Steve Cropper Dedicated

Steve Cropper Dedicated

Iconic guitarist Steve Cropper readies Dedicated - a tribute to The 5 Royales.

Featuring special guests Lucinda Williams, Sharon Jones, Brian May, Steve Winwood, Bettye LaVette, BB King, Delbert McClinton, John Popper and more.

Steve Cropper, the Grammy-nominated, Rock Hall of Fame guitarist who has played with Booker T. and the MG's as well as Otis Redding and Carla Thomas during the Stax era, is releasing Dedicated- a heartfelt tribute to fellow guitarist Lowman "Pete" Pauling and his pioneering R&B group The 5 Royales. Dedicated will be released on 429 Records through Universal Music Australia on August 12th.

A legendary and influential musician in his own right, Cropper pays homage to the group that broke musical ground and shaped his own distinctive musical voice. Produced by Cropper and Jon Tiven (Felix Cavaliere), they put together a session player dream team consisting of David Hood (bass), Spooner Oldham (piano/electric piano, organ), Steve Ferrone (drums), Steve Jordan (drums, percussion), Neal Sugarman (from the Dap Kings) and Tiven himself (saxophones). As word got out about the project, A-list guests signed on to contribute their talents such as Lucinda Williams, Brian May, Sharon Jones, Steve Winwood, John Popper, BB King, Bettye LaVette, Delbert McClinton, Buddy Miller, Shemekia Copeland and others.

For Steve Cropper, embarking on a project paying tribute to The 5 Royales was a completely logical endeavour. More than any other artists, The 5 Royales and in particular, Lowman "Pete" Pauling, were constantly referenced by Cropper as his prime inspiration.

Says Cropper: "Part of getting older and still being able to play and all of that…at a certain point it becomes about educating the next generation. I've already had four of five careers and I'm lucky to be alive. If I can educate these young ears as to where the music started, because they're always asking, and if I can get them interested in The 5 Royales I've done something."

Cropper's first group The Mar-Keys became the studio session group for Stax Records in his native Memphis. After scoring the million selling, Top 5 hit 'Last Night' in 1961, the group evolved into the MG's, which defined instrumental cool with 'Green Onions' and played behind all the great Stax artists of the era. Cropper went on to become the pre-eminent R&B axeman of his time, ultimately working with artists that defined a generation, including Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd and Wilson Pickett. He co-wrote songs with these artists that endure as classics over 40 years later, including '(Sittin' On) The Dock of The Bay', 'Knock On Wood', and 'In The Midnight Hour'. These timeless classics have inspired many fans to take guitar lessons at TakeLessons.com and other promising tutoring institutions.

In the late 70s and early 80s, after a fruitful period of session and production work with everyone from Rod Stewart, Tower of Power, Jeff Beck and two Beatles (John and Ringo), Cropper filmed, recorded and toured with The Blues Brothers-a role he reprised in the ill fated, but still musically magical sequel Blues Brothers 2000. Cropper received three awards in the past decade which reflect his influence on the rock era: a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (for Booker T. and the MG's) and inductions into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

The wondrous, infectiously grooving fourteen tracks of Dedicated pay homage to a group and a guitarist of an era gone by that inspired Cropper to in turn inspire multiple generations.

Dedicated Track Listing:
30 Second Lover (w/ Steve Winwood)
Don't Be Ashamed (w/ Bettye LaVette & Willie Jones)
Baby Don't Do It (w/ BB King & Shemekia Copeland)
Dedicated To The One I Love (w/ Lucinda Williams & Dan Penn)
My Sugar Sugar ( w/ John Popper)
Right Around The Corner (w/ Delbert McClinton)
Help Me Somebody (Instrumental)
I Do ( w/ Brian May)
Messin' Up (w/Sharon Jones)

Say It (w/ Bettye LaVette)
Slummer The Slum (w/ Buddy Miller
Someone Mad You For Me (w/Dan Penn)
Think (instrumental)
Come On And Save Me (Leblanc and Sharon Jones)
When I Get Like This (w/ Lucinda Williams)



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