Lionel and Angie Hollins, Kontji Anthony, and David Porter (Photos: Michael Donahue)
Guests boarding the “Night Train Gala” at Stax Museum of American Soul Music March 2nd shared passage with some of the greats in the history of music.
They got a chance to say hello to Grammy winner David Porter, whose legendary Stax songwriting includes “Soul Man” and “Hold On, I’m Comin’” for Sam & Dave. And they rubbed shoulders with Eddie Floyd, who recorded the Stax hit, “Knock on Wood.”
Lawrence “Boo” MitchellValerie June
Guests might have stood in line for barbecue with other celebs. Grammy-winning Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell was at the party. Also performing and mingling with the guests was singer-songwriter Valerie June.
Eddie FloydZoe Kahr and Daniel ShinCheryl Pesce and Avery Cunningham
Guests were presented a “Train Schedule” that showed who was performing where and at what time. When they arrived, Marcella Simien was the featured entertainer in the “Station Lobby.” Later, they stopped at other rooms to see performers, including the Charlton Johnson Trio (jazz) and 926, aka Stax Music Academy Alumni Band (soul).
Jeff Kollath (Stax Museum executive director) and Mary Helen RandallElizabeth and Joey Walser
A total of 290 people attended the event, says Stax director of communications Mary Helen Randall.
Proceeds benefit the Soulsville Foundation and its programming.
Pat Mitchell Worley, Kirk and Ruby WhalumJared Boyd, Miz Stefani, and Khari Wynn
Paint with local women painters on the riverfront this March at Cossitt Library. (Photo: Courtesy Cossitt Library)
With winter melting away, now is the time to spring into the arts as new exhibits, performances, and happenings begin to pop up all over town. So be like the groundhog and come out of your hidey-hole. Spring has sprung, Memphis.
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Painting on the River Series
With March being Women’s History Month, Cossitt Library has teamed up with five local women painters for a Painting on the River Series, offering a painting class each Saturday in March on the riverfront.
“We’re just trying to create an initiative that aligns with our commitment to promoting diversity and just celebrating women’s achievement,” Cobbert says. “I really wanted to highlight a lot of different artists. Me being in the art scene, it’s easily noticeable that sometimes the same artists are always on the pedestal, so I like to highlight local artists to just give them a platform. That’s something that the library can contribute since everybody can’t book out larger venues and stuff.”
Each artist will introduce their own style, Cobbert says. Baker will do a class on healing through watercolors, for instance, while Willoughby will focus on portraiture. “People should be able to find their fix within this group of five talented women.”
The classes are completely free, with all supplies provided through the Memphis Library Foundation. “We plan to have tables outdoors, so people can touch the grass a little bit and just paint,” Cobbert says. “It’ll be a way to build community through people who see painting as a hobby or a career and just come and learn.”
ARTSmemphis’ Art by Design will bring in vignettes of living spaces. (Photo: Laquita Tate)
After a pandemic pause, ARTSmemphis is bringing back its Art by Design fundraiser, a five-day series of events highlighting Memphis’ interior design community. At the core of the fundraiser is the gallery showroom where just over 20 designers will have created vignettes of living spaces. There will be arts activations, music, food, and more, during the showroom’s hours.
“It’s a great way for people to come and not only maybe get inspiration for their own houses, maybe buy a few things, maybe learn about some new Memphis artists they may not know about, but also to support our process,” says Elizabeth Rouse, ARTSmemphis president and CEO. “Most of our work is really focused on raising money and then granting it out and supporting arts organizations and artists in a variety of ways, and so this is just a really unique opportunity for interior designers, who in some cases are competitors, to come together for Memphis and to showcase their own work, which is very different.”
This will also be the first year that Art by Design will implement its Emerging Designers program, through which it will waive the vignette fee for regional emerging designers Colin Chapman, Brittney Murckson, Jurnee Kelley, and Baylor Pillow. “We really see this as an opportunity to help strengthen the interior design field in Memphis and bring that community together,” Rouse says.
Designer Carmeon Hamilton created this program in 2020, and even had designers prepared to participate, before the event was canceled due to Covid. Laquita Tate was one of those initial emerging designers, but she will now be joining Art by Design as a “fully emerged designer.”
“We were able to at least get together and plan some things out [in 2020],” Tate says. “I was able to see how some things work behind the scenes, which helped me, and so I’m just really excited to be able to do this even now, four years later. ”
Ultimately, though, Tate hopes that people will come out to the event for the sake of community. “Memphis is rich with a variety of different types of arts here,” she says, “and people might miss out on some of that with some of the other things that are going on currently in the city, but that should be the most important piece: Come out, support us, support the city of Memphis, and support the arts.”
Art by Design will have several accompanying events in addition to the showroom, such as Dinner with Designers, The Art of Mahjong game night, Cocktails by Design, and a special speaker. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit artsmemphis.org/art-by-design.
Art by Design will take place April 3rd to 7th at Agricenter International.
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“The Concert Photography of Jack Robinson”
“Horns High, Sam & Dave Horn Section, Soul Together” (Photo: Jack Robinson | The Jack Robinson Archive, LLC)
In partnership with the Jack Robinson Archive, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music’s latest exhibit presents 15 of Robinson’s finest images from the iconic Soul Together Concert of 1968. Held just two months after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Madison Square Garden concert raised more than $75,000 for two charities, and Robinson was on the job for Vogue magazine, capturing the star-studded roster of Atlantic recording artists such as Aretha Franklin, Sam & Dave, King Curtis, and more.
“Jack Robinson’s work is so well-known,” the museum’s executive director Jeff Kollath says, “and he has this incredible connection to Memphis. People have seen Jack Robinson photographs — they just might not know that they’re a Jack Robinson — but we’ve all seen Jack Robinson photographs. … His style and how he practiced his craft is just so unique and interesting and it really shows in these photographs.”
Yet unlike Robinson’s typical portraits and studio shots, the photos in this temporary exhibit are on-the-scene, so they have a different kind of “energy and raw power,” Kollath says. “He’s taking photo after photo after photo and they show how he’s able to capture movement in a way that still shows so much clarity — especially at a Sam & Dave day concert, where they’re dancing, the band is dancing, and you sense this movement, this speed at which they’re all moving and yet the photos are so clear. He’s a remarkably skilled photographer.”
Robinson’s photographs will be on display through the end of March.
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ON DISPLAY
Coe Lapossy’s “School of Ool”
“School of Ool: Whose Views Ooze Muse” Coe Lapossy revisits artifacts of queerness wedged within a seemingly straight world. Clough Hanson Gallery, through March 22
“Breaking the Rules” Seventy-five paintings, watercolors, and drawings spanning the entirety of Paul Wonner’s and William “Theophilus” Brown’s careers. Dixon Gallery & Gardens, through March 31
“Marking Time” Remy Miller’s landscapes and Joe Morzuch’s still-lifes and self-portraits. Dixon Gallery & Gardens, through April 14
Curtis Arima, Shifting Hierarchy, 2014. Recycled silver, copper, enamel, recycled gold, found objects. Courtesy of the Artist.
“Shelby Canopy: Our Shared Connection” An immersive public art project that aims to raise awareness of natural resources. Wolf River Greenway, through April 19
“Iliumpta” Birdcap’s retelling of Homer’s Iliad set in the Southernmost bayous of Mississippi. Crosstown Arts, through April 28
“The Earthworm and the Hawk” Melissa Dunn generates drawings intuitively from her imagination. Crosstown Arts, through April 28
“What Were You Meant For?” Kevin Brooks uncovers the seldom-seen layers of Black male identity. Crosstown Arts, through April 28
“Everyday People: Snapshots of The Black Experience” A photography exhibition showcasing Memphis artist Eric Echols’ photo collection of 20th-century African Americans. Museum of Science & History, through July 14
“Branching Out” Discover intricate connections between students, teachers, and casting communities. Metal Museum, through September 8
“A World Apart” Roger Allan Cleaves’ paintings exist in a rich and wondrous multiverse. Sheet Cake Gallery, March 9-April 27
“Christian Siriano: People Are People” Drawing from American designer Christian Siriano’s archive of bold creations. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, March 22-August 4
“Progression” Exhibition of work by Sowgand Sheikholeslami. Dixon Gallery & Gardens, April 14-July 7
Kong Wee Pang, Voyeur Moment, 2023, featured in “Memphis 2024” (Photo: Courtesy Kong Wee Pang)
“Memphis 2024” A dazzling array of work by the most creative men and women working in the Mid-South today. Dixon Gallery & Gardens, April 21-June 30
Kelly Cook, Amber and Ruth, 2023, featured in “Memphis 2024” (Photo: Courtesy Kelly Cook)
“It’s All Relative” Morgan Lugo’s pieces speak to the lasting effects of past experiences. Metal Museum, April 21-July 7
“No Place Like Home” This brief, month-long installation encourages the visitor to consider the concept of “home” in the queer community, and specifically in metalsmithing. Metal Museum, May 1-June 2
ON STAGE
Little Women at Germantown Community Theatre (Photo: GTC via Facebook)
Little Women Jo March gives us her greatest story: that of the March sisters, four dreamers destined to be imperfect little women. Germantown Community Theatre, through March 17
Succession Succession explores the world of Black theater through the actions of Steve Harrison, a promising young actor. Hattiloo Theatre, through March 24
LOCAL: Art Moves Memphis Dance concert presented by Company d dancers with Down syndrome and inspired by the vibrant urban art and murals throughout the Memphis community. Wiener Theater, Hutchison School, March 23
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical This jukebox musical takes you on a journey that realistically documents Carole King’s rise to fame and superstar status as a songwriter and performer. Theatre Memphis, March 8-30
Peter Pan Fly with Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, and the Darling children straight to Neverland for a timeless adventure. Bartlett Performing Arts & Conference Center, March 8-10
(L to R) Axel Bernard Rimmele (Christopher Hillard), Giselle Gutierrez (Lydia Hillard), Rob McClure (Euphegenia Doubtfire), and Kennedy Alexandra Pitney (Natalie Hillard) (Photo: Joan Marcus)
Mrs. Doubtfire Everyone’s favorite Scottish nanny comes to Memphis. Orpheum Theatre, March 12-17
You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown Experience the magic of childhood and the beloved Peanuts gang in this Tony Award-winning musical. The Circuit Playhouse, March 15-April 13
Zanna Don’t! A Musical Fairy Tale Emerald Theatre Company presents a play, set in a world where everyone is gay — well, almost everyone. TheatreWorks @ The Square, March 15-24
Opera Memphis:La Calisto A baroque masterpiece of love, lust, vengeance and … astronomy. Playhouse on the Square, March 22-23
MOMIX presents ALICE at GPAC. (Photo: Courtesy GPAC)
MOMIX: ALICE Presented by a company of dancer-illusionists, ALICE, inspired by Alice in Wonderland, takes audiences on a journey down the rabbit hole. Germantown Performing Arts Center, March 23
Pink Floyd And The Planets Memphis Symphony Orchestra presents psychedelic tunes and enchanting melodies. Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, March 23 | Scheidt Family Performing Arts Center, March 24
Feelings & Other Uncomfortable Things Get in your feels with this artistic experience centered around listening to music and creating a collage. Shady Grove Presbyterian Church, March 29
Hattiloo Theatre Presents: Sing, Sistah, Sing Hattiloo celebrates the indomitable spirit of Black women with concerts, step routines, original all-women dance performances, and spoken-word from talented Black female artists. Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, March 30
Celia Hottenstein as Glinda and Olivia Valli as Elphaba in Wicked (Photo: Joan Marcus)
Wicked This Broadway sensation looks at what happened in the Land of Oz … but from a different angle. Orpheum Theatre, April 3-21
Fairytales on Ice Presents: Peter Pan and Wendy The beloved, classic story of Peter Pan and his pal Wendy comes to life with dramatic and imaginative enactment, as the Buckman stage converts into an ice rink. Buckman Performing Arts Center, April 4
Hamlet The tragedy by William Shakespeare. Tennessee Shakespeare Company, April 4-21
Master Class A fierce and clever production about diva opera star Maria Callas. Theatre Memphis, April 5-21
Out in the Woods Friends of George’s presents a dragnificent adventure. Evergreen Theatre, April 11-20
Blues in the Night The soul of the blues wails out full and strong in the scorching, Tony-nominated musical. Hattiloo Theatre, April 12-May 5
Science of Movement: Collage Dance Collective Witness how a dancer prepares for the stage and experience excerpts from Collage Dance Collective’s repertory. Museum of Science & History, April 13
American Roots Ballet Memphis’ celebration of Americana through dance. Crosstown Theater, April 19-21
ELEVATE Collage Dance’s spring program. Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, April 20-21
Celtic Woman (Photo: Courtesy Orpheum Theatre)
Celtic Woman A blend of traditional and contemporary Irish music. Orpheum Theatre, April 25
Steel Magnolias A touching portrait of women. Theatre Memphis, performances April 26-May 12
Your Arm’s Too Short to Box With God An uplifting musical with gospel-inspired music and inspiring storytelling. Playhouse on the Square, April 26-May 19
Orchestra Unplugged: Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture Memphis Symphony Orchestra Music Director Robert Moody brings you inside the minds and music of composers to discover new connections and meaning to incredible works of art. Halloran Centre for Performing Arts, May 9
Constellations Quark Theatre presents a play about free will and friendship, but also about quantum multiverse theory, love, and honey. TheatreSouth, May 10-26
The Hot Wing King Katori Hall’s searing new comedy that follows a group of friends as they prepare for the “Hot Wang Festival” in Memphis. The Circuit Playhouse, May 10-June 2
Memphis Symphony Orchestra’s Symphony in the Garden (Photo: Courtesy Dixon Gallery & Gardens)
Symphony in the Gardens The annual Mother’s Day outdoor celebration in a beautiful outdoor setting featuring the MSO Big Band. Dixon Gallery & Gardens, May 12
Opera Memphis:La bohème Puccini’s timeless classic of youth, love, and freedom in a brand-new production. Scheidt Family Performing Arts Center, May 17-18
Shrek the Musical This Tony Award-winning fairy tale musical adventure brings all the beloved characters you know from the film to life. Orpheum Theatre, May 31-June 2
AROUND TOWN
Resident Artist Talks Crosstown Arts’ spring 2024 resident artists will present artist talks. Crosstown Arts, March 20
Metal Petals & Healing Roots A one-day event where artists will create art from disassembled gun parts. Metal Museum, March 23
Art by Design A curated series of events and presentations designed to highlight Memphis’ interior design community and simultaneously support the local arts community. Agricenter International, April 3-7
Barrel to Barrel Grand Auction Enjoy exclusive wine pairings, premium bourbon tastings, incredible wine and bourbon pulls, and a grand auction filled with unique experiences, rare vintages, and whole barrels of bourbon. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, April 6
Central to the Arts Festival Celebrate the arts with live performances, film showings, fashion shows, and interactive arts booths. University or Memphis, April 6
Art in The Loop 2024 A juried artists market, plus craft demonstrations and performances of classical music. Ridgeway Loop Road, April 12-14
Chalkfest at the Brooks (Photo: Courtesy Memphis Brooks Museum of Arts)
Chalkfest 2024 Join local artists and transform the Brooks’ plaza into the most colorful work of art. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, April 27
Spring to Art with Creative Aging Activities, performances, and discussions for art lovers 65+ and carers. Dixon Gallery & Gardens, April 30
2024 Art For All Festival Arts and culture will showcase performances and art-making from across Shelby County through live performances, artist markets, food trucks, and more. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, May 11
Here Comes the Sun Community Day Enjoy art making, garden tours, musical performances, and more at this community gathering designed for all ages. Dixon Gallery & Gardens, May 11
This Saturday, July 29, would have been Jim Stewart’s 93rd birthday had he not passed away last December, and so we linger a while longer at the doorstep of Stax Records to pay tribute to the man who started it all. With the Stax Museum of American Soul Music celebrating its 20th anniversary all this year, and fast on the heels of Stax Music Academy’s triumph at the Lincoln Center, it seems a fitting time to honor Stewart, whose unorthodox vision led him to recruit his sister, Estelle Axton, to invest in recording equipment for a storage space he’d rented in Brunswick, Tennessee, back in 1957. That would become the first studio for what was then called Satellite Records.
His no-nonsense manner didn’t mark him as a firebrand, but his quiet determination made him a maverick of sorts in West Tennessee, as Stewart “had to stand before the [Brunswick] town council and testify to his own integrity, and promise that drug addicts, thieves, and other lowlifes attracted to the music business would not infiltrate the crossroads and poison the minds of Brunswick’s fine children,” Robert Gordon writes in Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion. As it turned out, defending his business before the Brunswick town council was just the beginning of his trials.
That was foremost in the mind of Deanie Parker when reminiscing about Stewart recently. Parker, who started as a songwriter and singer at Stax before becoming the label’s chief publicist, worked with Stewart during the 1960s and ’70s, and knew him well. Recalling those days of racial segregation, Parker noted that creating a safe space for Black and white artists to work together came at a price.
“I can clearly remember Jim standing out in front of his own damn business under the marquee,” Parker says, “talking to his Black artists, only to have a white policeman come up and tell him, ‘Get your ass out of here, you can’t be talking to these Black people. No! That’s not going to happen out here in front of this building on McLemore Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee!’ I don’t remember if it was Isaac or Otis that Jim was talking to, but it was one of them. And Jim tried to reason with the police and the officer said, ‘I tell you what, I’ll just take your ass down and lock you up.’ So he was not liked. He was not respected. I don’t think he was encouraged. I never heard any white person say they appreciated him except for the people he worked with. That’s a lot to swallow. One thing he never got over was, in the end, Jim did not have a social circle. The white friends that he had, I bet you could count them on one hand.”
Nonetheless, he persisted. Indeed, Parker credits Stewart with initiating both the professionalism and the multiculturalism of Stax. “It really was about him,” she says. “Because if he had not been who he was, we would not have had the place, the resources, the encouragement, or even the demands to ‘Do it again, play that again — somebody’s out of tune!’ ‘No, it ain’t right yet!’ Jim would say. That was the discipline he had and demanded of us. Without that, it would never have happened. Stax was like a garden spot. It was a utopia where we could feel safe, all of us working together, playing together, learning about each other together. Being creative and making a decent living … in Memphis, Tennessee!”
The struggle to keep that spirit alive, and the forced bankruptcy that caused the label to fold in 1975, haunted Stewart for decades. “The privileged and powerful in Memphis had something else in mind for Stax Records,” says Parker ominously, and Stewart took the label’s demise personally. When Parker later took up the cause of creating a Stax museum and music academy, Stewart was less than gung-ho. “Jim had not healed,” she says. “He had not gotten over his feelings of disappointment and feeling, I’m sure, that every good deed he did was punished.”
Finally, after the museum and Stax Music Academy were underway, Parker sensed the moment when Stewart embraced them. “It happened when he saw how that Stax Music Academy was training the next generation of people to learn and respect and preserve the music that he had made possible on that corner. When we were able to get him there to witness the students, he was never the same.”
Panel moderator Robert Gordon and Written in Their Soul panelists Deanie Parker, William Bell, Eddie Floyd, Bobby Manuel, CD producer Cheryl Pawelski, and Henderson Thigpen (Photo: Filmmaker Kyle Taubken)
The air was charged last Friday night at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, as five of Stax Records’ most valuable players gathered together to answer questions and speak their minds. The sold-out event was first and foremost a celebration of Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos, Craft Recordings’ seven-CD compilation (reviewed last week in the Memphis Flyer) featuring 140 never-before-heard recordings made in the studio’s back rooms, when songwriters made reference tapes of their compositions. Those demos would ultimately be filed away among the holdings of East/Memphis Music, the label’s publishing company, with the best serving as blueprints for full-on studio recordings by Stax artists.
Hence, it was not in their capacity as Stax performers that William Bell and Eddie Floyd appeared last Friday, but as some of the label’s best songwriters. They were joined by Deanie Parker, Bobby Manuel, and Henderson Thigpen, fellow masters of the craft, in a kind of summit of the scribes. The panel was rounded out by wordsmith Robert Gordon and the visionary record producer who’d first conceived of the release, three-time Grammy Award-winning producer Cheryl Pawelski.
Although the museum, built according to the original building’s plans, always conveys a sense of the bustling Stax studios and offices to the casual visitor, this historic gathering made it more palpable, as the panelists discussed their days in those very halls when Stax was at its zenith. It was a veritable money machine in its heyday, but, as Robert Gordon explained, that money wasn’t just from record sales. East/Memphis Publishing oversaw the equally lucrative income stream of song royalties. For songwriters like those gathered at the museum Friday, those royalties translated into “mailbox money.”
Henderson Thigpen was perhaps the purest expression of the songwriter’s ethos that evening. The others were involved with Stax in several capacities besides songcraft: Deanie Parker headed the label’s public relations and was later known as the primary conceptualizer of the Stax Music Academy and associated museum, Bobby Manuel was an ace session guitarist, and Bell and Floyd were stars, the most public voices and faces of Stax. Thigpen, however, focused on writing with laser-like determination, always keeping “a pen in one pocket and two notepads in the other pocket,” as he explained.
He described writing the Shirley Brown hit, “Woman to Woman,” noting the care with which he sang the demo to show Brown how the opening monologue had to be delivered. Then the museum’s executive director, Jeff Kollath, cued up the demo featuring Thigpen’s vocals, sung from a woman’s point of view, seeming to take the songwriter by surprise. He winced good-naturedly as his haunting voice from half a century ago filled the room, then took a moment to point out his wife in the audience. His only regret about the master recording of No. 1 R&B hit, he said, was that it didn’t open with the sound of a ringing telephone.
The room lit up when “Dy-No-Mite (Did You Say My Love)” by composer Mack Rice was played; while the song was recorded and released by the Green Brothers, all agreed that Rice’s high-spirited delivery on the demo, complete with whistles, could not be topped. Indeed, the late Mack Rice was a recurring presence at the event. So were prolific songwriters Bettye Crutcher, who passed away last October, and Homer Banks, who died in 2003.
The set’s art director and designer, Memphis’ own Kerri Mahoney, was in the audience and noted afterwards how stunned she was that so little memorabilia was preserved from those days. She’d had little to work with, she said, though her work ultimately resulted in a richly illustrated and smartly designed package.
Pawelski, for her part, sat back and let the legends speak, but eventually Gordon asked her to tell the long tale of the collection’s genesis and realization. When she worked for Concord Records (of which Craft is a subsidiary), she learned of the demos kept by East/Memphis. But, having been archived haphazardly, many were buried in long, uncatalogued tapes on which completely unrelated demos also appeared. Over 17 years and a few career changes culminating in the founding of her own label, Omnivore Recordings, Pawelski gradually listened through nearly 2,000 hours of audio in her quest to identify the lost gems of Stax. She was clearly elated that her baby was now out there in the world.
Most Stax Records fans know at least two names from the label’s roster of songwriters. David Porter and Isaac Hayes were the dynamic songwriting team behind at least 200 songs in the label’s publishing company, East/Memphis Music, and Hayes’ elevation to global celebrity only elevated the team’s profile. Yet they were only two among the dozens of songsmiths working away at 926 East McLemore Avenue in the heyday of Stax and its many subsidiary imprints.
Now, in what may be the greatest behind-the-scenes glimpse into the process of making records since The Beatles’ Anthology series, Craft Recordings is releasing a new seven-CD collection that reveals the depth of that talent. Written in their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos is like a message in a bottle from a half century ago, conjuring the spirit and soul of what was going down in the studio’s back rooms while the final recordings were being cut in the main tracking room. And while some of these demos got the full band treatment, even more of them capture the intimacy of just a singer and one or two others in a room, sketching out the basics of a song, hoping a Stax artist would make it a success.
Exhibit A, below, is a glimpse into the work of Eddie Floyd and Steve Cropper as they put down their idea for a new approach to songwriting, using only numbers in the chorus. In the end, they pitched it to Wilson Pickett, who made the full band version a number one hit on the R&B charts in 1966. Yet this raw demo has its own charm. The difference between the hit and what you hear below tells you all you need to know about this extravagant and enlightening collection.
The crunch of Steve Cropper’s guitar almost makes the classic hit into a rock song. Yet such a glimpse into the making of a hit record is only one facet of what’s revealed here. Many more were recorded by Stax artists but released into semi-obscurity, some were recorded by artists on other labels, and still more never made it past the demo stage.
All of that is contained here, including three full discs from the latter category — in other words, 66 never-before-heard songs from the Stax universe. This alone would be a revelation, but even the first three discs, featuring demos for songs that ultimately were cut and released, bring what were often previously deep cuts up to the surface. If the Staple Singers’ version of “Slow Train” was overshadowed by other tracks on their Stax debut, William Bell’s stark rendering of it with just a guitarist (Cropper?) stands out as one of the most haunting tracks.
Going a step further, Carl Smith’s demo of “We the People,” also eventually released by the Staple Singers, has the wonderful loopiness of someone who’s dancing like no one’s watching, complete with squeals of “Ow! Shack-a-lack!” over a sparse — but funky — piano and drum arrangement.
From the haunted to the joyous, this is ultimately a tribute to the power of a song, no matter what form it takes, and a fitting celebration of Stax songwriters both obscure and legendary, from William Brown to Deanie Parker, from Homer Banks to Mack Rice, from Bettye Crutcher to Carla Thomas.
As it turns out, it’s also a tribute of a different kind to the key creator of the set, Cheryl Pawelski, the three-time Grammy-winning producer and co-founder of Omnivore Recordings who previously worked for Rhino, EMI-Capitol Records, and Concord Music Group. It was while producing catalog releases for the latter that she conceived of a collection of Stax demos, most of which she heard while going through the archived audio files of East/Memphis Music, owned by Rondor Music Publishing after the demise of Stax.
As Pawelski describes in the liner notes, these reference demo recordings were filed away with the accompanying sheet music as they were made, but when Stax was forced into bankruptcy in late 1975, the audio recordings were archived haphazardly, ultimately being transferred to digital formats willy-nilly as the decades wore on. It was up to Pawelski to find these gems by reviewing almost 2,000 hours of audio, much of it containing completely unrelated recordings. She identified 665 individual songs, eventually winnowing those down to the 140 tracks being released now.
It was a Herculean effort, taken up in stolen moments of time over more than a decade of Pawelski’s life (and beautifully documented in this Burkhard Bilger piece in the New Yorker). But Pawelski was not alone: her co-producers for the compilation included Deanie Parker, Michele Smith, Mason Williams, and Robert Gordon, and the liner notes by Gordon and Parker are a delight in their own right.
The two writers have the benefit of Parker’s first-hand knowledge, directing publicity for Stax in its heyday, plus the years of research Gordon put into his book, Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion. One recurrent theme is the deeply ingrained sexism of the male Stax songwriters, producers, and artists, leading some of the women, like Parker or Crutcher, to cook up pots of spaghetti as subtle inducements to be taken more seriously. Even then, it was an uphill battle, which makes this collection all the more important. Would-be classics like Bettye Crutcher’s “Everybody is Talking Love” can finally be heard. And even songs composed by men for women artists, often sung here by men adopting the woman’s persona in a kind of recording studio gender-bending, can finally see the light of day. On this set, you can compare Homer Banks singing his “Too Much Sugar for a Dime,” a woman’s demand for relief from her gender-defined duties, directly with Crutcher’s impassioned delivery of the same song on the next track.
If the word “revelation” is overused, this at least is one release that merits it. As Gordon and Parker write, “The history of Stax Records and Southern rhythm and blues is about to change.”
The Stax Museum of American Soul Music will celebrate the release of Written in their Soul on Friday, June 23, from 6 – 8:30 p.m. Free, RSVP required.
Sure, most Memphians have heard of the Sunset Symphony. There will likely be a big turnout for this year’s iteration of the traditional spring concert, centered on the Memphis Symphony Orchestra’s “MSO Big Band,” playing everything from swing to samba. That alone shows there’s a growing audience here that’s hungry for jazz. But not as many music fans know of that other great outdoor experience, Sunset Jazz.
Starting as a pop-up concert in 2018 in that historical downtown gem, Court Square Park, it had become an annual event by the next year at the request of Downtown Memphis, with series curator Deborah Swiney receiving a Downtown Memphis Vision Award that year.
This weekend, the annual free series is upon us once more, and there’s no better artist to champion the city’s jazz heritage than Joyce Cobb, who’ll perform with her band from 6-8 p.m., Sunday, May 14th, as the sun sinks in the west.
Those who attended the Stax Museum of American Soul Music’s Night Train gala on April 29th were treated to a performance by Cobb, and it revealed how her truly eclectic and passionate approach remains firmly rooted in jazz. Indeed, between songs she reeled off a list of the jazz greats who’ve emerged from Memphis — Jimmie Lunceford, George Coleman, Phineas Newborn, Jr., Charles Lloyd, etc. — by way of calling out the need for a Memphis Jazz Museum.
Yet despite her mastery of both the history and the artistry of jazz, she remains as stylistically diverse as ever. That’s only fitting for a singer who first came to Memphis from Nashville in the mid-seventies to record country music for Stax Records. After that fell through amid the label’s financial demise, she stayed here, becoming a Memphis institution in her own right. And she finally did get a Top 40 single, 1979’s “Dig the Gold” on Cream Records, a politically charged jam that borders on Afro-Pop, recorded at the now-legendary Shoe Productions Studio.
Joyce Cobb and band at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music’s Night Train gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)
The same venturesome spirit that led to her genre hopping in the ’70s persists today, as was well in evidence during her Night Train set. Calling out the Miles Davis classic “All Blues,” she gave us a heads up to listen to some lyrics she was adding to the typically instrumental piece. But we had to wait for that, as she proceeded to wail beautifully on the blues harp. Anyone who thought of Cobb as only a singer should certainly take note of this performance. And if you thought of her as strictly a jazz artist, listen to the lyrics that follow.
As an encore, Cobb took to the harp again, this time letting her ace band’s funky flag fly high. Expect more of this vibe, or vibes — from classic jazz to who knows what? — this coming Sunday evening at Court Square Park.
Sunset Jazz at Court Square takes place the second Sunday of each month, May through October, 6-8 p.m.Free.
May 14: Joyce Cobb June 11: Gary Topper July 9: Deborah Swiney August 13: Paul McKinney September 10: Cequita Monique October 8: Southern Comfort Band (Univ. of Memphis)
That's me and Stax legend David Porter at the Night Train Fundraising Gala at Stax (Credit: Kontji Anthony)
It was great being back at a Staxattraxion.
Guests rubbed shoulders with some of the people who personify Stax at the Night Train Fundraising Gala, which was held April 29th at Stax Museum of American Soul Music. Guests included music legends David Porter, Eddie Floyd, Lester Snell, and James Alexander of the Bar-Kays, and Larry Dodson, who was formerly with the group.
James Alexander and Eddie Floyd at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Larry and Marie Dodson at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Lester and Patricia Snell at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Deanie Parker with Nashid Madyun at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Yvonne Mitchell and Willie Mae Bland at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Karl and Gail Schledwitz, Kontji Anthony, and David Porter at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Andy and Allison Cates, Soulsville Foundation president & CEO Pat Mitchell Worley, and Carissa Hussong and David Lusk at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)
This is how the news release described the event, which celebrated the 20th anniversary of Stax Museum: “A celebration of African-American music and culture, it will feature the Stax Museum filled with live music, a silent auction, fantastic cuisine, cocktails, dancing, DJs, and more, all in our newly renovated lobby, gift shop, and mid-century modern lounge, as well as Studio A, Isaac Hayes’ gold-trimmed Cadillac exhibit, and other spaces.”
Geri and Hal Lansky at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Alfred and Sherita Washington at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Henry Turley and Wanda Shea at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Caroline and Troy Parkes at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Ryan Peel at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Chris Franceschi and Kirby Boyd at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)
I covered many Staxtacular parties at the museum. This was the one where you got to also rub shoulders with Memphis Grizzlies players. That is, if you could get your shoulder up that high. The Night Train event was, as the release says, “fashioned to replace our beloved Staxtacular event that raised over $1 million over 10 years.”
So, guests dined on Delta tamales while listening to fife and drum music by Rising Stars, which features Shardé Thomas, granddaughter of the late Othar Turner.
Rising Stars at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)
That fife and drum music brought back memories of Turner’s picnics held at his home near Senatobia, Mississippi. That was the first time I ever had goat barbecue. I also locked my truck with the keys inside and the truck running one year at the picnic. Nobody, including a Mississippi sheriff, could get the door open. So, I just walked around and enjoyed the party until a friend opened the truck door with his Ole Miss dorm room key.
But I’m digressing.
Night Train guests also ate shrimp and grits while listening to the great Joyce Cobb and Charlton Johnson perform jazz music.
Joyce Cobb at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Kimberly Weaver at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Elliot and Kimberly Perry at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Simone Alex and Dame Mufasa at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Michael Ivy and Nico Hatchett at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Lauren Berry and Logan Bennett at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Mary Haizlip, Ross McDaniel, and Caroline Cook at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)
They heard the Stax Music Academy Alumni Band play soul music, the Street Corner Harmonies perform a cappella tunes, and DJ Battle play music for dancing and/or relaxing. These were all held in different parts of the museum, so guests got a musical tour of the building. Which was appropriate.
About 350 people attended, says Tim Sampson, Soulsville Foundation communications director. They don’t have a total for the amount raised as yet, he says.
The format was changed this year because Staxtacular had run its course, Sampson says. This year’s format will be “the new one going forward.”
And, Sampson adds, “We definitely thought it was a success. People were very very happy with what we presented.”
It’s always cool to visit Stax, even if it’s just to run in and take a peek at the seemingly city-block-long gold-plated peacock blue 1972 Cadillac El Dorado that belonged to the late, great Isaac Hayes.
Estella Mayhue-Greer at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Courtney and Matt Weinstein at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Ari Morris and Alex Greene at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Asima Farooq and Molly Wexler at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Trip Trezevant at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Angela and Terrell Richards at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Martavious McGee at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)We Saw You
Booker T. Jones and band at City Winery, NYC (Credit: Alex Greene)
In a fitting warm up to this week’s 20th Anniversary of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music (see our April 27th cover story), Booker T. Jones was on the road this month, ostensibly to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of “Green Onions,” the tune that propelled Booker T. and the MG’s and Stax Records into the national spotlight. Given that the song was recorded and released in 1962, the most chronologically appropriate homage was at the museum last September, when Jones joined the Franklin Triplets, all Stax Music Academy alumni, in what would have been the record company’s old tracking room to play a short set of MG’s classics. And indeed, nothing could have topped the magic of that moment, now available as an episode of Beale Street Caravan.
But 2023 is becoming the de facto year of tributes to the classic track, cut almost as an afterthought by the group and originally dubbed “Funky Onions” by then-bassist Lewis Steinberg, until label co-owner Estelle Axton made it more palatable by changing the first word to “Green.” It was only this February, more than 60 years on, that Rhino Records re-issued the original Green Onions LP, notably the first album ever released by Stax.
Jones himself has paid tribute to the tune this year with multiple cover versions released on streaming services, all adapting the song’s basic riff to styles as disparate as Latin rock, straight rock, and country.
And so it was that an appearance by the famed organist, composer, and producer at New York’s City Winery on April 15th was billed as “Booker T. Jones: Celebrating 60 Years of ‘Green Onions.'” What was more surprising was the venue’s release of a special wine dedicated to both the song and the show. Sales of the dedicated vintage will benefit the Stax Museum.
(Credit: Alex Greene)
That night, my date and I sampled a freshly uncorked bottle as we settled into the spacious, sold-out venue and its sweeping view of the Hudson River, the dusky spires of Jersey City looming in the distance. Soon the band, sans Jones, took the stage and began playing the descending figure of “Soul Dressing,” a cut off the MG’s album of the same name. “Wow,” exclaimed a fellow patron, representative of the night’s older demographic, “it’s not every day you get to hear the MG’s!”
I refrained from correcting him, but in my mind I heard Steve Cropper’s recent quip that “if I went out with Booker now, we’d have to call it Booker T. and the MG!” Meanwhile, I was content to take in the band before us: Dylan Jones on guitar, Melvin Brown on bass, and Ty Dennis on drums. Soon Booker T. Jones himself sauntered out to the organ, looking dapper in a blue suit and flat cap, and “Soul Dressing” began in earnest.
What followed was a tight, focused journey through not only the MG’s catalog, but other Stax hits as well. The band, while missing the inimitable swing of the original Stax house band, was on point with the arrangements. Dylan Jones carried off many of Steve Cropper’s original guitar parts faithfully, though he couldn’t resist injecting a bit of shredding when he soloed at length. His work on the the MG’s “Melting Pot” was quite venturesome, but that was in keeping with the song’s original jazz-inclined aesthetic. Brown’s bass solo on the same tune also went far beyond anything the MG’s recorded, but was imaginative and soulful nonetheless. Throughout, Booker T. Jones’ playing was as funky, tasteful, and restrained as his recorded works, even when stretching out for extended soloing on “Green Onions” in the set’s midpoint. That tune, of course, elicited the evening’s most frenzied applause.
Vocalist Ayanna Irish stepped out to put across numbers more associated with female singers, such as “Gee Whiz” and “Respect,” the latter having more to do with Aretha Franklin’s cover version than the Otis Redding original, and her approach was appropriately old-school.
Booker T. Jones sang as well, and another surprise followed his brief reminiscence. “The first time I came to New York City, in 1962, I was at the Roseland Ballroom,” he said. “With Ruth Brown and Jimmy Reed.” Already holding a guitar after singing Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine” (which he produced), he then launched into Reed’s “Bright Lights, Big City.” For a moment, you could imagine you were back home on Beale Street.
The show reached its climax with the smoldering build-up of the ostensible set-closer, “Time is Tight,” the coda of which seemed to throw the band for a loop. But as the applause died down, Jones immediately brought everyone back to Memphis. “I was standing on McLemore Avenue, and I see this guy pull up in a van from Georgia, and he starts pulling out guitar amps and suitcases and stuff and carrying them into the studio. Then he sits next to me on the organ and he wants to know if he can sing a song. And of course I say, ‘No, you can’t sing a song. You’re the valet!'” Laughter rippled through the room. “Anyway, he started singing this.” While I expected to hear “These Arms of Mine,” often associated with that story, Jones instead launched into another of Otis Redding’s great masterpieces from the early Stax era, “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now).”
At the song’s end, just as we were thoroughly melted into the floor, Jones brought things squarely into the contemporary age. “This song was written by Lauryn Hill, and it’s called ‘Everything is Everything.'” The tune, its title taken from a promotional slogan used by Stax in its heyday, and recorded by Jones in collaboration with The Roots, was the perfect way to remind us that, all anniversaries notwithstanding, this was a restless, thriving artist standing before us. Long live “Green Onions,” I thought, and long live Booker T. Jones.
Pat Mitchell Worley, the new president and CEO of the Soulsville Foundation, sounded a tad nervous on September 14th, standing in Studio A of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music and telling a select audience gathered there, “As you walk through our lobby and gift shop today, take your final look. Because in just a few months, all of that will be torn down.” A few of us gasped, momentarily reliving the trauma of seeing the original Stax building demolished in 1989, but then Worley added: “And we will have a brand-new look.”
While the museum structure, built in 2003 with the original blueprints for the Stax Records building, will be unchanged, the interior will get a major overhaul as new exhibits highlighting heretofore mothballed artifacts are installed. As a teaser, Worley pointed out two such artifacts being unveiled that night, including Rufus Thomas’ outfit from the 1972 Wattstax concert. “You cannot miss that hot pink — hot pink! — that only Rufus Thomas could get away with wearing,” said Worley. “You’ll also see some overalls worn by Otis Redding in the ‘Tramp’ video he did with Carla Thomas.”
Yet overhauling the museum’s exhibits is just a small part of what’s cooking at the Stax Museum. The museum will launch a cornucopia of programs and series to celebrate its 20th anniversary next year. And by next year, they mean all of next year, and some of this year to boot. Indeed, some special events start next week.
On October 6th, the museum will turn the spotlight on a gem in the Stax catalog by the little-known group 24-Carat Black. As museum executive director Jeff Kollath explains, “The album Ghetto: Misfortune’s Wealth is probably the most influential recording that Stax released after Isaac Hayes’ Black Moses (and Big Star’s #1 Record). Of course, it fell through the cracks and never got the credit it deserved until it got sampled to the nines in the ’90s. We are hosting a discussion between original members Princess Hearn and Jerome Derrickson; Niambi Steele, who joined the road show after a random gig in Indianapolis; and Zach Schoenfeld, who wrote the 33 1/3 series book about the album.”
At sunset on the next day, October 7th, another milestone will be celebrated: the recent 50th anniversary of the Wattstax festival. In keeping with the museum’s aim of being what Worley calls “the past, present, and future of Memphis music,” the 1973 film of the concert will be screened where the Black arts movement is blossoming today, the Orange Mound Tower at 2205 Lamar Avenue, representing a fresh collaboration between the museum and Memphis Record Pressing, Indie Memphis, TONE, and community radio station WYXR.
Then Kollath drew attention to perhaps the most significant milestone of all, this year’s 60th anniversary of the recording and release of “Green Onions.” As Kollath noted, “The song literally changed the face of music. And to help play it, we have three of our incredible Stax Music Academy alumni. Your eyes do not deceive you, they are in fact related: On the drum kit, Mr. Sam Franklin IV; on the bass, Mr. Christopher Franklin; and on the guitar, Mr. Jamaal Franklin.” After they assembled onstage, the composer of “Green Onions” himself, Booker T. Jones, strolled up to the organ, and the quartet proceeded to knock “Hip Hug-Her,” “Green Onions,” “Soul Limbo,” and “Time Is Tight” (complete with its triumphant coda) out of the park.
Having Jones himself perform these classics with a tight combo of young Memphians, all of whom nailed their parts admirably — in the very (rebuilt) room where it was originally done, no less — caused emotions to run high, not the least in Jones himself. Playing in Studio A again, he said, brought back a flood of memories from when “Green Onions” was cut. “When the moment came for me to play the solo,” he recalled, “I remember trying to think of talking through the keys, like a sentence or something coming out of me. And I think it was the culmination of so much of the training I had at Booker T. Washington High School. Every person that I came close to taught me how to do something for free.”
Visit staxmuseum.com for details on the Stax Museum’s upcoming anniversary celebrations.
Michael Donahue and Grammy-winner Lawrence "Boo" MItchell were at the Wildsam party.
Well, if my head could get any bigger with all this hair, my inclusion in the Wildsam Field Guide titled Memphis and all the compliments I’ve gotten because of it is sure to make that happen.
So, I made sure I announced to guests at the “Wildsam at Stax” party, held April 21st at Stax Museum of American Soul Music, to look for me in the book.
“We had the party to showcase who was inside the Wildsam Memphis guide, and also celebrate the launch of that book,” says the book’s editor, Hannah Hayes.
From left: Robert Gordon, Hannah Hayes, and Jesse Davis at the Wildsam party. (Credit: Michael Donahue)
“The company is Wildsam Field Guides. And we have over 50 guides to American cities, regions, and national parks. Memphis is our newest one in the series. Our field guides try to give our readers a deeper sense of places, is what we say.”
And, she adds, the book is all about “understanding a place as well as enjoying it.”
Tara Stringfellow and Jesse Davis at Wildsam party. (Credit: Michael Donahue)Lauren and Marshall Newman with baby in tow and Chancey and Tread Thompson were at the Wildsam party. (Credit: Michael Donahue)
I asked what city will be next. “Oxford, Mississippi, is our first small town guide we are doing,” Hayes says. “The Southern California coast is one I’m working on.”
I also asked why they chose Stax as the party location. “Well, I mean, Michael Donahue, why wouldn’t we?”
One, reason, she says, “We wanted to have it in a place that means a lot to Memphis history and to the city’s future.”
Memphis Flyer editor Jesse Davis interviewed me for the book. I gave him enough information for a 30-volume encyclopedia.
Filmmaker Robert Gordon and novelist Tara Stringfellow, who recently released her debut novel, Memphis, contributed essays to the book.
And I love the illustration Maggie Russell did of me. Hair and all.
Wildsam party. (Credit: Michael Donahue)Wildsam party (Credit: Michael Donahue)
They’ve Got the Power
From left: Jon W. Sparks, Debbi and Richard Ross, Linn Sitler, and Denice Perkins at the Power Players reception. (Credit: Michael Donahue)
I hopped back from the “Wildsam at Stax” party to catch the rest of Inside Memphis Business magazine’s “Power Players 2022” reception, held April 21st, at Folk’s Folly Prime Steak House because I didn’t want to miss any of the guests. I did miss Pat Kerr Tigrett. When I arrived, guests were still talking about her red-feathered gown.
But there were still a lot of powerful Memphis people in that room. With apologies to Snap, they’ve “got the power.”
From left: Amit Kanda, Dan Weddle, Sridhar Sunkara, Ashly Ray-Fournier, Anna Traverse Fogle, and Samuel X. Cicci at Power Players reception. (Credit: Michael Donahue)Ruby Bright and Jeffrey Goldberg at the Power Players reception. (Credit: Michael Donahue)Ross Meyers (left) and Steve Ehrhart at the Power Players reception (Credit: Michael Donahue)
At one point, I was told there was a power failure at the restaurant. Without skipping a beat, Dr. Isaac Rodriguez, co-founder and chief science officer of SweetBio, suggested a reason: “Too much power in one room.” Rodriguez was one of the powerful guests.
Dr. Isaac Rodriguez and Aarthi Kalyan at Power Players reception. (Credit: Michael Donahue)
IMB editor Samuel X. Cicci said that the April issue of Memphis magazine, which featured this year’s Power Players, listed “the folks who make things happen in Memphis, from top executives to specialists in a wide range of areas that keep this city and its economy alive.”
More than 500 Power Players were included this year.
From left: Randy Hutchinson, Kelli de Witt, Brandon Ingram, and Darrell Cobbins at the Power Players reception. (Credit: Michael Donahue)Mark Goodfellow at the Power Players reception. (Credit: Michael Donahue)Buddy Chapman (left) and Michael Detroit at the Power Players reception (Credit: Michael Donahue)From left: Helen Bird, John Monaghan, and Chris Bird at the Power Players reception. (Credit: Michael Donahue) We Saw You
