Memphis has long been a city that stews together a wide set of varied influences: southern soul, rockabilly, R&B, country, blues, and pop. And the Box Tops — who stumbled into a perennial hit while barely out of high school with 1967’s “The Letter” — proudly wore their soul on their sleeves.
In what must be the most easygoing reunion of all time, the Box Tops — including lead singer, cult figure, and Big Star dude Alex Chilton — ended up back together a little more than 10 years ago at the behest of bassist and keyboardist Bill Cunningham. The reunion was a pure lark — just to try out a technologically updated studio. But now, instead of churning out oldies for fat ladies in halter tops every summer — or simply bowing to Chilton’s name — the whole band remains invested in down-home generosity and continued discovery. At the same time, their performances do help to “explain where [Chilton] came from, as well as where we come from,” Cunningham says. “When you start looking at everything, and you dig deep enough, you’ll see that a lot of people knew one another, and a lot of people influenced one another.”
This article appears in Feb 28 – Mar 6, 2007.