Alex Chilton And Hi Rhythm Section Boogie Shoes: Live On Beale Street LP

Memphis is a city with music in its blood. When Fred Ford, co-founder of the Beale Street Music Festival, was diagnosed with cancer, author David Less (Memphis Mayhem: A Story Of The Music That Shook Up The World) organized Fredstock, a fundraiser to help with his medical bills. Less contacted Memphis legend Alex Chilton (The Box Tops, Big Star), who was living in New Orleans, to ask him to participate. Alex said he didn't have any musicians to play with in Memphis, so Less suggested the Hi Rhythm Section (the band behind classics from artists including Ann Peebles, Ike & Tina Turner, O. V. Wright, Otis Clay, and Al Green). Alex replied, "That will work."

This previously unissued live set contains versions of soul classics from The Supremes and Otis Clay, rock numbers from Chuck Berry and Little Richard, and even a cover of the KC & The Sunshine Band title track. Boogie Shoes: Live On Beale Street was recorded at the New Daisy Theater in Memphis in 1999, during Fredstock.

Get ready to discover this performance by Memphis icons - tearing it up on stage, making music, and having fun. You'll want to put on y-y-y-y-your "Boogie Shoes".

I never saw him have so much fun on stage. Without rehearsal, Alex called songs and the band locked in. The horn section consists of top Memphis session guys who huddled together when each song was called creating parts on the fly. The pure joy of playing this music so freely with such legendary musicians comes across in every groove of the record.

Notorious for sometimes being uninspired on stage when things weren't quite the way he wanted, Chilton sounds like he's having the time of his life on Boogie Shoes. His vocals are potent, impassioned, and joyous, his guitar work is deliciously rough and ready, and his interaction with the musicians suggests he was thoroughly enjoying working with a band of this calibre. As a performer, Chilton prized spontaneity and letting the music happen in the moment, and Boogie Shoes: Live on Beale Street catches him on a night when he and his band for the evening were clearly in high spirits, and it's one of the best live Alex Chilton releases to appear to date.