The Hi Rhythm Section was the

house band A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which ...

for hit

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

albums by several artists, including

Al Green Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Take Me to the River", ...

and

Ann Peebles Ann Lee Peebles (born April 27, 1947) is an American singer and songwriter who gained celebrity for her Memphis soul albums of the 1970s for Hi Records. Two of her most popular songs are " I Can't Stand the Rain", which she wrote with her husband ...

, on Willie Mitchell's

Hi Records Hi Records is an American soul music and rockabilly label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1957 by singer Ray Harris, record store owner Joe Cuoghi, Bill Cantrell and Quinton Claunch (formerly producers for Sun Records), and three silent partn ...

label in the 1970s. The band included the three Hodges brothers, organist

Charles Hodges Charles Edward Hodges (born June 29, 1947 in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American organist and songwriter. He is known for his high tone on the Hammond B3 organ, that appeared on records by Al Green, and other musicians signed to Hi Records. Hodge ...

, bassist

Leroy Hodges Leroy Hodges (born July 13, 1943) is an American electric bass player. He was born in Germantown, Tennessee. Paired with either Booker T. & the MGs's drummer Al Jackson, Jr. or Stax staff drummer Howard Grimes, Leroy and The Hodges Brothers w ...

and guitarist Mabon "Teenie" Hodges, together with pianist

Archie Turner Arthur "Archie" Turner (June 1877 – 4 April 1925) was a professional footballer who played at outside-right in the 1900 and 1902 FA Cup Finals for Southampton, and made two appearances for England. Playing career Archie Turner was born in ...

(or Michael Allen) and drummer

Howard Grimes Howard Lee Grimes (August 22, 1941 – February 12, 2022) was an American drummer, best known as a member of the Hi Rhythm Section on records by Al Green, Ann Peebles and others in the 1970s. Life and career Born in Memphis, Tennessee on August 2 ...

(or

Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. Stax was ...

drummer

Al Jackson Jr. Albert J. Jackson Jr. (November 27, 1935 – October 1, 1975) was an American drummer, producer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of Booker T. & the M.G.'s, a group of session musicians who worked for Stax Records and produced their ...

, on most singles until his death in 1975). Many recordings also used

The Memphis Horns The Memphis Horns were an American horn section, made famous by their many appearances on Stax Records. The duo consisted of Wayne Jackson (November 24, 1941 – June 21, 2016) on trumpet and Andrew Love (November 21, 1941 - April 12, 2012) on ...

- Wayne Jackson and Andrew Love - of Stax fame, usually with Willie's brother James Mitchell arranging and (Perry) Michael Allen - piano (Alt). The recordings were made at producer Willie Mitchell's Royal Recording Studio in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

Band history

The Hodges brothers began playing together in their father's band, the Germantown Blue Dots, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Leroy Hodges then formed his own band, The Impalas, and came into contact with Memphis trumpeter and bandleader Willie Mitchell. Younger brother Teenie Hodges, then an aspiring bass player, was unofficially adopted by Mitchell in the mid-1960s, and became a member of his regular band, soon joined by Charles and Leroy. Mitchell also recruited first Al Jackson, and later Howard Grimes, from the Stax house band, and used his stepson

as an additional keyboard player. In the late 1960s, Mitchell and his band cut back on their touring schedule, to focus more on studio work. The Hi Rhythm Section's distinctive, warm, swirling soul sound was a major ingredient in the success of the label through the 1970s. Three members of the Hodges family played guitar, organ and bass for the group; their naturally closeknit, familial warmth brought a unique, intuitive

groove Groove or Grooves may refer to: Music * Groove (music) * Groove (drumming) * The Groove (band), an Australian rock/pop band of the 1960s * The Groove (Sirius XM), a US radio station * Groove 101.7FM, a former Perth, Australia, radio station ...

to the group's sound. Along with contributions by other outstanding contemporary 1960s and 1970s Memphis studio sessions bands, such as the

Mar-Keys The Mar-Keys, formed in 1958, were an American studio session band for Stax Records, in Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1960s. As the first house band for the label, their backing music formed the foundation for the early 1960s Stax sound. Career E ...

, the Packers, and Booker T. & the M.G.'s, the Hi Rhythm Section helped define the sounds of the classic

Memphis soul Memphis soul, also known as the Memphis sound, is the most prominent strain of Southern soul. It is a shimmering, sultry style produced in the 1960s and 1970s at Stax Records and Hi Records in Memphis, Tennessee, featuring melodic unison horn line ...

music genre. By the mid-1970s, they had appeared on nearly 20 gold and platinum albums and countless chart hits for

, Ann Peebles,

Syl Johnson Sylvester Johnson (born Sylvester Thompson; July 1, 1936 – February 6, 2022) was an American blues and soul singer, musician, songwriter and record producer. His most successful records included "Different Strokes" (1967), " Is It Because I' ...

Otis Clay Otis Lee Clay (February 11, 1942 – January 8, 2016) was an American R&B and soul singer, who started in gospel music. In 2013, Clay was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame. Early life Clay was born in Waxhaw, Mississippi, to a musical family, ...

and others. The Hodges brothers, with Grimes, recorded the 1976 LP ''On the Loose'' as Hi Rhythm. The band dissolved after Hi Records was sold in 1977, but regrouped as a touring band in 1979. Through the 1980s and early 1990s, the Hodges brothers toured with singers

Albert Collins Albert Gene Drewery, known as Albert Collins and the Ice Man (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993),Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. ...

and Otis Clay, and periodically regrouped with Grimes and Turner. Charles Hodges left in the 1990s, becoming an ordained church minister. In 1994, the album ''Perfect Gentlemen'' was released, featuring a fourth Hodges with the addition of Fred on keyboards as well as Percy Wiggins on vocals, issued on Velvet Recordings of America as by The Hodges Brothers. Other band members still played together, sometimes with Jackson's cousin Steve Potts on percussion, providing their unique backdrops for Syl Johnson on the

Delmark Records Delmark Records is an American jazz and blues independent record label. It was founded in 1958 and is based in Chicago, Illinois. The label originated in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1953 when then owner, and founder, Bob Koester released a record ...

CD ''Back in the Game'' (1994), and the Mitchell-produced Al Green comeback ''I Can't Stop'' and its follow-up for the

Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical co ...

label in 2003 and 2005. They also toured with

Cat Power Charlyn Marie "Chan" Marshall ( ; born January 21, 1972), better known by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and model. Cat Power was originally the name of her first band, but has become her stage name as a ...

, aka Chan Marshall, and featured on her 2006 album '' The Greatest''. In 2016, the group was inducted into the

Memphis Music Hall of Fame The Memphis Music Hall of Fame, located in Memphis, Tennessee, honors Memphis musicians for their lifetime achievements in music. The induction ceremony and concert is held each year in Memphis. Since its establishment in 2012, the Hall of Fame has ...

. Canadian singer Frazey Ford recorded her 2014 album ''Indian Ocean'' songs "September Fields" and, "I'm Done", at the Royal Studio, - the Hi Rhythm Section backing her with their unmistakeable signature Memphis sounds. The Royal Recording Studio in Memphis is now included on the same tour with the landmark studios of

Stax Streaming API for XML (StAX) is an application programming interface ( API) to read and write XML documents, originating from the Java programming language community. Traditionally, XML APIs are either: * DOM based - the entire document is read i ...

and

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

Members

Teenie Hodges Mabon Lewis "Teenie" Hodges (November 16, 1945 – June 22, 2014) was an American musician known for his work as a rhythm and lead guitarist and songwriter on many of Al Green's soul hits, and those of other artists such as Ann Peebles and Syl J ...

– guitar (died 2014) *

– organ *

– bass *

– drums (died 2022) *

– drums (died 1975) *

– piano *(Perry) Michael Allen – piano (Alt) * James Hooker – piano (aka James H. Brown Jr.)

Discography

*''On the Loose'' (1976) *''Perfect Gentlemen'' (1994) – recorded as The Hodges Brothers *''Somewhere Out There'' (2012) – Deering and Down *''I Can't Stand the Rain'' (1974) – Ann Peebles

References

External links

History of Hi Records(Perry) Michael Allen
* {{Authority control American instrumental musical groups American session musicians Musical groups from Memphis, Tennessee