Booker T. Jones

When you're awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement gong, it's normally taken as a tacit indication that your best days are already behind you. But not Booker T. Jones: two years after being honoured at the US industry awards show, he was back to pick up another prize for his latest album, 2009's Potato Hole. The keyboardist was still in high school when he co-wrote 'Green Onions', the 1962 track that propelled Booker T. and the MGs to the forefront of the US soul scene, but if he'll always be synonymous with the Stax sound, Jones has found ways to keep things fresh. This year's The Road From Memphis was recorded with members of hip-hop act The Roots and features a collaboration with Lou Reed, along with an instrumental cover of Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy'. That's the spirit.