 Isaac Hayes |
Stax is back with a year-long 50th anniversary re-launch, and Great Performances celebrates with "Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story , " airing Wednesday, Aug . 1 at 9/8 p.m. C T on KET1 . The program details the story behind the legendary label that launched a who's who of soul music greats including Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, the Staple Singers, Isaac Hayes, Eddie Floyd, Carla and Rufus Thomas, Albert King and Booker T. and the MGs.
In 1957, a square, white bank teller who knew nothing about African-American music launched a record label in a barn on the outskirts of Memphis, Tenn. Over the next two decades, the racially integrated Stax studio -- which had moved to a theater in South Memphis by 1960 -- would produce a string of hits that defined the Memphis Sound: "Soul Man," "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay," "Green Onions," "Midnight Hour," "I'll Take You There," "Respect Yourself," "Theme from Shaft" and many more.
"We were so busy working and having fun that we didn't realize the impact that we were creating at the time," says Stax superstar Isaac Hayes. In time, Stax Records would become one of the largest and most successful black-owned companies in the nation and a virtual soundtrack to the Civil Rights movement before fold ing in 1975 to financial and legal battles.
Working closely with the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis, the filmmakers gained access to an unprecedented wealth of source materials, including never-before-seen home movies by Stax artists; outtakes of footage from the legendary 1972 WattStax concert; and lost performances by Otis Redding, Booker T. and the MGs, Hayes and others. All the key players are interviewed in the film: Hayes, Mavis Staples, Carla Thomas, Sam Moore, Booker T. Jones, members of the MGs, Eddie Floyd and Jesse Jackson, who, along with Richard Pryor, recorded spoken-word albums for Stax.
Great Performances "Respect Yourself : The Stax Records Story " is a co-production of Tremolo Productions, Concord Music Group and WNET/New York.
