Legendary Booker T. joins Left Coast Live Main Stage

Performing at the Main Stage at 6:30 PM. 

Hammond B3 alchemist Booker T Jones is one America’s most prolific, distinguished and instantly recognizable musical forces.  We are thrilled to have him join the Left Coast LIve Main stage.  The arrival of his new Anti- album, Potato Hole, not only re-affirms his greatness, it also re-introduces the neglected all-instrumental format to a noisy, crowded marketplace crying out for precisely the type of soul satisfying pleasure which Jones excels at. With choice accompaniment by the capable Southern rock visionaries Drive By Truckers and a sound often pushed into over drive by the volcanic lead guitar of rock & roll legend Neil Young, it is an altogether extraordinary set. Featuring a mixture of newly written songs and a trio of intriguing covers, all recorded in a scant one weeks time, Potato Hole captures Booker T at the critical peak of a renewed creative phase in his storied career. “I really feel like I’ve been opened up again, I’ve got the creative muse working for me,” Jones said. “It’s like I have discovered a new method, a little road I can take to open it up, and I’m excited about playing this music.”

Born in Memphis, Tennessee on November 12 1944, Jones’ interest in music manifested itself early, and as a child he both sang gospel in church and received classical training on the piano. A fascination with the Hammond B3 grew to the point where he funded his own organ lessons with newspaper route money and by his teens, Jones found himself at Stax Records, first as an underfoot hanger-on and soon on staff, as leader of the house band. Backing fabled stars like Rufus and Carla Thomas, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave and Eddie Floyd both in the studio and on the road, the teenager’s multi-instrumental prowess–on keys, brass and reeds–was impressive. With his Memphis Group cohorts Steve Cropper, Donald “Duck” Dunn and Al Jackson, Jones laid out the blueprint for the fabled Stax sound and reaped his own rewards with a string of hits that frequently crossed over to the pop charts. Jones post-Stax resume has been equally impressive, recording with everyone from Bobby Darin to John Lee Hooker and producing for numerous artists (including Bill Withers’ signature Ain’t No Sunshine album and Willie Nelson’s 1978 multi-platinum blockbuster Stardust). Jones and the MGs re-formed to serve as house band for the famed 1991 Bob Dylan tribute at Madison Square Garden (which led to a sustained alliance between Neil Young and Jones). Along the way, he’s also scored numerous films and enjoyed induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

“The Hammond B3 and me have this thing goin’ on. It’s always there inside me. I’ve heard whole pieces in my head that I’ll never even remember–and now I’m finally getting them out.” he explained. “It gives me a freedom that I didn’t have . . . I sort of had it with the MG’s in the 60s, but even then it was more murky. This is lot more clear. I don’t know how to put it, except it’s like I can see again.”