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Journeys of Discovery: Memphis music legend Booker T. Jones

Memphis, Tennessee, native Booker T. Jones started playing the piano as a toddler, and began singing in his church choir as a six year-old. With the release of “Green Onions” in 1962, Booker T. & the M.G.’s organ-infused Memphis soul sound became a number-one hit on Billboard’s R&B chart. Correspondent Tom Wilmer visits with Jones at the North Carolina Folk Festival, where he recalls growing up in Memphis, playing as a studio musician at Stax Recording Studio while still in high school, and the story behind “M.G.” in the band’s name. Jones is a member of the Rock  & Roll Hall of Fame, and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum. His autobiographical book “The Time is Tight—My life Note By Note” is scheduled for release November 1, 2019. Jones’ music has been acknowledged by USA Today’s “100 Best Songs in History” and Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” Recipient of three Grammys and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the hit-single “Green Onions” was inducted in to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

Tom Wilmer produces on-air content for Issues & Ideas airing over KCBX and is producer and host of the six-time Lowell Thomas award-winning NPR podcast Journeys of Discovery with Tom Wilmer. Recorded live on-location across America and around the world, the podcasts feature the arts, culture, music, nature, history, science, wine & spirits, brewpubs, and the culinary arts--everything from baseball to exploring South Pacific atolls to interviewing the real Santa Claus in the Arctic.
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