George Porter Jr., Eddie Roberts, Robert Walter & Nikki Glaspie Produce an All-Star Funk Collaboration ‘Floki Sessions: Boots in Place’

The intrepid Viking Flóki followed the path of a raven to discover Iceland over a thousand years ago and his boldness lives on through the Floki Sessions, a series that hosts musicians at Floki Studios, located in the Fljót Valley on the mountainous Troll Peninsula in northern Iceland to create a platform for renowned musical artists around the world to share the inspiration, soul, and energy of Iceland. Following up The New Mastersounds’ acclaimed 2022 album The Deplar Effect, the latest installment Floki Sessions: Boots in Place finds revered funk contemporaries George Porter Jr. (The Meters), Eddie Roberts (The New Mastersounds), Robert Walter (Greyboy Allstars), and Nikki Glaspie (The Nth Power) embarking on a studio retreat surrounded by the striking natural beauty of the Icelandic coastline and state-of-the-art recording equipment. Produced by Eddie Roberts of The New Mastersounds, the album presents a broad range of vintage funk & soul-inspired sounds explored through 10 brand new tracks that feature appearances from Son Little, Big Chief Donal Harrison, Erica Falls (formerly Galactic) Lamar Williams Jr. (Trouble No More, The New Mastersounds & North Mississippi All-Stars), Tierinii Jackson (Southern Avenue), Eric “Benny” Bloom (Lettuce) and rising Chicago artist GreenTTea.

The record presents the perfect blend of New Orleans funk traditions spearheaded by Porter’s legacy as one of the most iconic bassists in history best known as a founding member of The Meters. During the Floki Session, each collaborator in the core quartet brought in grooves and frameworks that were seamlessly fleshed out with guests later enlisted to put the icing on the cake. The album’s lead single “Mardi Gras Day,” released ahead of Fat Tuesday, came out of the gate as a homage to New Orleans. Walter brought in the instrumental groove that was augmented by the quartet and immediately reminded Roberts of  The Wild Magnolias and other Mardi Gras Indian recordings of the ‘70s. After the initial session in Iceland, Eddie approached Big Chief Donald Harrison who is revered as an iconic jazz artist best known for being the horn counterpart of trumpeter Terrance Blanchard in the ‘80s lineup of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and is currently the Chief of Congo Square in Afro-New Orleans Culture. While Harrison was performing in Denver, Colorado, Roberts seized the opportunity to get him into Color Red Studios to guest on the track.

“It doesn’t come much more legit than a Mardi Gras anthem played by two of New Orleans’ legends, George Porter Jr. and Big Chief Donald Harrison,” remarks Roberts, “In fact, everyone on the track has lived or gigged heavily in New Orleans at some point in their careers. This new record captures the spirit of some classic Mardi Gras Indian tracks of the ’70s, but is brought to life in 2023!”

Porter adds, “Big Chief Harrison has brought a fresh spin to Mardi Gras Tradition. Paying homage to that tradition is important to keeping the culture alive.”

The album title track “Boots in Place” features New Orleans mainstay vocalist, Erica Fall (formerly of Galactic) in a particularly funky groove brought to the group by Glaspie. Like Harrison, Falls was also brought into Color Red Studios while performing during Color Red’s 4th-year anniversary show at Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom. She had originally thought she was composing a song for George to sing over and penned the lyric “My Name is George Porter Jr.” in the opening verse. After realizing that it was a misunderstanding and she would be singing the song in addition to penning the lyrics, the lyric was changed to “My Name is George Porter Jr.” The proclamation solidifies the steadfast nature of the lead track paying respects to George’s living legacy as one of the fieriest funkmesiters of all time. Of the final product, Roberts exclaims, “I think this tune sums up the whole project and I love how it celebrates George and ‘what he came here to do’.”

Fans of The New Mastersounds and those familiar with The Allman Brothers lineage will delight in finding vocalist Lamar Williams Jr. on “Everything & Everyone.” Roberts brought in the Curtis Mayfied-inspired groove and had vocalist & songwriter Shelby Kemp pen the lyrics, who also worked with Roberts and Williams on two tracks on The Deplar Effect by The New Mastersounds. With the addition of Eric “Benny” Bloom (Lettuce) on trumpet and Nate Miller on saxophone, the outcome is a classic 60’s soul track with a hopeful spirit of pulling together to get through.

Another notable track is “Fall Right In,” a quirky arrangement that details the underbelly of New Orleans that acclaimed indie-soul artist Son Little. In a conversation with Floki Studios’ AR & Development Director, Chris Funk (The Decemberists), Roberts was introduced to Son Little’s music and had him on repeat for weeks citing him as “the real keeper of the soul torch.” While headlining The Bluebird Theater in Denver in November 2022, Roberts met Son Little and approached him to guest on the album and they fleshed out the arrangement that same weekend.

Other guests on the album include Tierinii Jackson of Southern Avenue on “Peace,” a gospel-inspired track that was the perfect fit for the Memphis-born and raised vocalist and promising 19-year-old Chicago vocalist GreenTTea on the ethereal “Jardim” which testifies that the vanguard of funk and soul music is in good hands as it reaches new generations. As likely implied, “Jazzmatazz” is a direct nod to Guru’s iconic 1993 album, who Roberts recalls seeing in Leeds, UK around that same time. Eric “Benny” Bloom garnished the track with punchy horn arrangements and the result is a homage to a golden era of 90s jazz-inspired hip-hop.

As cliche as it sounds, there truly is something for everyone in Floki Sessions: Boots in Place that will appeal to decades-long fans of The Meters and digital crate diggers on the hunt for fresh soul sounds alike. The merger of generations, musical styles, and home bases of musicians presents George Porter Jr. to audiences from many walks of life once again celebrating his patrimony of being a foundational funk musician and doing what he came here to do.