The road, it’s an aspiration for many musicians trying to make it out of their city, a ticket to stardom, a source of freedom and inspiration, and it even calls them back from time to time. For Booker T. Jones, Highway 51 out of Memphis led him to an education at Indiana University but would also usher him and his 1963 Ford Fairlane back to Tennessee for recording sessions at Stax to keep the bursar at bay.
Many other stories came from his travels on that particular stretch of America’s roadways and some of those are told on our new CD of the Week. Booker T. goes back to his roots and like on his last record with the Drive-By Truckers, he enlists the help of some great musicians including Sharon Jones, Lou Reed and Yim Yames. The “house band” on this release is well, the house band of house bands. The Roots lend their incredible talent to Jones and drummer Amir “Questlove” Thompson also serves as one of the producers for the record.
Stand out tracks include “Representing Memphis” where Matt Berninger, from The National, & Sharon Jones trade vocals on a slow jam tour of the album’s namesake. “Progress” features Yim Yames of My Morning Jacket on one of the albums funkiest tracks and an instrumental cover of Lauryn Hill’s “Everything Is Everything” is the perfect song for a long drive down the highway.
Listen all week long as we feature this album in it’s entirety.
