Letters to The Editor from http://www.post-gazette.com/

Thursday, July 05, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

What about Stax?

I enjoyed Sharon Eberson's article about Memphis ("Memphis grooves to its own soundtrack", June 24). Since your article focused on music and the place of the city in the civil rights movement, I think you should have included some mention of Stax Records and the American Museum of Soul Music. The label brought national attention to the mostly African-American artists recording for Stax -- note this quote from former Stax employee, Homer Banks: "Black people were really proud of Stax because Memphis had a heartbeat when Stax was happening. Black people saw something visual that was a real success right in their community. I don't know that most of the white people in Memphis really knew what they had, and if they did, they really didn't care."

Your unintentional omission of Stax in your article reflects this lack of awareness of the significance of the label. Note also that the concert film, "Wattstax" filmed in Los Angeles is considered by many to be one of the finest music/social commentary films. As Jesse Jackson (obviously an important figure in the civil rights movement) stated, "Stax was not just a record company. It was a sound. It was a piece of culture. It was a moment of conscience and experience of mankind. At the right time, it meant a lot to us."

I hope if you ever write about Memphis again, you travel to Stax and include your experience in your article.

David Birch
Carterville, IL

Music and civil rights

Sharon Eberson's account of her and her friend's celebration of their 50th birthdays with a visit to Memphis regrettably missed a stop at this city's musical diamond in the rough, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. Coincidentally Stax Records just celebrated its 50th birthday, tracing its infancy back to 1957. Jim Stewart, a white fiddler, and his sister, Estelle Axton, founded this record company, which came to be the lesser known (to some) southern R&B and soul rival label to the North's Motown in Detroit during the '60s and '70s. Stax's roster of artists was quite impressive and influential: Otis Redding; Sam & Dave ; Booker T. & the MGs (Stax's house band, along with the horns of the Mar-Keys); Johnny Taylor; Eddie Floyd; Issac Hayes; Carla Thomas; Rufus Thomas and many, many more. Wilson Pickett recorded his soul classic, "In the Midnight Hour," at the Stax Studio.

Perhaps more impressive is the fact that Stax was one of the first truly integrated studios, employing black and white musicians, songwriters and executives at a time that preceded the thrust of the civil rights movement in this country.

As R&B expert Peter Guralnick said, Stax truly was "the little label that could." No doubt Ms. Eberson's trip would have been greatly enhanced had it included the Stax Museum of American Soul Music.

Raymond Hluska
Observatory Hill