Booker T. Recruits Neil Young, Drive-By Truckers For First Solo Album in 20 Years

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Booker T. Jones will release Potato Hole, his first solo album in 20 years, on April 21st. While the MGs won't be on board for the disc, Booker T. will be joined by some prestigious guests, including Drive-By Truckers and fellow Rock Hall honoree Neil Young. The Truckers will serve as Booker's backup band, while Young will contribute guitar to nine of the album's 10 songs. The album is being hailed as a return to the raw funk of 1962 smash "Green Onions." Potato Hole was produced by T. and Rob Schapf and recorded last fall in California and Georgia. The organist and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner will also hit the road in support of the LP, with a date at New Orleans' Jazz Fest with the Drive-By Truckers already scheduled.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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