Scene and Heard

There’s a visually evocative new video for the Booker T. Jones song “Progress” from his acclaimed album The Road From Memphis. The song offers a blast of classic Booker T. soul music and features a perfect vocal accompaniment by the phenomenal Yim Yames of band My Morning Jacket.

The clip was directed by Aaron Hymes and features images of a downtown Los Angeles in transition. As the director told the Los Angels Times, “They were snapshots of things that were real and unaffected while simultaneously being filmed with the idea of hope and progression. I wanted to capture that upbeat, positive vibe and re-create those feelings with a contemporary twist. Downtown L.A. was the perfect setting. It’s a city that’s still changing, still moving forward, and has a uniqueness and sunny positivity you just can’t find anywhere else.”

Read an article about the video in the Los Angeles Times here: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2011/06/progress-new-booker-t-jones-video-captures-an-evolving-downtown-los-angeles.html

The Road from Memphis refers not only to Booker T‘s journey but to the evolution of the soul music he helped invent as it traveled from Memphis to Detroit, Philadelphia and beyond. The features a broad range of guest vocalists including Matt Berninger of the National, Sharon Jones,” Yim Yames and Lou Reed. Legendary motor-city guitarist Dennis Coffey contributes to the album as well.