Boogie Shoes: Live On Beale Street

In 1999, Fred Ford, a legend in the Memphis, Tennessee music community, was in poor health and facing a punishing amount of medical bills. A group of local musicians and fans were setting up a benefit concert to help Ford and his family, and the organizers asked Alex Chilton (who knew and had worked with Ford) to play the show. When Chilton said he didnt have a band in Memphis who could back him up, they sealed the deal by promising that the Hi Rhythm Section -- the elite Memphis session musicians who had backed Al Green on his 1970s classics -- would play with him. The concert was recorded for posterity, and more than two decades later, Chiltons set was released under the title Boogie Shoes: Live on Beale Street. This gig was clearly meant to put Chilton in his comfort zone, which at that time meant he didnt play any of the Big Star or Box Tops classics fans might hope for. In fact, Chilton didnt play any originals at all that evening; instead, he breezed through ten rock and R&B oldies, with no run-through before the gig. In the hands of another band, this might have spelled disaster, but the Hi Rhythm Section sound utterly unfazed by this situation -- they hit an effortless groove on each and every number, with Maybon Teenie Hodges (guitar), Charles Hodges (keyboards), Archie Hubie Mitchell (keyboards), Leroy Hodges (bass), and Howard Grimes (drums) generating a rich, warm sound that fits these songs like a glove. (Chilton also brought along a horn section, and Jim Spake, Roland Kirk Smothers, and Scott Thompson do more than their share to give the songs some swagger.) Of course, the job of a session musician is to help the artist theyre backing sound good, and the Hi Rhythm Section did just that. Well-known for sometimes being uninspired on-stage when things werent quite the way he wanted, Chilton sounds like hes 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 caliber. 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 its one of the best live Alex Chilton releases to appear to date. ~ Mark Deming