Stax Museum: An unforgettable trip to soulsville

Crisis, The, Jul/Aug 2003 by Joiner, Lottie L

music

Remember the first time you heard Otis Reading's "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay"? The voice of the soulful singer seemed to echo everyman's pain and loneliness in his search for that ever-elusive thing called happiness.

The timeless classic was one of many hits churned out at the Memphis-based Stax Music label. During its heyday in the 1960s and '70s, the label became known as Soulsville USA. It was the hub where Redding and some of the greatest soul singers who ever lived, including Isaac Hayes, The Staple Singers, Johnny Taylor, Sam and Dave, and Carla Thomas, recorded memorable slices of life that spoke to the heart of the common man.

"The blending of sacred and secular African American styles, it had a big impact," says David Evans, professor of music at the University of Memphis. "Along with the Motown records in the '60s and '70s, [Stax] really defined the sound of soul music."

But while Motown produced acts such as The Supremes, who sung feel-good pop crossover tunes, Stax artists never let a man forget the experience of human emotions.

"We were gritty, gutsy, soulful," remembers Al Bell, former Stax president and owner. "We were full of emotion and passion."

In fact, the Stax label embodied a character unlike any other in the music business at the time. While the battle for civil rights raged in the nation's Southern cities, a small bit of paradise was found inside the walls of the Stax studios. There, music seemed to be a balm for the wounds of racism. The musicians, though of different races, spoke in one voice. The label's house band, Booker T. and the MGs, worked together side by side, Black and White, their integrated efforts producing a unique sound of shared dreams.

"Color disappeared when you walked through that door," says Rob Bowman, associate professor of ethnomusicology at York University in Toronto, Canada, and author of Soulsville, U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records. "Stax represented the organic manifestation of Dr. King's dream."

Deanie Parker, president of the non-profit organization Soulsville, remembers how the label operated differently from the rest of the nation.

"We were integrated in a way most of America is still not today," says Parker, "And remember this was the South Memphis. That didn't happen back then."

Today Parker oversees the new Stax Museum of American Soul Music, a gleaming $20 million, 12,800-square-foot facility located on the site of the original Stax studios. The new museum, which opened in May, pays homage to the hundreds of singers, songwriters, musicians and producers who helped the label become an international success.

The Stax label was the brainchild of two White music lovers, Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton, who started the label in 1960. The sound was like no other in the industry. Gospel-tinged voices that belonged in the choir of a packed storefront church were now accompanied by slick musicianship to create an unforgettable volume of original music.

The label's first hit was "Gee Whiz" by Carla Thomas, and over the next decade, the label would produce more than 200 top 10 hits on the R&B charts and more than 160 hits on the top 100 pop charts. Isaac Hayes' "Theme From Shaft" was the first song by an African American to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

According to Bowman, the Shaft project was the beginning of Black soundtrack writing, and Hayes' 1969 album, Hot Buttered Soul, pioneered the concept of a full-length album for Black artists, who, up until then, mostly released singles.

"It changed the world of Black music," says Bowman. "It paved the way for Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield."

Stax personified the spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, not only in its integrated staff, but also through its music. The Staple Singers' "Respect Yourself became a cultural anthem, while Redding's rendition of "A Change is Gonna Come" spoke to the ongoing struggle for equality.

It was a revolutionary time, and working for Stax was a life-changing experience for writer and producer David Porter.

He still remembers the tremendous success of "Soul Man," which he wrote for the Stax duo Sam and Dave in 1967.

"We wrote it originally as a theme for Black men, Black pride" says Porter, who was an 18-year-old high school senior when he started with Stax. "We were trying to create a sense of pride in Black folks - male Black strength. It ended up being a theme song for everybody - Blacks and Whites. It's unbelievable the impact that it had."

Porter worked for Stax from its beginning to end. Today his catalogue is one of the most sampled in the music industry. Mariah Carey's "Dreamlover" and Will Smith's "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" both used samples from songs Porter wrote and produced.

The Stax label had more than 200 employees and by 1972 had become the 12th largest black-owned business in the U.S. It seemed as though everyone wanted to record at the Stax studios, from Wilson Pickett, who recorded "In the Midnight Hour" in a session there, to rock 'n' roll legends Elvis Presley and The Beatles. Even non-musicians wanted to have the Stax experience. Comedian Richard Pryor and civil rights activist Jesse Jackson both visited the label in Memphis to put their words to wax.