Huebert Crawford and the King Riders Band

Fronted by Huebert Crawford, the King Riders Band is actually an offshoot of the King Riders Motorcycle Club, which was one of the largest organizations of its kind in the South. The original club was put together by Mose Mumphrey in 1972, and the organization had seven chapters by 1986. The band led by Crawford was the official band of the Memphis chapter.

Crawford himself had a fairly extensive career in music, beginning as a guitarist with gospel quartets in Memphis as early as 1957. From here he would move into a rhythm and blues group, and eventually formed his own group, Huebert Crawford and the Soul Setters, in 1966. The original iteration of this group would feature Isaac Hayes on keyboard! Crawford would continue with this group until 1977, when he would return to the gospel scene. This change would actually see him perform with another High Water recording group, the Spirit of Memphis Quartet, and he would also record an album with them.

Finally, the King Riders would form in 1986, and soon after Crawford would approach Dr. David Evans about recording their self titled “King Riders Boogie.” The entire group was made up of veterans, with some members having played with Crawford since his early career in the late 1950’s. After the recording of this album, Crawford would eventually return to the gospel scene, subsequently break his arm, then switch firmly to keyboards only before moving to Mississippi.