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RENEE MONTAGNE, host: Every now and then, a band comes along that sounds like it's having just a little too much of a good time.
(Soundbite of song, Niagra Falls)
BOBBY LEE RODGERS & THE CODETALKERS (Rock Band): (Singing) I saw your picture sifting through a magazine. Said, oh, my God, I think I'll give you a call.
MONTAGNE: The CodeTalkers is a group from Atlanta. They're well known for their live concerts, but now they've released a new CD that captures their combination of funk and fun.
BOBBY LEE RODGERS: (Singing) ...so then I ran and pushed his ass down in Niagara Falls. Look out, mister. Could you fall down?
MONTAGNE: The band's latest album is called Now. Music journalist Ashley Kahn spoke to the leader of The CodeTalkers, Bobby Lee Rodgers.
(Soundbite of music)
Mr. BOBBY LEE RODGERS (Singer, Musician): Bobby Lee Rodgers & The CodeTalkers is kind of a combination of old-school rock and roll with jazz influence, and we do a lot of improvisation and a lot of original material.
ASHLEY KAHN reporting:
Bobby Lee Rodgers is the lead singer and guitarist of the trio. His band can urge you onto the dance floor with a funky beat...
(Soundbite of song, Million Dollars)
The CODETALKERS: (Singing) I put a million dollars on my hip pocket...
KAHN: Or they can nudge you in the ribs with some offbeat image in a song's lyric.
(Soundbite of music)
BOBBY LEE RODGERS: (Singing) ...was that you making faces at the monkeys in the county zoo?
I always admired Duke Ellington, because he said "I play music so I can do hijinks." And I just thought about that, and I was like, man, the humor in music is where it's at.
KAHN: It's true-to-life tunes like Ike Stubblefield that carry the humor on The CodeTalkers second album.
BOBBY LEE RODGERS: Ike Stubblefield is an organ master that lives here in Atlanta, Georgia. Stubblefield has a bird that sits on his shoulder and looks over while he's playing the organ, and everything in that song is true.
(Soundbite of organ music)
(Soundbite of laughter)
BOBBY LEE RODGERS: Every time I play this tune I start cracking up.
(Soundbite of song, Ike Stubblefield)
BOBBY LEE RODGERS: (Singing) He learned his tunes from the Bible, and his Momma told him what he could eat. So he jumped on top of his organ and he drove it down Peachtree Street. He's got a bird named Stanley that stands on his shoulder and screams. I got to learn to play like Ike Stubblefield. I got to learn to play like Ike Stubblefield.
(Soundbite of organ)
BOBBY LEE RODGERS: How was that?
(Soundbite of laughter)
KAHN: Bobby Lee Rodgers & The CodeTalkers first came together seven years ago. Rodgers on guitar, Ted Pecchio on bass, Tyler Greenwell on drums, and guidance from legendary Colonel Bruce Hampton - a veteran band leader and guru-like figure in the southern jam band scene.
BOBBY LEE RODGERS: People like to say he's the Frank Zappa of the South, and he saw my songwriting and he was, like, you know, we need to put you a group together. Let's get it going.
(Soundbite of music)
BOBBY LEE RODGERS: We got our butts kicked for seven years, and here we are. We're still standing and going strong.
(Soundbite of Tumblin' Down by Bobby Lee Rodgers & The CodeTalkers)
BOBBY LEE RODGERS: (Singing) You better run for cover and get out of the way, when the world comes tumbling down. When the world comes tumbling, everybody's bumming when the world comes tumbling down.
KAHN: Bobby Lee Rodgers & The CodeTalkers may be considered part of Atlanta's jam band scene, but according to Rodgers, the group doesn't just improvise over a loose structure.
BOBBY LEE RODGERS: On the good side, it allows for stretching and for experimental types of music. On the bad hand, it kind of categorizes you as maybe a band with not a lot of songs and more of a noodling kind of outfit.
KAHN: The fact is that there is a noodling aspect to the group. Their live shows attest to that. But they're much more than just jams. What helps The CodeTalkers stand out is a wide variety of styles and moods in their music, and their songs are neatly arranged and sculpted.
(Soundbite of song, Broken Home)
BOBBY LEE RODGERS: (Singing) Sometimes you have to rock to your own destiny and take sides with the life you know. Spirits try to make their way into your mind. Sometimes you have to tell them no.
KAHN: Another distinguishing feature of their sound is Rodgers' guitar.
(Soundbite of guitar music)
KAHN: That rich, tremolo affect comes from playing his guitar through an unusual piece of equipment that's a bit retro.
BOBBY LEE RODGERS: This guy Don Leslie invented the spinning organ cabinet, and it was - mine's from the '60s. And what it does is, you have two speeds. You have this fast speed where...
(Soundbite of guitar)
BOBBY LEE RODGERS: There's the note spinning. And then you have the slow speed where it goes...
(Soundbite of guitar)
BOBBY LEE RODGERS: ...it's slower.
(Soundbite of guitar)
BOBBY LEE RODGERS: Of course, it's a really old thing. So you get all the noise and crackle with it, which is what I love, you know. I love that this stuff...
(Soundbite of guitar)
BOBBY LEE RODGERS: That's the slow speed, so you get more of the...
(Soundbite of guitar)
BOBBY LEE RODGERS: So this is tune based off that.
(Singing) You're so starry-eyed at the sounds that he was making. You were so hypnotized at the way his heart was aching. But be careful what you can't erase from your Sagittarius face - Sagittarius face.
KAHN: There's one more thing you need to know about The CodeTalkers.
(Soundbite of music)
KAHN: They got their name from a book written by jazz bandleader Sun Ra who claimed to be from Saturn. But the band looks like they just got off a nine-to- five shift at the local bank. They wear three-piece suits when they perform. Just don't take that too seriously.
BOBBY LEE RODGERS: (Singing) I got to learn to play like Ike Stubblefield. I got to learn to play like Ike Stubblefield.
MONTAGNE: Ashley Kahn is the author of the book, The House that Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records. To hear more of Ike Stubblefield and other songs from The CodeTalkers' new album, Now, visit npr.org.
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
The CODETALKERS: (Singing) I got to learn to play like Ike Stubblefield. I got to learn to play like Ike Stubblefield. I got to learn to play like Ike Stubblefield. So if you go outside in the evening, you might hear the Stubblefield B. And if you need a new driver's license, you can catch him at the DMV.
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Discography
The trio tracked a dozen tunes at Tree Sound Studios in Atlanta and live tracks at The Double Door Inn in Charlotte, NC in recent weeks and looks forward to completing a CD for release later in the year (2010.)
Attached tracks are from those sessions.
Photos
Bio
This trio was years in the making. During Rodgers' decade with his band The CodeTalkers, he was well-known for playing his guitar through a vintage Leslie speaker cabinet to achieve the sound of the B3 organ to augment the original sound of his vintage guitars.
BOBBY LEE RODGERS:
Picking up the double bass at age seven, Rodgers grasped that instrument with such ease that it was no surprise that he quickly moved on to the drums and then to guitar. In high school, a fortuitous relationship with the band teacher opened Rodgers' eyes to the language of Jazz. Within five years of his H.S. graduation, he had landed a coveted teaching position at the Berklee College of Music where he taught in the Jazz Studies program while moonlighting all along the New England coast, one foot in Jazz, one foot in the world which would eventually lead him home, and to Atlanta's so-called Jam Band world. That was a decade ago. Sharing the stage with Jimmy Herring, Hubert Sumlin, Jeff Sipe and Vassar Clements , Rodgers has managed to maintain his deep roots in Jazz while creating a brand of rock which is intelligent, innovative and absolutely addictive.
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