Book a Band Listing

Winner of the 2006 Austin Chronicle/SXSW Voter Music Poll: Best Instrumental Band Winner of the 2005 Austin Chronicle/SXSW Voter Music Poll: Best Jam Band McLemore Avenue--following in the tradition of instrumental groups like Booker T. and the MGs, The Meters, Jimmy Smith, and Jackie Mittoo--combines elements of Southern soul, R & B, jazz and other genres with an original sound that is unique to Austin, Texas. The band takes its name from the street over in Memphis, Tennessee where STAX Records--a name synonymous with Southern soul music--once stood. It was home to a host of legendary recording artists including Otis Redding and Isaac Hayes, as well as Booker T and the MGs, who performed the double role of house band and solo act. In 1977, the label went out of business and was eventually abandoned and demolished. However, in April of 2003 old 'Soulsville, USA' was rebuilt as a museum of American soul music, at its original 926 East McLemore Avenue location. Austin's McLemore Avenue, formed in 1997, continues where the studio left off, but with an original, southern-flavored sound all their own, with Patrick Barker-Benfield on the Hammond B-3, Landis Armstrong on guitar, Chris Johnson on bass, and Eric C. Hughes on drums. Besides being voted Austin's number one instrumental band, their debut album 926 East has been named an Austin Chronicle 'Texas Top 10' for 2003, declared 'Fun, fun, fun!' by Living Blues Magazine, and is already receiving critical acclaim: 'Rooting themselves in southern soul, they've made a modern record that plays with the excitement and feel of discovering a STAX classic.' -Robert Gordon, author of It Came From Memphis