New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The Bo-Keys, a contemporary soul music group that signifies both tradition and innovation, celebrates the release of a third studio album, Heartaches by the Number, on Electraphonic Records via Omnivore Recordings on April 29, 2016. Heartaches by the Number is an exploration of the intersection of country, folk and soul, combining stunning originals with inspired interpretations of jukebox classics from Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Bob Dylan, Swamp Dogg, Charlie Rich, and Ray Price.
Recorded entirely on analog tape at Electraphonic Recording in Memphis, the set perfectly captures the classic country-meets-soul feeling birthed within the musical triangle of Memphis/Nashville/Muscle Shoals. The core group comprises legendary
Al Green drummer
Howard Grimes, keyboardist Archie �Hubbie� Turner, horn players Marc
Franklin and Art Edmaiston of the
Gregg Allman Band, bassist/producer Scott Bomar, saxophonist Kirk Smothers, organist Al Gamble, and guitarist Joe Restivo. On this country-soul journey, special guests including celebrated Hi Records artist Don Bryant, Hi Records and American Studios vocal group the Masqueraders, and roots singer-songwriter and guitarist John Paul Keith join the Bo-Keys in the studio. Front-and-center is Bo-Keys lead vocalist Percy Wiggins, who comes by the groove honestly � in the 1960s, he cut sides for RCA and ATCO alongside future Band of Gypsies musicians Billy Cox and Larry Lee at Bradley�s Barn, Nashville�s eminent recording studio.
Heartaches by the Number is a genre-bending release that sounds like the jukebox roster at a honky-tonk bar or Mississippi juke joint. Merle Haggard�s �The Longer You Wait� is reinterpreted with propulsive horns and a searing organ riff, while the band inserts grit and funk into their interpretation of the Swamp Dogg-penned �Don�t Take Her (She�s All I Got),� first cut as a soul single by Freddie North before country hit-makers such as Johnny Paycheck,
George Strait, and
George Jones added twang and swagger to the iconic dive-bar lament.
Heartaches by the Number builds on the Bo-Keys� past catalog and adds a new dimension to the group�s potential by metaphorically traveling beyond the
Memphis city limits to explore an often-overlooked subgenre of music popularized by Arthur Alexander, Swamp Dogg, Solomon Burke, and Bettye LaVette. The release will also bring new audiences to the Bo-Keys � fans of Adele, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, and the
Alabama Shakes will find music that speaks to them on this album.
Whether or not you recognize the name, you�ve seen or heard the Bo-Keys: That�s the Bo-Keys setting the mood in TV episodes of Scandal and Scorpion; on the big screen playing the original score for the Oscar-winning film Hustle & Flow and backing Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac in Soul Men; and performing on Cyndi Lauper�s Grammy-nominated
Memphis Blues album. Since 1998, the Bo-Keys have kept the spirit of classic
Memphis music alive while simultaneously penning a vital new chapter for the sound and style that are etched into the very fiber of American consciousness.
�Where many revivalists pale compared to the originals, the Bo-Keys would have fit right in next to legendary
Memphis musical crews the Bar-Kays and Booker T. & the M.G.s,� raves the Associated Press, while The New Yorker notes that a recent Manhattan appearance was �one of last year�s tightest, funkiest, happiest shows.� Although the band hasn�t released a studio album since 2011�s Got to Get Back!, the Bo-Keys have stayed busy, performing on John N�meth�s Blues
Music Award-winning
Memphis Grease album (for Best Soul Blues), and placing music in the film Grudge Match and on TV.
Heartaches by the Number was produced by Emmy-winning and Grammy-nominated Scott Bomar, the Bo-Keys� bassist (who also produced
Memphis Grease). His other career highlights include working as assistant engineer on Al Green�s 2003 Grammy-nominated comeback I Can�t Stop and its follow-up, Everything�s OK; producing the Grammy-nominated
Anthony Hamilton track �Soul Music�; and producing and engineering Lauper�s
Memphis Blues, which topped the Billboard blues chart for 13 weeks. In 2005, Bomar composed the score for Hustle & Flow, followed by serving as executive music producer and composer on
Black Snake Moan. He won an Emmy for Best Original
Music for the documentary I Am a Man: From Memphis, A Lesson in Life and most recently scored the film Mississippi Grind, which features Ryan Reynolds and debuted at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.
Look for tour dates and more info on Heartaches by the Number at https://www.thebokeys.com
Track List:
1.Heartaches By The Number
Feat. Don Bryant
2.Set Me Free
3.I�m So Lonesome I Could Cry
4.The Longer You Wait
5.I Threw It All Away
6.Learned My Lesson In Love
7.Don�t Take Her (She�s All I Got)
Feat. The Masqueraders
8.I Hope You Find What You�re Looking For
9.Wasted Days And Wasted Nights
10. Last Date
