Memphis funk legends The Bar-Kays embarked on their second tour of performances for U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Kuwait this week, hoping to spread the joy of entertainment and fun in a war-torn region.  Photo: Courtesy of The Bar-Kays and Scorpion Productions

The instructions didn’t self-destruct five seconds after being read, but plans for the Memphis funk band The Bar-Kays’ next overseas tour have been on a need-to-know basis.

“It’s a little secretive,” said Larry Dodson, the band’s lead singer. “You know where you’re going, but you don’t know when you’re going. When you get on the plane, they never tell you where you’re about to go.”

Dodson and eight members of the Bar-Kays are off for a two-week tour of Kuwait and Iraq, where they will perform at five different U.S. military bases doing everything from full-set concerts to impromptu hospital bedside performances whenever they run into someone who needs a little cheering up.

This the second time the group has performed for soldiers in war-torn areas of the Middle East, where funk music isn’t readily available. They last visited the region in 2007.

“We were honored to come back again,” said Dodson. “This may be the last time anybody entertainment-wise will be asked to go to Iraq.”

Dodson said he learned through his agent, who booked the performances through the military, that a regime change in Iraq might mean changes in policy regarding American bands visiting the country. The group will live in military installations, sleep in bunkers, eat in cafeterias and experience life as the soldiers do, which means enduring daytime temperatures topping 120 degrees.

“It’s not a luxury ride at all,” said Dodson.

The Bar-Kays started in 1966 playing for Stax stars like Otis Redding. They have released almost 20 albums and nearly as many singles, including chart-topping hits like “Soul Finger” and “Son of Shaft.”

While preparing to enter the war zone, members of the group decided that saving lives seemed appropriate for their cause, so when the opportunity to donate blood in Memphis came up, they jumped at it. Dodson and other band members were asked their blood types on an application, something that had not been asked in 2007. They didn’t know their types, so they went to LifeBlood for a test, which the nonprofit offers for a fee or for free if a donation of blood is given.

“I just didn’t know my type,” said Dodson. “It’s not on your driver’s license anymore. My primary doctor didn’t even know. We all talked about (donating blood) and Randy (Hodges) encouraged everybody to do it. It was an area that some of us had not had experience in. They were very nice.”

Hodges is The Bar-Kays’ tour manager who also will travel to the Middle East with the band.

“I’ve always wanted to do it just in case someone needed some blood,” said Hodges.

Dodson added that as a spokesperson for Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center, he has an “attachment to medical issues.”

“One thing about our organization, people see us on stage, but we’re very community oriented,” said Dodson.

The group also funds two annual scholarships for students at The LeMoyne-Owen College and recently organized a special CD/DVD combo of 45 Memphis musicians titled “A Message From Memphis” to raise funds for earthquake victims in Haiti. The album, which was completed in mid-July, is available at Walmart stores.

The Bar-Kays also have cause to celebrate as their latest single, a remake of British R&B singer Mark Morrison’s 1994 hit “Return of the Mack,” hit No. 38 on the charts, just five weeks after its release. Upon returning from the Middle East, The Bar-Kays plan to release a new album on their own label, JEA Right Now Records.

Asked if they were anxious about making music in harm’s way, Dodson was candid.

“CNN gives you one view (of Iraq), but when you’re there you actually see just what’s going on,” said Dodson. “But one thing we did come away with, they definitely have it under control. It’s not a runaway war.”