Ori Naftaly grew up in Israel listening to his dad’s blues, jazz, funk and soul tapes. Since that’s all he heard, he gravitated toward blues not long after he started playing guitar at age 5.
His first trip to the United States came when he was 25 and represented Israel in the 2013 International Blues Challenge. He made it to the semifinals, which was then the highest an Israeli artist had placed.
“I managed to get a visa and come back to play,” he says of relocating to Memphis four months after that competition. He laughs now about the culture shock in moving from Israel to the South and trying to decipher the locals’ drawls. But talent is understood in any language and soon he was playing clubs with his own band.
“Memphis was a dream come true. It was like in the movies for me and all the documentaries I’ve watched about Memphis, the South, the Delta and this country I love. This is where a lot of the great music originated,” he says of the strong pull of the South.
He was playing clubs when he decided to change his singer in 2015. Asking around, he heard of Tierinii Jackson. She agreed to join his band if he hired her sister, Tikyra, as his drummer. He did and those three, along with keyboardist Jeremy Powell and bass player Daniel McKee named their new band Southern Avenue after the Memphis street that was the original home of Stax Records
Coincidentaly, less than a year after forming, Southern Avenue signed a recording contract with Stax Records.
The blues and soul band will wrap up the Riverfront Nights concert series on Saturday, Aug. 18, at Ross’s Landing, 201 Riverfront Parkway. The free concert starts at 7 p.m. with a local opener before Southern Avenue rocks the stage at 8 o’clock.
Southern Avenue was named Best Emerging Artist at the 2018 Blue Music Awards.
Naftaly and Tierinii Jackson write the band’s music, but sister Tikyra has also contributed some originals.
Naftaly says Southern Avenue just finished recording its second album, which has 14 original songs. Chattanoogans will be among the first to hear their new music live at Riverfront Nights.
“With the new album, we wanted to be true to our roots. Everybody wants a radio-friendly album, so the balance has to be right, and we feel like we accomplished it perfectly.”
Naftaly says Saturday night’s audience can expect a high-energy show.
“We’re having a lot of fun and we hope to connect with the audience. We want our songs to mean something – we don’t talk about the sun, moon and ocean. I feel like people can connect to us. We’ll change their evening.”