The Bo-Keys: Masters Of The Memphis Sound

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Bandleader, Scott Bomar (extreme left), with the rest of The Bo-Keys. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Courtesy of the artist

Bandleader, Scott Bomar (extreme left), with the rest of The Bo-Keys.

Courtesy of the artist

The jazz and soul group The Bo-Keys formed in Memphis, and they sound like it. Founded by bassist and producer Scott Bomar in 1998, the band is comprised of a host of veteran session players from the golden age of Memphis soul, as well as a handful of younger players.

Bomar is one of the latter — at 37, he's far too young to remember the heyday of the kind of music the group makes. But as he tells NPR's Jacki Lyden, that didn't stop him from idolizing Booker T. & the MG's, The Bar-Kays, and other iconic Memphis acts growing up.

"Those bands, to me, are like what the The Beatles, The Who and The Rolling Stones are to a lot of rock music fans," says Bomar. "I really looked up to those groups, and that's the type of music I wanted to play."

The Bo-Keys' newest album, Got To Get Back, comes out this week.