From left, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Booker T. Jones and Steve Cropper.

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When Stax Records, the famed Memphis soul label, needed a bassist to accompany one of its A-list artists, it called on musician Donald "Duck" Dunn.

Together with his childhood friend, guitarist Steve Cropper, and organist Booker T. Jones, Dunn backed an array of well-known performers from Wilson Pickett to Otis Redding and Albert King through the 1960s and early '70s.

The sessions eventually gave birth to Booker T. and the MGs, a band that makes its way through Centennial Hall on Tuesday.

"Those were good years, the Otis Redding days," Dunn said in a phone interview last week from his Florida home. "We were trying to cut hit single records, and we managed to do it just about every time."

As session players, MG members could be heard on such monumental recordings as King's "Born Under a Bad Sign," Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness" and Sam & Dave's "Hold On, I'm Comin.'"

As a band, the group released multiple instrumental hit albums with songs like "Hip Hug-her" and "Green Onions," landing them in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and earning them a lifetime achievement award at the Grammys in 2007.

"Those were both amazing honors for me," Dunn said. "When I got a call saying I won a lifetime achievement award, I turned around and told my wife and she near-fainted. It is nice to experience that, particularly when it is for playing your own music."

Even as touring has tapered off, the MGs continue to bring in new fans.

In January, the band's cover of "I Ain't Got Nobody" was featured on the soundtrack for the Jack Black/Mos Def feature film, "Be Kind Rewind."

And Dunn and Cropper just recently returned from an extended tour in Australia where they played with "Australian Idol: Season One" winner Guy Sebastian.

In 2007, Sebastian was looking to do a tribute album to the Memphis soul sound and recruited Cropper and Dunn to appear on the release.

The recording went double-platinum Down Under and exposed a whole new generation of music lovers to some of the essential players from back in the day.

Dunn and Cropper toured across the continent with Sebastian from Perth on the west coast to an 11-day stint in Sydney.

"He is really good, Guy Sebastian," Dunn said. "He has a lot of Al Green and Al Jarreau in him. When we went down to tour, there was a group of Stax fans that met us at the airport and followed us to every show."

Dunn said he and Cropper still have potential dates with Sebastian through Asia. He added that the MGs were also in talks to put out a new album featuring guest vocalists on the Concord Records label.

Whatever comes, Dunn admits there is no one he would rather be playing with.

"Steve and I have known each other since the sixth grade," Dunn said. "And I call Booker maestro. He is such a gentleman and has a great sense of humor. I can't recall any of us having an angry moment."