Celebrate Black History Month with Stax: Soulville USA

It is not often that I do a film review, but here goes!

This year Local 72-147 was pleased to participate as a community partner with the Denton Black Film Festival (DBFF) which ran from January 28 – Feb 1. On January 28 the festival held a screening of the first two episodes of Stax: Soulville USA which is currently streaming on the HBO Max platform. The screening of this documentary held special significance not only because it tells a special chapter in black history, but also because its characters are musicians whose music changed the world. 

The documentary was directed and produced by Jamila Wignot and tells the story of Stax Records in Memphis, TN. Beginning as a mom and pops business founded by siblings Estelle Axton and Jim Stewart, the studio developed into a center of community for black musicians and created a safe place for musicians to come together and grow a new musical form. Developed from these beginnings, Stax released gospel, funk, and blues recordings and featured several popular ethnically integrated bands. It was a sound based in black gospel, blues, country, and earlier forms of rhythm and blues (R&B) and came to define what is known as southern soul music. At its peak, Stax produced hits with artists such as Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Sam and Dave, Carla Thomas, William Bell, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, Eddie Floyd, the Bar-Kays, Albert King, and the Mad Lads, just to name a few.

Booker T. Jones (AFM Local 47 Member), leader of Booker T and the MGs, 

describes the early days of Stax Records in Stax: Soulville USA.

At the screening of these first two episodes on January 30 at DBBF, the documentary begins by bringing to life the birth of an upstart studio just wanting to make some records and plays out how it quickly developed into an artistic and cultural powerhouse as trailblazing artists came together to redefine a genre. It reached a climactic pitch in the second episode as it related the events of 1967-68.

To give you a flavor…

In December 1967 at the height of the studio’s success, Otis Redding – Stax Records’ most famous artist – and several members of his band, the Bar-Kays, were killed in a plane crash. The studio and its community were plunged into a tailspin of tragedy and grief.  Two months later came the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike, making Memphis a focal point for the Civil Rights Movement. While supporting the strike in April 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, itself a gathering place that Stax personnel knew well. They were in the habit of meeting there (as it was a rare place in Memphis where white and black people could socially gather in public), and also was where they did some creative work.

Throughout all this upheaval, while owner Jim Stewart was working to renegotiate a distribution deal with Atlantic Records, he was dealt an unimaginable blow. Atlantic activated a clause (that he hadn’t read) in his previous contract giving it all rights, title and interest to nearly everything in the Stax catalogue up to that time. As a result, all of the Stax masters distributed by Atlantic between 1960 and 1967 are STILL wholly owned by its parent company.

In just a few years, this upstart recording studio brought together the talent and voices of a community, implemented a collaborative business model between its management and musicians, created a new art form, captivated the public, and spoke for a generation in its pivotal moments. And then had its product taken from it by a predatory corporation. 

(Representing our AFM local as a community partner of the DBFF at this screening, I grieved in particular at the sight of the pillaging of Stax Records and these artistic trailblazers being taken advantage of. It is another cautionary tale of how important that musicians and musicians’ product must be protected with strong contracts, and how a few simple written words can make such a difference)

This is how the screening concluded, with the second episode (of four total) of the series. But rest assured, the story of Stax was not over. The rest of the series continues and is available on HBO Max, and tells of Stax musicians coming back and continuing to make their mark, and the studio’s effort to survive in a predatory world. It tells the story of great musicians by featuring them – with their own music and in their own words – in the history that they made. It is steeped in the spirit of their music, and fueled by their determination.

Celebrate this Black History Month and check it out.