“Booker T. Jones sounds more pithy and forceful than ever on “Potato Hole”…Mr. Jones still jabs terse, unhurried melodies that sound as if he knows the lyrics but would never tell. Where the M.G.’s suavely underplayed their aggression, the rockers’ multiple-guitar attack, with distortion and feedback, gives the music teeth.”
– Jon Pareles. New York Times

“A bad ass set of MG’s-style instrumentals. Jones’ sweet, thick Hammond B-3 riffs are spiked with Truckers’ roughneck (and surprisingly funky) Southern rock and some exceptional lyrical, focused Young guitar leads. The originals feel like old standards. But the cover of Outkast’s “Hey Ya” is a zinger: It’s Southern race-mixing party music come full circle.”
– Rolling Stone

“Organist Booker T. Jones brilliantly updates the Memphis R&B instrumental sound that made him famous…the material could be vintage Booker, but the execution is entirely fresh and organic – timeless.”
– Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle

"Potato Hole is as funky as most anything he has done, and as soulful, but the mass of rocking guitars is new territory and thrilling."
- Robert Gordon, Playboy

“"Potato Hole," his first solo album in 20 years, makes clear that he isn't done building on his legacy. There are no chart-baiting superstar guest vocalists or gimmicks, just gut-punching, funky, loose-limbed, rock 'n' soul jams recorded in down-and-dirty sessions without an inch of fat.”
– Boston Globe

“This is as extraordinary, delirious and laugh-out-loud weird as anyone might dare hope”
– Uncut Magazine

“MGs frontman Jones is scheduled for a hipster-assisted career revival, complete with a cool new indie label and a stop at Bonnaroo...seriously promising, seriously funky.”
– Washington Post

"Potato Hole" comes loaded with good news for fans of sweet soul music.”
– Billboard

“Authoritative blend of grit and melody.”
– Entertainment Weekly

“If this sounds more like rock-and-roll than Southern soul, that’s because it is. The group establishes its credential on the opening track, “Pound It Out,” on which Jones solos over a lumbering riff that could be a leftover from a Crazy Horse rehearsal.”
– The New Yorker

“Jones created a brilliant collection of real Memphis grease…a twelve course meal that is all meat and no filler. Buy this record now and throw a party! It’s THAT good!”
– The Nation

“It’s every bit as raw as Booker says, thanks to layers of guitars from the Truckers and Neil Young, who plays on nine tracks. Like classic Booker T and the MG’s albums, “Potato Hole” consists entirely of instrumentals, which have melodies and funk rhythms to balance their grit.”
– Billboard

“The muscular back-and-forth serves as a statement of purpose, heralding an album as likely to feature the echoing crunch of Neil Young's lead guitar -- which is heard on all but one song -- as Jones' trademark trill.”
– LA Times

“Booker T Jones’s alarmingly raucous new record, Potato Hole, is a more vital component of your next barbeque than the meat, the booze, and the other people…”Native New Yorker” rumbles forth with great purpose, Booker’s B3 sketching out a buoyant melody with so much verve and personality that it almost sounds alive.”
– The Village Voice


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