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Entertainment Weekly

No, nothing on Potato Hole is as unassailable as vintage MGs cuts like 'Green Onions' and 'Time Is Tight.' But the set's authoritative blend of grit and melody is mostly pretty ace.

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Billboard

the guests' reverence for Booker T. is clear--the Truckers, as they did when they recently backed Bettye LaVette, know when to muscle up (on 'Pound It Out') and how to hang back (on moving, B3-powered track 'She Breaks,' a sweet, shimmering number filled with references to Booker T.'s awesome past).

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Boston Globe

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.

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Uncut

Potato Hole proves as extraordinary, delirious and laugh-out-loud weird as anyone might dare hope.

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The New York Times

Booker T. Jones, the organist who led the M.G.’s on their own and as the Stax-Volt studio band on countless Memphis soul classics, sounds more pithy and forceful than ever on Potato Hole, an album of rock and soul instrumentals.

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All Music Guide

Potato Hole isn't a slab of greasy Stax soul, either. It is what it is, a new Booker T. Jones album, and hopefully it won't take another 20 years to get to the next one.

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Hartford Courant

A noodling version of the Truckers' own 'Space City' wanders a little too aimlessly to close, but Potato Hole overall is a subtle album with enough fire to prove that Jones can still bring the heat.

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Paste Magazine

Booker T. is more a frontman than a bandleader here, which makes Potato Hole sound less like a solo album and more like a band project.

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Austin Chronicle

OutKast's 'Hey Ya' cooks Shakey's bio-diesel, while his brief solo on 'Native New Yorker' buffs a thoroughbred coat, and Tom Waits' 'Get Behind the Mule' pushes the heated end of the beast.

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Rolling Stone

The originals feel like old standards. But the cover of OutKast's 'Hey Ya' is the zinger: It's Southern race-mixing party music come full circle.

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NOW Magazine

This album is back-to-basics rock and soul; you won’t find any further ploys to appease contemporary audiences, and therein lies its charm.

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PopMatters

While all of this might come across as an indictment of the album, it’s really not a colossal failure at all--because regardless of its inability to live up to the admittedly lofty expectations of the ensemble cast, it’s clear all involved are having one hell of a good time.

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Mojo

Soul is only as good as its rhythm section and Drive-By Truckers are just not up to the job, obliterating subtle originals and OutKast and Tom Waits covers with bashing, crashing drums and plodding bass. A missed opportunity. [May 2009, p.97]

Q Magazine

A sad waste of everyone's time. [Jun 2009, p.119]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 9.6 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Joe Outlaw gave it a9:
Fabulous meld of Booker T. for the ages!

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Potato Hole

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