FreeSol and Richard “Hi-Que” Forrest are cooking at Carolina Watershed.
But not on stage.
Free and Forrest are owners of Red Bones Turkey Legs, which is housed at the venue off South Main.
“Kind of like a constant pop-up,” Free says.
Their fall-off-the-bone turkey legs are served by themselves, or flavored with buffalo, garlic parmesan, white Alabama barbecue, or Tennessee whiskey sauces, and stuffed with dirty rice, macaroni and cheese, spinach casserole, or a mixture of all the stuffings.
“Then we top off those with Cajun Alfredo sauce,” Forrest says.
Free, lead singer of the alternative band also called FreeSol that was formerly signed to Interscope Records, got the idea to do a restaurant while living in Southern California, where he was inspired by the late rapper/entrepreneur Nipsey Hussle. “Just that connection to that Nipsey Hussle spirit. Just wanting to come back home and be a part of the community and start small businesses within the community. For me, I’ve always wanted to be in the food business in Memphis. Memphis is known for its music and its food.
“I come from a family full of cooks. My granny was an amazing chef. People would come from all over the neighborhood to eat her food every Sunday. My uncle was a pit master. He was always in Memphis in May. I think he he won a couple of awards. When I have memories of him, there’s always smoke in the air.”
Free specifically wanted to do turkey legs. “It’s the way my music is,” he says. “I wasn’t trying to make the same music everybody else was making. It’s just not my style. I didn’t want something like a wing place. I wanted to be something different.”
Turkey Leg Hut in Houston, Texas was an inspiration. Someone told him they cooked “2,900 turkey legs a day,” Free says. “This is insane. On a slow day, 2,200.
“I just became almost obsessed with that. I didn’t want to go to Houston and taste their turkey legs. I’m not trying to copy them.”
But he liked the idea of “meat falling off the bone.”
He told his idea to Andy “Kaz” Westmoreland, who works at Carolina Watershed. Kaz introduced him to Tony Westmoreland, one of the owners. “He instantly was like, ‘Man, you can use my smoker and use this place. We’ll figure out a way to make this work.’”
Free got reacquainted with Forrest, who he had met on another occasion, at Carolina Watershed. They immediately hit it off.
“I come from a background of cooks as well,” Forrest says. “It was my dad that raised me who introduced me to the grill. I would cook hotdogs on the grill. I was about 9. And about 11 or 12, I started cooking chicken and steaks on the grill. My dad would work overtime and one day my mom said, ‘Would you fire up the grill by yourself?’ I did. And from that day I never stopped.”
Forrest later found out he had another cooking connection. “My history of cooking is really in my blood.”
His biological grandfather, Franklin Jones Sr., was “a professional cooker, pit master, out of Munford. He had his own food truck, Franklin’s BBQ.”
Franklin Sr. was known as ‘the barbecue man’ in Munford. “I’m known as ‘the barbecue man’ in Memphis.”
Forrest, who worked on the grill for 10 years at Cozy Corner Restaurant, got to cook with his grandfather, whose style was slow. In 10 or 12 hours during holiday season at Cozy Corner, Forrest cooked “250 slabs of ribs, 28 turkeys, a couple of cases of Cornish hens, a couple of cases of chickens, and a couple of cases of wings.” He told his grandfather, “It takes 12 hours to cook one thing on your grill.
“He said, ‘Listen to me. It’s something that’s needed for your deadline. You got to cook fast.’
“That taught me an understanding of how to be versatile.”
Jonathan Kiersky, who owned Hi Tone at the time, asked Forrest to become “the official food truck at the Hi Tone” after the club moved to its first Crosstown location. He and Kiersky came up with his nickname. “He said ‘Hi.’ I said, ‘Que.’”
Forrest eventually began cooking barbecue and fresh vegetables in a smoker in front, including his smoked vegan greens, for the bands that performed at the club.
He could still be grilling into the early morning hours, Forrest says. “People would leave other clubs and pass by and see if I still had the smoker going.”
Forrest, who went on to work at Ferdinand Catering, originally met Free at a pop-up with Kaz at Sidecar Cafe. “Free was talking about doing stuffed turkey legs.”
When they met again at Carolina Watershed, Free asked him to help him with his turkey leg idea. Forrest saw “an idea that could really blossom.”
They began working on how to create the perfect smoked turkey leg. “It took us some time to figure out how to make the turkey leg the right way,” Free says. “Three or four days of cooking and two weeks of thinking about it.”
“The first thing, honestly, is it’s not pre-smoked,” Forrest says. “A lot of people buy legs that are already pre-cooked and penetrate smoke into the turkey leg. And, basically, all they do is warm it up until it falls off the bone. We take a special blend of seasonings, which is his [Free’s] mom’s dry rub, marinate it over night and do other secret things to make it tender. Smoke it low and slow.”
Red Bones Turkey Legs is now open. They’re planning a grand opening at a later date. “I want to tie in some entertainment,” Free says. “Do some shows as well. Do some FreeSol events up there tied up with Carolina Watershed. Basically, tie music and food together. That’s what I really want to do.”
So, where does the name “Red Bone” come from? “It was my uncle Red Bone,” Free says. “He worked at WLOK and did the MLK Celebration every year in January at the Cannon Center. Everybody knew him as ‘DJ Red Bone’ and everybody called him ‘Bone.’ I called him ‘Uncle.’ And I know he just lead me through this whole process. From Kaz who lead me to Tony. He lead me to the concept of the turkey leg. He lead me to the idea of wanting to grill food and cook in Memphis. And tie it all together with music. That all comes from my Uncle Bone. From Heaven, he’s been guiding this.”
The name fits his uncle, Free says. For one thing, turkey legs are red.
His dad told him the night they opened also was Red Bone’s birthday. Free told his dad, “I know you don’t know this, but Bone has been part of this process spiritually and opened doors.”
His uncle, who was “a very big boaster,” would, of course, take credit for their turkey leg business, Free says “He thought he was the first to do everything. According to him, he was the first person to do turntables. He loved to expand on a story. Exaggerate his ass off.”
Comparing Red Bone Turkey Legs to music, Free says it’s “slow. It melts in your mouth. It’s Marvin Gaye kind of. It’s Frankie Beverly and Maze. But it also has a Pink Floyd. And it’s outside music. It’s festival music.
“It’s also sweet and smooth and sexy like Sharde. But it also hits you. It’ll get Tupac on you real quick.”
Also, Free says, “When you eat it, it brings out the beast in you. People say, ‘I can’t eat all of that.’ And you see them eat all of it. Eat the whole thing. It’s got a Biggie Smalls Fat Boy type of thing as well.”
Red Bone Turkey Legs is open from 5 p.m. until closing Thursdays through Sundays at Carolina Watershed, 141 East Carolina Avenue, (901) 207-6172