MIssion Creek: Booker T. Jones

I had been curious about, Potato Hole, Booker T. Jones’ 2009 album with the Drive by Truckers and Neil Young, but had never bothered to do anything to satisfy that curiosity. With plans to catch him at the Mission Creek Music Festival on Wednesday, I decided it was time to seek it out. I’m glad I did, for the songs from this pummeling disc would otherwise have been a jarring introduction to the show.

As it was, I fully anticipated it (and having seen a setlist from a September 2009 show, I knew, it seems, exactly what to expect) and enjoyed it. For those in the audience expecting some polite organ-based soul music a la “Green Onions,” however, it must have been a shock. It was the loudest show I’ve seen in Iowa City’s Englert Theatre, an energetic blast that could have used a larger crowd made up of people with more energy to feed off the band.

Jones started with three tracks from that new album, with his band doing a capable, if too-polished job of recreating the bombast of the DBTs. Jones seems to know intuitively how much is too much, because after that he shifted into more of what people likely expected. That part of the show began with “Green Onions,” and then shifted into a vocal showcase for Jones. Hearing his pleasant voice, I wondered why he hadn’t sung more in his career. He handled “Born Under a Bad Sign,” a song he wrote for Albert Collins, ably, then even shifted to guitar for a couple of tunes. Hearing his very mannered, tame version of Sam & Dave’s “Hold On (I’m Comin’)” explained why he didn’t sing more. It was fine, but the song begs for a belter, and Jones’ delivery was too polite. The band also tackled “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay,” and Jones voice, though no match for the mighty Otis Redding, was a better fit here. He and the MGs played on both songs, giving him a chance to indulge in a bit of history.

He returned to the organ then offering hits like “Hip Hug Her, “Hang ‘Em High” and “Time is Tight.” The later “Melting Pot,” gave the band the chance to really stretch out, with his two guitarists playing some blistering solos. They closed with the cover of Outkast’s “Hey Ya” found on Potato Hole, a nice rave-up to send people out into the night, but one that probably fell flat with an audience that skewed older and likely didn’t know the source material, no matter its ubiquity a few years ago.

It was a satisfying, long set from a veteran who is rightly known as a legend. The only drawback is that his set was so long that I missed Tune-Yards, whose last note rang out as I made my way down the street to that venue. The capacity crowd was raving about the set as they streamed out for fresh air, so here’s hoping they make it back.

Next up: A discussion of Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet featuring Chuck D and the Bomb Squad, David Bazan, Acid Mother’s Temple and more.