{"id":10930,"date":"2016-06-10T05:30:04","date_gmt":"2016-06-10T09:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=10930"},"modified":"2016-06-07T12:06:45","modified_gmt":"2016-06-07T16:06:45","slug":"the-bo-keys-todays-new-school-of-old-school-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2016\/06\/10\/the-bo-keys-todays-new-school-of-old-school-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bo-Keys: Today\u2019s New School of Old-school (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One<\/a>…<\/i><\/p>\n

Bo-Keys <\/b>producer\/bandleader Scott Bomar<\/b> says that the bulk of the work on Heartaches by the Number<\/i> took the form of pre-production. \u201cI spent well over a year compiling songs \u2013 covers and originals \u2013 for the record,\u201d Bomar says. The result is a rich collection of weepers: crying-in-your-beer tunes, all given a soulful Bo-Keys reading that places them smack between country & western and Memphis soul. \u201cI had close to 75 songs under consideration,\u201d he says. Bomar worked closely with Percy Wiggins<\/b> to select the 10 songs with which the vocalist would be most comfortable.<\/p>\n

\"bo-keys\"<\/p>\n

Heartaches by the Numbers<\/i>‘ country-soul aesthetic was baked into the concept from its conception. \u201cIt’s essentially The Bo-Keys’ take on country music,\u201d Bomar explains. \u201cI’ve always loved old country; I grew up with it.\u201d Bomar notes that people sometimes ask, \u201c’What’s the ‘Memphis sound?’ To me \u2013 and I’ve lived here my entire life \u2013 it’s all<\/i> the musical influences that happen here. You have blues, soul and gospel, but you also have country.\u201d He recalls listening to local AM radio in the late 1970s: \u201cI would hear ‘Soul Finger’ by The Bar-kays<\/b>, and the next thing I’d hear might be Elvis<\/b><\/a>, or Charlie Rich<\/b>, or Jerry Lee Lewis<\/b><\/a>.\u201d He notes that jukeboxes in Memphis bars have \u201cGreen Onions\u201d alongside 45s by George Jones<\/i>. And Heartaches by the Numbers<\/i> is a successful effort that combines those various flavors into a modern-day Memphis soul stew (as it were).<\/p>\n

In narrowing the choices to 10 songs, some great tunes went by the wayside. But Bomar covered the bases he wanted to cover. \u201cI wanted to have a Merle Haggard<\/b> song and a Willie Nelson song<\/b>,\u201d he says. \u201c I wanted to hit certain artists; we got close, but we didn’t get to everybody we wanted. Maybe we’ll have to do another record!\u201d<\/p>\n