Stax Records: Memphis’ Soulsville USA
Satellite’s first hits, both from 1961, were “Gee Whiz” by Carla Thomas, daughter of WDIA deejay Rufus Thomas, and “Last Night” by the Mar-Keys.
I was eight that summer, and “Gee Whiz” was about girls, and love; big-kid stuff. “Last Night,” however, stood out among the moon-June songs that still ruled the hit parade. The drummer, the organist, and the sax guy all got a chance to show what they could do, and the results practically leaped from transistor radio speakers.
Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton later learned that there was already a record company in California called “Satellite.” They renamed theirs “Stax,” using the first two letters of their surnames.
In 1962, Stax hit with another instrumental that was fun to hum along with. The 45 label said “Green Onions – Booker T. and the MGs.” I would soon learn that organist Booker T. Jones, lead guitarist Steve Cropper, and drummer Al Jackson, had been Mar-Keys; and that “MG” meant “Memphis Group.”
Liner notes on Stax albums later revealed that Donald “Duck” Dunn, the bass guitarist on “Last Night,” had replaced Lee Steinberg in the MGs, and that what sounded like a horn section was actually trumpeter Wayne Jackson and tenor sax man Andrew Love. This lineup became the Stax house band, playing on dozens of songs that, forty years later, are in heavy rotation on oldies and classic soul stations. They still sound great on an AM car radio.
Surf and soul were the two kinds of American music that survived the British Invasion, and soul always meant either Motown or Stax. Like the new cars coming off Detroit’s assembly lines, Motown songs were sleek and polished. Their creators – Lamont Dozier, brothers Brian and Eddie Holland, and Norman Whitfield – weren’t performers. At Stax, the musicians did the songwriting. Steve Cropper shared writing credits with Wilson Pickett on “In The Midnight Hour,” and with Otis Redding on “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay.” David Porter, who’d recorded a handful of singles for Stax and other labels, teamed with Stax house pianist Issac Hayes on Sam and Dave songs “Hold On! I’m Comin,'” “I Thank You,” and “Soul Man.” Issac Hayes also played on what could be called The Big Three of Stax hits.
The Stax sound, as opposed to Motown’s perfection, was funky and down home. Something always grabbed the listener. It could be Steve Cropper’s guitar licks on “Soul Man,” or Al Jackson’s snare supplying the knocks on Eddie Floyd’s “Knock On Wood.” If those didn’t work, there was always Booker T. Jones’ Hammond B-3 slipping through the cracks on “I Thank You” and adding a sanctified sound to Otis Redding’s cover of the 1930s pop standard “Try A Little Tenderness.” (And, if those didn’t, you had a hole in your soul!)
While the hits kept on coming, Stax, and its Volt and Enterprise sister labels ,continued to occupy the old theater. On the marquee, in the same letters once used to advertise movies, appeared SOULSVILLE U.S.A. The former lobby was home to a record shop.
On December 10, 1967, three days after he’d whistled the last notes of “Dock Of The Bay” on East McLemore, Otis Redding and his band, the Bar-Kays, died in the crash of a private plane near Madison, Wisconsin. Four months later, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King was shot at the Lorraine Motel, not far from the Stax studios. These two events cast a symbolic shadow over the label. Otis Redding was on his way to super-stardom, and Stax had always taken pride in being a place where black and white musicians shared equally in the creative process.
Jim Stewart took on a partner in promotions man Al Bell. In 1968, when they and Atlantic Records were unable to agree on a new distribution deal, they learned their original agreement had given Atlantic ownership of Stax’ back catalog. Stewart and Bell sold the label, but were able to buy it back in 1970. Al Bell’s plan was to create an instant catalog by finding new talent, and having each current Stax artist record new material.
The artist roster now included blues guitarist Albert King. The Staples Singers hit twice in 1972, with “Respect Yourself” and “I’ll Take You There.” From Chicago came the Emotions, and from Detroit the Dramatics, who brought Motown’s polish to McLemore Avenue with “Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get.” New Orleans’ Jean Knight sang about a guy who thought he could buy her affection with new clothes, and diamonds, and such, and who did Mr. Big Stuff think he was?
Issac Hayes, who had been a solo artist since recording his “Hot Buttered Soul” album in 1969, wrote the soundtrack music for the 1971 film “Shaft.” The movie’s theme song reached #1 on the American singles chart that fall. In 1972, Issac Hayes became the first African-American to win a composers’ Oscar. The honor would prove to be Stax’ last taste of glory.
As the 70s moved on, pop music felt the effects of disco. It literally took over the music scene. Jazz and blues clubs closed, or installed glitter balls, and record labels trimmed artist rosters. Some went out of business. Stax joined them on January 2, 1976. Fantasy Records purchased the rights to Stax’ post-Atlantic catalog. The studio was leveled sometime in the 1980s.
Fast forward to Sunday morning, June 9, 1996. Day four of a road trip launched with the purpose of checking out everything cool down South that could be seen in two weeks. I folded my Memphis street map open and pointed my El Camino towards 926 East McLemore.
Off and on hard rain had fallen all Saturday evening, and overnight, and it added a wet sadness to the rubble-scattered scene at Stax’ former home. I took some pictures, and then – while thinking of the place where Otis had whistled, where the Memphis Horns had sanctified, and where Sam and Dave had proclaimed that they were Soul Men with a truckload each of good lovin’ – I pocketed a couple bricks from the weed-filled vacant lot. If Memphis treated its historic sites like Detroit has, I feared, the Stax story would end here.
It didn’t. In 1999, Memphis’ Ewarton Museum purchased the site and intellectual property rights to Stax material. On February 9, 2000, Ewarton announced plans for a museum, to be built with the help of the city of Memphis, LeMoyne College, and Fantasy Records, housed in a re-creation of Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton’s movie theater.
The Stax Museum Of American Soul Music, along with the Stax Music Academy, opened in July 2002. Both serve as centerpieces of a greater urban renewal project in the Memphis neighborhood that’s been given the label’s old nickname, “Soulsville U.S.A.”
To get to the Stax site: first, put in that road-trip CD of Stax hits. Then take I-240 to the Parkway Avenue exit and follow the signs to US 51. McLemore Avenue is three streets north. Turn west and drive five blocks. Or take US 51 – Bellevue Boulevard from downtown, Elvis Presley Boulevard from Graceland – to McLemore.
And that’s “Mr. Big Stuff” that Everclear sampled on their 2002 song “AM Radio.”
