Booker T. & the M.G.'s are an instrumental rhythm and blues group from Memphis, United States, active from 1962 to 2012. They help define the sound of Southern soul and Memphis soul, and they become one of the key house bands for Stax Records.

Formation and original line-up

The original group line-up is Booker T. Jones on organ and piano, Steve Cropper on guitar, Lewie Steinberg on bass, and Al Jackson, Jr. on drums. Jones begins working as a session musician for Stax in 1960, where he meets Cropper. Cropper has already played with the Mar-Keys, whose 1961 instrumental hit “Last Night” helps establish a template for the later M.G.'s sound.

Stax Records and session work

As Stax's house band in the 1960s, Booker T. & the M.G.'s appear on hundreds of recordings by artists including Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Bill Withers, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Johnnie Taylor and Albert King. Their tight rhythm section and organ-led style become central to the Stax sound and to Southern soul more broadly.

Recording career

The group also releases records under its own name. Its best-known single is “Green Onions”, a 1962 hit that reaches number three on the pop charts. The track is created in the studio while the band is waiting for Billy Lee Riley to arrive for a session, and it becomes one of the defining instrumentals of the era. Other notable singles include “Hip Hug-Her”, “Groovin'”, “Soul-Limbo”, “Hang ’em High” and “Time Is Tight”, all of which chart in the Top 40 between 1967 and 1969.

The band is also known for albums that extend beyond its singles. McLemore Avenue is an instrumental version of the Beatles' Abbey Road, named after the street where Stax's studios are located.

Line-up changes and later years

Lewie Steinberg is replaced by Donald “Duck” Dunn in 1965, and Dunn remains with the group until his death in 2012. Al Jackson, Jr. is murdered in 1975, after which Jones, Cropper and Dunn reunite on a number of occasions with various drummers, including Willie Hall, Anton Fig, Steve Jordan and Steve Potts. Other musicians associated with the group include Bobby Manuel, Carson Whitsett and Jim Keltner.

After the break-up period, the remaining members continue to appear as recording artists and session musicians. The group serves as house band for a Bob Dylan tribute at Madison Square Garden in 1992 and backs Neil Young on tour in 1993. A comeback album follows in the 1990s.

Style and significance

The band plays instrumental soul, rhythm and blues and funk, with a sound built around Booker T. Jones's organ lines and Steve Cropper's economical guitar riffs. It is one of the first racially integrated rock groups, with two black and two white members, which is unusual in 1962. The group is associated with Stax and with genres including funk, instrumental rock, psychedelic soul, R&B, soul and soul blues.

Recognition

Booker T. & the M.G.'s are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville in 2008, and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2012.