When I put together my book Rock Shrines, about places music fans go to pay tribute to their dead heroes, I was particularly struck by the story of Ben Cauley. He was trumpet player in Otis Redding's band, The Bar Kays, and the only person to be pulled alive from the freezing waters of Lake Monona, Wisconsin, after the light aircraft crash that killed Redding and the rest of the band in December 1967.
I wanted to know what happened to him and my research eventually located him at Da Blues Restaurant in Memphis International Airport where Cauley was in-house entertainment. To my mind there was something not quite right about this, the historical thread that carried this dude from Otis and violent tragedy to anonymously parping away while tourists scoffed barbecued ribs.
The Bo-Keys' album is a much more fitting place to find Cauley. For the last decade, since the rise of Amy Winehouse, one of the defining features of 21st-century pop is the phenomenal success of retro soul music. From Joss Stone to Plan B, the public can't get enough of it. The Bo-Keys' album, however, asks: "Why have the imitation when you can have the real thing?" The Bo-Keys are ageing Stax Records session musicians and their Memphis pals, and have backed everyone fron Cyndi Lauper to Mack Rice, as well as appearing prominently in the film Soul Men. The band features Cauley alongside the sole surviving member of the BB King Orchestra, Al Green's drummer, Isaac Hayes's long-standing guitarist (who played on "Shaft") and others of similar vintage.
Featuring vocals from blues player Charlie Musselwhite and gospel singer Otis Clay, Got to Get Back! is a blast, a host of spanking new Northern soul originals. From the funky as hell "Just Chillin'" to the Booker T-ish Hammond organ-fuelled "Jack and Ginger" to the jazz-inflected blues roller "I'm Going Home", the listener is in safe hands. It may not bust any new moves and occasionally drifts into bar-band territory, but this crew, marinated in the history of their home city, mostly muster a sound that's the stuff of Mark Ronson's wet dreams, a slice of history served up fresh and hot.
Watch rough'n'ready live footage of The Bo-Keys
