinson said of working with Bell, “He had the whole plot of the song conceptualized, as if it was a movie. I’ve never seen a song written like that before. Usually, for me, story lines unfold as they are written. We simply helped William turn the plot into lyrics and added music but we were truly only helping William realize his vision. We recorded a voice memo at the session and built the song up from there. Some of the audio on the record is from the original voice memo. It’s an honor to work with a living legend and soul music pioneer.” William Bell said, “Luther and Cody are my kind of people, locked in the tradition of Blues and Soul stories and songs. Pure perfectionists at their craft!” Watch the Cartter Fontaine-directed “Never Want to Be Kissed” video below. 

 

After 25 years, twelve albums, four Grammy Award nominations, and sold out shows everywhere, North Mississippi Allstars open up their world once again on Set Sail, welcoming other family into the fold. As sons of the legendary producer and musician Jim Dickinson, Luther and Cody Dickinson started the band in 1996 as a loose collective of like-minded second-generation musicians who shared a local repertoire and regional style. Over the years, the lineup has shifted by design, and with Set Sail, they mined the talents of Jesse Williams on bass and Lamar Williams, Jr., the son of Allman Brothers bassist Lamar Williams, Sr, on vocals. During the Allman Betts Band Family Revival, the Dickinsons first linked up with Lamar, becoming fast friends and collaborators, paving the way for Set Sail. 

 

“The chemistry we have with this lineup is powerful,” observes Luther. “We are all second-generation musicians and share a telepathic, relaxed ease about creating and performing. I believe music is a form of communion with our loved ones and conjuring this vibe with members of musical families can be inspirational. Lamar and I are like-minded. I’ve never had the pleasure of working with a singing partner like Lamar. He has a true-blue quality in his musicality that will pull you in and break your heart. At the same time, Jesse grew up playing music with his brothers and his father—as did we. He plays like a sibling. I’m drawn to musical families, regardless of style. Playing with second- or third-generation players allows us an easy unspoken musical dialog. It’s not a big thing; it’s just what we do. We never had to figure out what it means and takes to be a musician. We all inherently know.” He continues, “Each generation has to reinvent itself and shed the skin of the elders. On Set Sail, we feel as if we’ve once again ‘broken the code,’ and know what we want and how to get it.” 

 

Set Sail continues the band’s tradition of creating roots music that displays remarkable variety. The record sizzles with hard yet understated groove, grown folk music. Luther’s wide-ranging guitar style features jazz riffs, psychedelic sounds, and soulful slide. Drummer and multi-instrumentalist Cody draws on roots music, rock, jazz, rap, and other styles to create rhythms that propel the band’s sounds and move it forward. Their two aesthetics combine to create the band’s unique style, “Primitive Modernism,” melding the new and the old. Luther notes, “We leaned into our other greatest influences: folk, soul, and psychedelic rock, but everything we play feels like North Mississippi.” 

 

Set Sail will be available across digital retailers on January 28th, 2022. Standard Compact Disc and Vinyl editions will be released on April 1st. A limited “Gotham Color” vinyl & compact disc edition featuring exclusive variant packaging & a download with two unreleased bonus tracks will be available at Independent Retailers.  An autographed & limited “Cloudy Day” Blue vinyl edition and a limited, autographed compact disc edition are both available for pre-order right here. 

 

Happy Birthday William Bell

Celebrating the birthday of Memphis soul great William Bell with NEA video, Tiny Desk Concert and podcast interview. 

Happy Birthday William Bell

Celebrating the birthday of Memphis soul great William Bell with a Tiny Desk Concert worth checking. 

Happy Birthday William Bell!

Cheers to soul great William Bell on his day – here's a tiny desk concert performance from 2016.

Stax soul great William Bell grabs Grammy for "Best Americana Album"

Watch the amazing William Bell sing a few songs from his fantastic "This Is Where I Live" on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert. 

Happy 75th Birthday William Bell

Check out William's performance at the White House and his Stax demo of Will You Love Me Tomorrow.

Happy Birthday William Bell

Bo-Keys enlist soul greats for Got To Get Back!

One thing I've never understood about the soul revival game is why record collector geeks with studio access and their own labels consistently choose to work with relatively mediocre singers when exceptionally great performers who've had respectable recording careers in the 60s and 70s are left to watch nature programs at home with the sound turned off. country is a guilty pleasure that they wouldn't want their friends to know about.
Whether it's due to their ignorance, laziness or just the simple economics of not wanting to pay for real vocal talent when a competent singer who lives in the neighborhood will suffice, the whole sad situation has been more than a bit perplexing. That's why it was so very heartening to learn that Memphis-based producer/composer/bandleader Scott Bomar (Hustle & Flow) had enlisted genuine deep soul heavyweights Otis Clay, William Bell and Percy Wiggins to add some belting power to his new Bo-Keys album Got To Get Back! (Electraphonic Records) set for release June 21.

                                                                                            Otis Clay

if you're trying to make authentic sounding soul recordings, why not call in some hombres who've racked up years of studio experience making memorable soul records. That's exactly what Bomar did by bolstering his band hit-making session vets like guitarist Charles "Skip" Pitts (who created the unforgettable wah-wah guitar intro to Isaac Hayes' Theme from Shaft), Pac-Keys and Black Rock keyboardist Archie "Hubbie" Turner, Bar-Kays trumpeter Ben Cauley (sole survivor of the plane crash that claimed the life of Otis Redding) and powerhouse Hi Rhythm drummer Howard Grimes.
So when Bomar wanted to add vocals to the Bo-Keys second album, he employed the same strategy and rang up the best singers available. I'm not talking about above-average wedding singers who can do a version of Midnight Hour that sounds remarkably like Wilson Pickett. Nope. He went for charismatic song stylists who've developed their craft over decades in front of unruly paying audiences. Clay, Bell and Wiggins each answered the call and turned what could've easily been a naff retro-soul nostalgia trip into something extraordinary and timeless. Although the Chicago-based Clay has long been associated with the Chi-town sound and Peachtree and Wilbe label boss Bell is now more connected with the Atlanta scene, they both have strong ties to Memphis as does lifelong resident Wiggins – it's where their careers were launched after all. Check out the mini-documentary below. 

The Making of Got To Get Back!

The Bo-Keys "Got to Get Back !" Mini Doc from Electraphonic Recording on Vimeo.