A while back, at the North Carolina Folk Fest, Correspondent Tom Wilmer visited with headliner, Memphis, Tennessee, native Booker T. Jones.
Jones started playing the piano as a toddler, and the age of six he began singing in his Memphis church choir.
Jones shares memories of growing up in Memphis, playing as a studio musician at Stax Recording Studio while still in high school, and the story behind “M.G.” in the band’s name.
With the release of “Green Onions” in 1962, Booker T. & the M.G.’s organ-infused Memphis soul sound became a number-one hit on Billboard’s R&B chart.
Jones is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum. His autobiographical book “The Time is Tight—My life Note By Note” was released in November 2019.
Jones’ music has been acknowledged by USA Today’s “100 Best Songs in History” and Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”
Recipient of three Grammys and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the hit-single “Green Onions” was inducted in to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
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