You can call me unschooled, I won’t mind. Even though I grew up not an hour and a half away – when the speed limit in Arkansas was 55 – from the now-iconic Stax Records, I didn’t know about the joint until this summer (2024). Which is when I saw the Stax: Soulsville USA documentary on Max:
What started out as a white fiddle player from a farm in East Tennessee – who had to borrow money from his sister to start the business – turned into a massively influential record label that (arguably) gave birth to Southern Soul and R&B music. My take is that the fiddle player (Jim Stewart) was a producer at heart, but the credit for the label’s success goes to the sister (Estellle Axton) who was a natural-born A & R person, and – perhaps more importantly – to one Al Bell.
Mr. Bell was a natural-born entrepreneur from Little Rock with a background as a DJ (KOKY, back when it was a soul music station), an extensive network in the Black community (on a national level), and an eye for opportunity. Under his leadership, the label grew from tiny independent to an international, multi-million-dollar enterprise with a massive catalog of what are now considered R&B standards.
But now I’m starting to tell a story that others have told better. Let’s just say that I found the story of that label, its rise and fall, its cast of characters (including the story of how Otis Redding “broke out”), and even its place in history (as a touchpoint for the Civil Rights Movement), fascinating stuff. I’d recommend taking in the afore-mentioned documentary, and for extra points, this book: