A great introduction to Stax does not need to begin with a huge playlist. Start with five recordings and listen to how each one makes room for rhythm, personality and a memorable musical idea. From the organ of Booker T. & the M.G.’s to Otis Redding’s voice, this is a useful Sunday-evening route into a catalog that rewards close attention.
A Memphis label built around people
Jim Stewart founded Satellite Records in 1957, with his sister Estelle Axton helping the business grow. The name Stax combined the opening letters of their surnames. A former movie theater on Memphis’s McLemore Avenue became the studio, while Axton’s Satellite Record Shop provided a place where customers, musicians and new records could meet. The Stax Museum’s early history describes that neighborhood setting and the musicians who gathered there.
That background makes a listening exercise worthwhile: pay attention to the band as well as the singer. The label’s official history identifies Booker T. & the M.G.’s as both a house band and hitmakers in their own right, alongside a community of distinctive singers and songwriters.
Five starting points, five ways to listen
Booker T. & the M.G.’s — “Green Onions.” Begin with the instrumental. Follow the organ phrase, then turn your attention to the spaces around it. The pleasure is in how the parts sit together. It is a reminder that a strong groove can carry a complete musical conversation without a lead vocal.
Carla Thomas — “Gee Whiz.” Next, shift your focus to the singer. Listen for the way a phrase can sound intimate without becoming small. Placing this beside “Green Onions” makes the contrast especially rewarding: the center of attention changes, but there is still plenty happening around the melody.
Otis Redding — “These Arms of Mine.” Give this one an uninterrupted listen. Notice how the vocal builds feeling through phrasing rather than treating every line the same way. Then play the opening again. A second pass often reveals the details that a familiar title can make us overlook.
Sam & Dave — “Hold On, I’m Comin’.” Now listen for exchange: the voices, the instrumental responses and the momentum between them. Try following one element for a verse, then switch your attention. It is a simple way to hear a well-known recording as an arrangement rather than only a chorus.
Eddie Floyd — “Knock on Wood.” Finish with the rhythmic shape of the song. Follow the accents and the relationship between the vocal and the band. After four different stops, this is a satisfying place to ask which ingredient has stayed with you most: a voice, a riff, a rhythm or the way they interact.
Keep the listening going
These selections are an entry point, not a ranking. Choose the recording that catches your ear and explore more of that artist’s work before returning to the others. For another route through soul history, browse RTRP Radio’s Blog Spot. Which Stax recording would you add as the sixth song?
Featured photograph: Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Memphis, October 11, 2008. This is an archival photograph of the museum, not the original recording studio in its working years. Credit: Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. Source and rights advisory: no known restrictions on publication.