The Bo-Keys

The Memphis-based retro-soul act the Bo-Keys trace their roots back to 1998, when musician Scott Bomar was enlisted to create a supporting band for <a href="spotify:artist:5ZAdhQ0HJFv85oFNgrkCpi">Sir Mack Rice</a>. Bomar decided to revive the sound and sensibility of Memphis in the '60s -- the golden age of <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Stax%22">Stax</a>/<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Volt%22">Volt</a>, American Sound Studios, and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Hi+Records%22">Hi Records</a> -- and to that end, he enlisted some veterans from the scene, including Ben Cauley, Charles "Skip" Pitts, Howard Grimes, and Archie "Hubie" Turner. The Bo-Keys' lineup proved somewhat flexible but their deep soulful sound remained the same. So expert were the Bo-Keys in keeping the Memphis sound alive, they wound up getting contracted to support a number of artists on records and appear in film and television projects that needed a dose of the real deal.

After forming the first version of the Bo-Keys for the 1998 <a href="spotify:artist:5ZAdhQ0HJFv85oFNgrkCpi">Mack Rice</a> project, Bomar continued with the band, shaping the lineup as they performed live dates. In 2004, they released their debut album, The Royal Sessions, but they received a bigger boost the following year by playing the score for the <a href="spotify:artist:5C7bl8mutzXDEMAFrhHcXt">Terrence Howard</a>-starring hip-hop drama Hustle and Flow. This boosted the Bo-Keys profile and soon they were in other Hollywood productions, including the 2008 <a href="spotify:artist:7gusMvSJRCggGZPV5SDN9K">Samuel L. Jackson</a> and Bernie Mac vehicle Soul Men; on the soundtrack was the Bomar-produced <a href="spotify:artist:2DzRMyWgjuMbYvt5BLbpCo">Anthony Hamilton</a> song "Soul Music," which was nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance. The group's next major project was supporting <a href="spotify:artist:2BTZIqw0ntH9MvilQ3ewNY">Cyndi Lauper</a> on her 2010 album Memphis Blues, which Bomar produced.

The second Bo-Keys, album Got to Get Back, appeared in 2011, and in the years that followed, they released a series of EPs: Writing on the Wall, I Need More Than One Lifetime, and the Dark End of the Street came out between 2012 and 2013. The Bo-Keys next big project was the 2016 album Heartaches by the Number, a salute to country-soul. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi