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5/2/2004

Bill Bentley

Walking into Royal Studios in Memphis, which was originally an old movie theater, is a full-on time warp. The front room is really only a desk and a couple of chairs, with a lone light bulb hanging down from the ceiling. But it’s in the back where producer Willie Mitchell cast his spell during the ‘70s with Al Green, Ann Peebles, Otis Clay, Syl Johnson and dozens of other soul singers. Using a small combo, with add on horns and backing singers, Mitchell’s work on Hi Records helped make some of the sweetest and sexiest records ever. So it’s not surprising to hear the Bo-Keys having a crack at capturing some of that pure Memphis musical magic at Royal. Taking the instrumental tack a la their predecessors from the early ‘60s, Booker T. & the MGs and the Mar-Keys (mashing those two names together is probably how the Bo-Keys got their tag), this collection of local vets wastes no time in getting down to business. They fall into a deep rhythm & blues pocket with such an easy grace that it’s obvious the players have been thinking about this session for more than a minute. This is the kind of music that if you have to try too hard to get it right, there’s a good chance you’re chasing the wrong groove. Lucky for us, the Bo-Keys nail it down tighter than a tick’s tush from the first downbeat through to the last refrain.

Specializing in a loosey-goosey style of R&B instrumentals, something you might hear in a corner club around one o’clock in the morning, the foursome is funkier than a two-day-old bucket of Church’s fried chicken. Throwing riffs back and forth while the rhythm section swings with an easeful excellence rarely experienced in today’s computer-generated world of perfection, listeners can almost hear the musicians breathe. Add on a horn duo, percussionist and, on one song, way-cool guests guitarist Calvin Newborn, brother of keyboard king Phineas Newborn, and Mad Lads singer John Gary Williams, and the album becomes a bubbling beacon of human beauty. Originals like “Seven and 7” and “Under the Table” sit proudly next to time-honored classics “Back at the Chicken Shack” and “Doin’ It to Death” in a seamless run of fun. Bass and drums lock in a righteous rhythm, while either the Hammond organ, tenor sax, treacherous trumpet or cool guitar push through lead lines full of smoke and sass. Add it all up, and these ten songs will put your backfield in motion, some glide in your stride, and if you’re having a really good day, maybe even have you boogalooing down Broadway.
It’s like Travis Redfish said in Roadie, that rock movie masterpiece of the early ‘80s: “Everything works if you let it.” Consider this: The second song on The Royal Sessions is titled “Deuce and a Quarter.” There’s a funny family story where the teenager traded in his father’s decidedly-overdriven Electra 225 (aka a Deuce-and-a-Quarter) for a bit spiffier used Cadillac. His older friend pulling into the next spot at the parking lot immediately noticed the change in cars and broke out in a big smile, saying, “My man, you have moved from style to class.” The Bo-Keys are a Hi class act all the way, and even if they’re so far off the map most listeners in the South don’t know about them, no matter. They’re fanning the fires of serious soul music as if the whole world was listening, and that’s enough for anyone who ever fell for “Green Onions,” “Last Night” or any other glorious slice of Memphis musical life. Listening to the Bo-Keys now is like revisiting the peak of a certain period, and realizing just how good it really was. That’s true style—and class.