We [The Band] had to listen [to “the Basement Tapes”] for a while in order to stop doing stuff that didn’t sound so good. I’ve had Duck Dunn tell me that, too, that working at Stax Records and being the house band for Stax Records made him a much better player because every day he would record and would have to listen to himself back.
Did you ever directly cop licks from Earl Palmer or Smokey Johnson?
Oh yeah (laughs). I came up with a drum fill that I thought was pretty hot, and I was just about to pat myself on the back, and started listening around to some stuff and damn it if Earl Palmer didn’t already do it on one of Little Richard’s records. The hook that Earl Palmer did on “Keep a Knockin’,” that drum kick-off, that’s one of the greatest hooks in music for my ears.
Published November 2007, OffBeat Louisiana Music & Culture Magazine, Volume 20, No. 11.
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