STAX Doc Review

Date: May 20, 2024

posted by cropper / Comments: No Comments / Tags: There is no tags

The Guardian
Jim Farber
May 20, 2024

During its breakout phase in the mid-1960s, Stax Records seemed to be soaring. The small company from Memphis managed to score huge, international hits with the new stars it introduced, like Booker T & the MGs (Green Onions), Otis Redding (I’ve Been Loving You Too Long), and Sam & Dave (Hold On, I’m Coming). Just one year later, however, the label teetered on the edge of collapse. “Stax had to come back from the dead,” said Jamila Wignot, who has directed a new, four-hour documentary on the legendary company titled Stax: Soulsville USA. “In that way, it became more than a record label. It became a beacon of hope.”

READ THE REST

STAX To The MAX

Date: May 7, 2024

posted by cropper / Comments: No Comments / Tags: There is no tags

“STAX: Soulsville, U.S.A.” tells the story of an underdog, interracial record label that ushered in the groundbreaking music of Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, The Staple Singers, Sam & Dave and many others. Defying the notion that Black artists needed to be “made marketable,” the Memphis-based label went from ultimate outsider to one of the record industry’s most influential producers of soul music. It’s a quintessentially American story of an audacious group of individuals who dared to make their own music on their own terms creating an institution that has continued to help define our culture long after the label itself has gone.

Debuts MONDAY, MAY 20 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT) on HBO with two episodes airing back-to-back, followed by the final two episodes airing back-to-back on Tuesday, May 21 at the same time. All four episodes of the series will be available to stream on MAX on May 21.

In The Christmas Spirit

Date: September 25, 2023

posted by cropper / Comments: No Comments / Tags: There is no tags

A brand new re-release of In the Christmas Spirit, the fourth album by the R&B/soul band Booker T. & the M.G.’s, originally released in November 1966. It charted 9 weeks peaking at #13 on Billboard’s Best Bets For Christmas album chart December 2, 1967. The album features instrumental versions of traditional Christmas carols and songs.

LISTEN/BUY

PRE-ORDER THE CRYSTAL VINYL

R.I.P. Jim Stewart

Date: December 6, 2022

posted by cropper / Comments: No Comments / Tags: There is no tags

The industry lost a major icon yesterday when we lost Jim Stewart. I lost a great friend and had much success with him and STAX. Jim had a great trick in finding hit songs. Basically he never liked anything but if the writer fought for it he pretty much knew he had a hit. Songs like “Last Night” (The Mar-Keys), “Walking The Dog”(Rufus Thomas), “In The Midnight Hour”(Wilson Pickett), “Knock On Wood” (Eddie Floyd); all of these and more sold over a Million copies.

Jim Stewart taught me so much about the record business. What I didn’t know at the time was that Jim and I were both flying by the seat of our pants, but he was so much older than I. Jim always looked up to two people, Sam Phillips and Jerry Wexler.

The good news for me was that he trusted me with the company and the STAX Artists. We both knew at the same time we had a hit Artist with Otis Redding. At one time we had 17 Artists on the STAX/VOLT labels. A lot to worry about, but not near as bad as Clive Davis and Columbia Records.

READ MORE

Stacks on STAX

Date: December 5, 2022

posted by cropper / Comments: No Comments / Tags: There is no tags

Published June 10, 2021
By Jeff Slate

“Chips Moman [Grammy-winning Gold Star guitarist and producer] taught me how to be a session guitar player,” Cropper recalls. “He told me, ‘Just play what you feel, and if the singer or the producer or the engineer doesn’t like it, they’ll tell you, and ask you to play what they want you to play.’ But everyone seemed to like what I was doing. I just played what I felt, and it worked.”

Cropper, of course was no doubt a quick study, but he was broadly self-taught, with a very little help to get him going at the start.

“Actual lessons – paid for lessons – I had three in total,” he says with a chuckle. “That sure saved my family some money, didn’t it?”

READ THE REST

Crop Signs New Writer

Date: December 5, 2022

posted by cropper / Comments: No Comments / Tags: There is no tags

Steve Cropper has signed Emily McGill  from Jackson, Tennessee to “Play it Steve” as a writer and has released her first single ” I’m Writing You Out Of My Memory” on Sneaky Animals Records.

The talented and country-inspired artist from Humboldt, Tennessee is the daughter of the late great Chuck McGill, a local hero in the West TN music scene, who in 2017 had part of Highway 186 named after him.

She grew up singing and playing in her family band with her mom Paula and sister Katie, and worked in her father’s music store, The Bandstand. McGill has worked and written with noteworthy artists such as Bud Lee, Irene Kelley, Steve Mandile, Jonathan Singleton and others.

5 Tips For Guitarists

Date: November 11, 2022

posted by cropper / Comments: No Comments / Tags: There is no tags

He was barely out of his teens when he was scouted by Stax Records president Jim Stewart, who hired him to put together the label’s house band, Booker T. & The M.G.’s and also work as their A&R man.

It would lead to him co-writing, producing and playing on many a legendary recording, perhaps most famously of all, Otis Redding hit (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay. He would then go on to collaborate with the likes of John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Albert King, Jeff Beck Dolly Parton, Rod Stewart and many, many more.

READ THE REST

Buddy Holly Tribute

Date: September 26, 2022

posted by cropper / Comments: No Comments / Tags: There is no tags

Brandi D. Addison
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Just before 5 p.m. on Saturday, guests began lining up at the steps of the Buddy Holly Hall, antsy for the 7:30 p.m. concert to belatedly celebrate what would have been the 85th birthday of late music legend Buddy Holly, whose milestone birthday was last Sept. 7.

READ THE REST

Interview Redux

Date: September 26, 2022

posted by cropper / Comments: No Comments / Tags: There is no tags
By Amit Sharma
Originally published

He was barely out of his teens when he was scouted by Stax Records president Jim Stewart, who hired him to put together the label’s house band, Booker T. & The M.G.’s and also work as their A&R man.

It would lead to him co-writing, producing and playing on many a legendary recording, perhaps most famously of all, Otis Redding hit (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay. He would then go on to collaborate with the likes of John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Albert King, Jeff Beck Dolly Parton, Rod Stewart and many, many more.

READ THE REST

© 2024 Play It Steve