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BOOKER T.

Hammond B3 alchemist BOOKER T. JONES is one of America's most prolific, distinguished and instantly recognizable musical forces, and the arrival of his recent, Grammy-winning 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 grooves which Jones excels at. With choice accompaniment by the 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, 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, Jones grew up playing and singing in gospel groups. 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 a hanger-on and soon 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. 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.

Potato Hole demonstrates that not only is Jones' talent and power undiminished, it also reveals how much there is to his music that we've never heard before. Jones has a remarkable knack for telling a story with his melodies, compositions so thoughtfully constructed that one can almost visualize narrative events, as the self-explanatory "Pound it Out", the room-to-room filial warmth of "Family Reunion", the illimitable intimacy and affection of "Nan" (Jones' wife), and, in the case of title track (the term is a 19th century Afro-American colloquialism for the spot where smuggled food items were stashed beneath slave quarters), a cinematic, almost epic recounting of the struggles and spiritual resilience slavery imposed. This quality is so seductive that you may find yourself singing along, as if Jones was telegraphing lyrics that exist only within the listener. Even the three songs here that did not originate with Jones (Outkast's "Hey Ya," Tom Waits' "Get Behind the Mule" and the Drive By Truckers' own "Space City") are transformed into vintage Booker T. jams, shimmering with relaxed, after-hours atmosphere and full of the fiery, taut organ work for which he is rightfully prized.

Whether laying down a meditative ramble or hard-charging rocker, Jones' sense of artistic liberation and depth of involvement on every track here is breath taking--with Potato Hole, the cat is going into orbit. "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."