Booker T. Jones

Named after African-American author Booker T. Washington, Booker T. Jones and his legendary band The M.G.'s helped shape early rhythm and blues and define the sound of legendary soul label Stax Records. A child prodigy born in Memphis, Tennessee, he played saxophone, trombone, oboe and piano and regularly hung out at the Satellite Record Shop. When the store evolved into the Stax label in the late 1950s, Jones became leader of the house band The M.G.'s and backed the likes of Otis Redding, Albert King, Wilson Pickett and Bill Withers while scoring their own instrumental hits such as Hang Em High, Time Is Tight, Soul Limbo (later used as the theme to the BBC's cricket coverage) and their classic signature tune Green Onions. The band split in 1971, but Jones went on to work with Willie Nelson, Neil Young and Bob Dylan before releasing his first solo album I Want You (1981). He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and honoured with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 before showing that he's still got it by working with Drive By Truckers and Neil Young on the hugely acclaimed, Grammy Award-winning instrumental album Potato Hole (2009).

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