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Behind the SXSW Buzz: the Bar-Kays
The Wisconsin plane crash that killed Otis Redding in December 1967 also took the lives of four of the six members of the Bar-Kays, who were backing Redding and also performing their Top 20 hit “Soul Finger” on tour.
Bar-Kays bassist and bandleader James Alexander was not on the flight, riding in to Madison with the band’s gear. With trumpet player Ben Cauley, the only one who survived the crash, Alexander recruited Memphis music fixture Larry Dodson, who had been singing doo wop with the Temprees, to form a new version of the Bar-Kays.
“We had to totally reinvent ourselves,” says Dodson. The original Bar-Kays were known as a an instrumental group, but version 2 would be more of hot soul showband with vocals. Bassist Alexander is the lone original member, though Dodson has been with the group for 40 years.
Known as the second house band at Stax Records (following Booker T. and the M.G.’s,) the Bar-Kays also backed Isaac Hayes on such million-sellers as “Hot Buttered Soul” and “Shaft.”
“Losing Issac last year was a real blow,” says Dodson. “We’ll play a tribute to him at South By Southwest, as well as a tribute to Otis.” The band headlines the Memphis Music Foundation showcase at the Dirty Dog Bar on Thursday March 19.
There was a little bit of confusion this week over whether or not Larry Dodson would be allowed to bring his trademark albino python onstage for “Freakshow On the Dancefloor.” The band’s publicist said he’d heard that SXSW ruled against the snake. But SX’s Roland Swenson said that the band would only need to apply for a waiver. In Section XIV covering Non-Human Performers, in paragraph C it says: “Under no circumstances shall any reptiles on stage exceed the length of 10 feet or 3.048 meters.”
The Bar-Kays python is 12 feet long. Swenson joked that even after the waiver is approved, the snake would not be eligible for a wristband.
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