THE SOUL OF TENNESSEE: THE MEMPHIS SOUND (Part 1)
Tennessee is known solely as the US State of country music, but it is so much more than that! Today’s topic will get you to see Tennessee with new eyes, because Tennessee got soul.
My first ever trip to the United States was in July/August 2023 – a long-time big dream of mine. My excitement could hardly be contained. In fact, I think I struck as odd to the Federal Agent at customs as I was way too excited at 7 AM after a fourteen-hour flight from overseas.
I traveled to Tennessee and to be more precise to Nashville, the city of music. Indeed, it is! It was wonderful: from the plane I could see the symphony of streets which unfolded in diverse sheets of music each day I walked on them. Needless to say, I fell in love with Nashville and by extension Tennessee.
I was blessed enough to hop on an Old Town Trolley and enjoy the tour of the big city with a very excited guide who moved to Nashville just a couple of months prior. She was in love with Nashville as much as I was, and you could tell from her incredible storytelling abilities.
I visited the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum, the Country Hall of Fame and Museum, and – I kid you not, reader – I almost cried while walking down the street where most if not all music studios are. I am a simple person, okay? I see record studios and labels and tears begin forming in the corner of my eyes.
In the collective imagination, however, Nashville is just the city of country. After all, it is home to big household names, such as Dolly Parton and Chet Atkins. Yet, Tennessee is so much more than country music. It also has soul.
THE MEMPHIS SOUND
When talking about the Memphis sound (also known as the Memphis soul), you are also talking about the Memphis-based record label Stax Records. But why is that so? To understand better how a record label could ever become the synonym of a specific sound, let me take you back in time. I promise this time I’ll be brief.
THE VOICE OF A COMMUNITY: SOUL MUSIC
Soul music was born in the African-American community approximately in the late 1950s and early 1960s all throughout the USA. At that time, the most prominent genres in the community were gospel music and rhythm and blues (R&B), and that’s in both genres that soul music has its roots.
Soul music was born to emphasize the feeling of pride and culture of African Americans in the United States. Ray Charles is considered the pioneer of this music genre followed by other big stars, such as James Brown and The Temptations.
This new sound became so prominent that it dominated the U.S. R&B charts in the 1960s, and numerous recordings not only entered the pop charts in America, but also overseas in particular in the U.K.
The period from the 1950s to the 1970s was crucial for the fight against segregation. While soul music literally took over the world and created subgenres like Motown (Detroit), Chicago soul, New Orleans soul, Philadelphia soul and Memphis soul (today’s topic), white people inspired by soul and R&B created their own type of soul, British soul (1960s) and Blue-Eyed Soul (1960s). This, of course, created tension between African-American artists and white artists. A good depiction of these struggles is the 2006 movie Dreamgirls, a work of fiction inspired by the Motown record label and stars, The Supremes.
STAX RECORDS: A NEW KIND OF SOUL
See? I told you I’d be brief. Jokes aside, now that you know in what climate soul music was born and the different subgenres which were consequently created, it’s time to focus on today’s topic: the one and only Memphis soul. If you’d like to dive deeper into this story, I suggest you read the history section of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, or even better yet, if you’re ever in Memphis, visit the museum.
Jim Stewart (1930-2022) was an American banker who enjoyed playing the country fiddle at night. Inspired by the success of American radio technician turned producer Sam Phillips, he founded Satellite Records in 1957. The first ever record produced by this label was the country song, Blue Roses.
Jim asked for help (and money) for the equipment he needed to his bank clerk older sister, Estelle Axton (née Steward) (1918-2004), who bought him an Ampex 350 console recorder after mortgaging her own house. In 1960 Estelle refinanced her house – yes, again – to buy an old movie theater and converted it into the recording studio you can still see at the corner of McLemore Avenue and College Street in Memphis. Now St(eward)ax(ton) Records was officially in business.
Since money was tight, the renovations of the theater were a do-it-yourself project, and ironically the cheap room’s acoustics will become the ultimate signature of the Stax sound to be heard in every record.
Moreover, Estelle opened the Satellite Record Shop immediately adjacent to the record label. This was a maneuver to get more revenue, but it also helped to understand which records would sell and why – crucial knowledge for a record label. The shop felt like home for the residents of the neighborhood thanks to Estelle feminine charm and welcoming nature. In fact, Satellite Record Shop became the space for both whites and blacks to meet and simply enjoy music.
Stax Records’ first commercial hit was ‘Cause I Love You by former WDIA disc jockey Rufus Thomas and his daughter Carla Thomas. The song sold 40,000 copies regionally and immediately drew the attention of Atlantic Records music producer, Jerry Wexler (1917-2008). This led to Stax Records signing a distribution deal and a master-lease agreement on all Rufus and Carla artistic works with Atlantic Records. Now Stax Records’ recordings got easily into stores.
MEMPHIS SOUL’S GOLDEN AGE
In 1962, the great Otis Redding (1941-1967) arrived at Stax Records as the chauffeur for American blues artist Johnny Jenkins and the Pinetoppers. He was allowed to sing after the recording session didn’t go well and that’s how the biggest start of Stax Records was discovered.
The early 1960s were the zenith of success for the Memphis sound. Stax Records was distributing records by Carla Thomas, the Mar-Keys, Booker T. and The MGs, Rufus Thomas, William Bell and Otis Redding like mad. Even Sam and Dave could use the studio and release records through Stax Records thanks to the special deal Atlantic Records had with Stax.
THE USA OF THE 1960s
Racial tensions were brewing all over America. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1963 I have a dream speech at Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. was about a future where people would not see color and people of every race would work together. That’s exactly what Stax Records was about: it was a group of creative people who came together to create music no matter the race and their background.
In the 1960s Memphis soul was taking over the charts. So much so that in 1965 Axton decided to organize a two-week-radio-and-TV-appearance trip to Los Angeles of Stax Records’ brightest starts, which helped both to establish the Memphis sound and to get more revenue for the label.
The PR trip ended with a two-night show at the 4-5 Ballroom in Watts where the crowd gathered in front would greet the artist with the host’s, DJ Magnificent Montague’s, signature phrase, “Burn, baby, burn”. The next day (August 11, 1965) the Watts Uprising started and that phrase had a whole new meaning.
STAX RECORDS TOOK OVER THE WORLD
In 1965 Al Bell, a former DJ, was hired by Stax Records to promote label’s artists. Jim Steward was finally financially stable, so he quit his job at the bank.
Stax Records’ tunes crossed over the pond arriving in Europe where the label’s artists found great success even if they had never left Memphis but that was about to change. In 1967 Al Bell, Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd, Carla Thomas, the MGs and the Mar-Keys went on their first European tour. The fans were ecstatic to see their favorite musicians perform their favorite songs live.
The great European success of these amazing musicians soon after translated to the USA: Otis Redding had been invited to perform at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 during The Summer of Love. That festival was/is synonym to two big acts: Otis Redding and the psychedelic rocker, Jimi Hendrix.
STAX RECORDS FELL ON BLACK DAYS
STARS FELL FROM THE SKY
In late November 1967 Otis recorded Dock of the Bay. Little did he know that that would have been his very last recording. The same night of the last recording session of the new single, he set off for his little tour in Nashville, Cleveland (Ohio) and Madison (Wisconsin) with the Bar-Keys. First stop: Madison.
Due to instrument panel malfunction caused by a low battery, the plane crashed. Unfortunately, Otis Redding, Jimmy King (guitarist), Carl Cunningham (drummer), Phalon Jones (saxophonist), Ronnie Caldwell (organist), Matthew Kelly (valet) and Richard Fraser (pilot) passed away. The only one who survived the crash was Ben Cauley, the trumpeter. In one night, Stax Records lost its biggest artists but also its beloved friends.
NEW TROUBLES FOR STAX RECORDS
The racial tension became untamable after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, the usual gathering place for the employees of Stax Records. In fact, people rioted and looted on the streets but the only building left untouched was Stax Records. Unfortunately, though, the untainted atmosphere of purely creativity despite skin color was now corrupted following King Jr.’s assassination.
In 1967 Warner Bros. acquired Atlantic Records, which was Stax Records’ distributor. Jim Steward tried to renegotiate the original deal with Atlantic Records, but this time with Warner Bros. When that didn’t work, Steward asked for Stax Records’ masters back, but unfortunately, since Atlantic Records was now Warner Bros.’, Warner Bros. owned the masters of every Stax Records’ artists’ works between 1960 and 1967. Moreover, Warner Bros. took Sam and Dave from Steward always circling back to the original contract.
Well, reader, now you understand why in my previous dairy entries, I urged you – if you are a singer, songwriter, or a musician in general – to know the business. Never sign a contract that gives anyone the rights to your masters. That is what got Stax Records, Prince, Taylor Swift and many others in trouble. The art is yours not the label’s.
This concludes part one of this excursus on the Memphis sound. I hope you are enjoying these deep dives in music history as much as I am. Leave a comment if you have any topic suggestions or thoughts on this entry. See you next Wednesday!