Otis Redding had just finished a show at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee, and wanted to check out the local music scene in the spring of 1967.

So he started asking people what the hottest club in town was at the time and was told there was a place called the Hippodrome that was currently featuring a young band called the Bar-Kays.

Redding made his way to the Hippodrome to check out the Bar-Kays and was so impressed with the band that he sat in for a set.

“He was so amazed when he sat in with us that he asked us if we would be his touring band right then,” said James Alexander, the young bassist for the Bar-Kays, which also included Ronnie Caldwell on electric organ, Phalon Jones on saxophone, Jimmy King on guitar, Carl Cunningham on drums and trumpeter Ben Cauley. “But we were underage and … Read more