Another dawn chorus of screaming kids in "Brats-ville" where my motel was apparently located meant an early wake-up. I played a little blues on my Strat (the one from Clarksdale) until my fingers were loosened up and the clock told me it was time to get going.
With bags packed and car loaded I headed off down the Old Hickory road again - this time listening to the Man In Black...
The Rick Rubin produced "American" series of albums were rightly acclaimed. I listened to American IV and American V for the first part of my day and was captivated by the old man's voice.
Johnny Cash died just two weeks after the American V recordings were completed and you can hear the sound of death in some of the phrasing. On songs like the "309" which is all about death the words become all the more poignant.
This series of albums is a great testimony to one of country's greatest artists and someone who made a major contribution to world music overall.
Johnny Cash was followed by Sonny Boy Williamson's two fine albums (remastered versions for me) "The Real Folk Blues" and "More Real Folk Blues". Howling, wailing, crying, stomping harmonica played by a true virtuoso and accompanied by his incredible voice which is so full of character and "cool". He is also notable for his lyrical skills and phrasing - often using juxtaposition, assonance and zeugma in his lyrics. All of which add to the style.
Approaching Memphis it was on to Watermelon Slim's latest album "No Paid Holidays". This is the first time I've listened to Watermelon Slim properly after he was highly recommended to me by Gary Williams in Clarksdale. He is excellent.
A former Oklahoma truck driver with a University degree in History and a slide guitar style which is lowdown, mean and dirty (those are all good things by the way...)
"Call My Job" - about having too much weekend is packed full of humour and real life experience which we can all identify with.
"And When I Die" is a superb song which features Watermelon Slim singing a pure vocal track with no accompaniment other than harp. Outstanding.
The sounds and styles on the album are quite diverse and cross a broad range from hard electric blues to blues rock and country blues and subject matters also vary. A great album and I am now a Watermelon Slim convert.
Back to Memphis and straight to STAX Recording Studio or as it was know in the 60s and 70s - "Soulsville USA". It is now a museum and a pilgrimage site for people looking to the origins of Soul music and the Memphis sound.
Founded by two white people STAX did more for Black music than almost any other record label and certainly ranks alongside Chess, Motown and Sun in terms of pioneer labels.
Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton founded STAX (a combination of the first two letters of each of their surnames) in a neighbourhood that was turning predominantly black. They were brother and sister - Jim was the music man who had a history in radio and had started a recording venture at the end of the 50s and Estelle was the financial brains initially. 1960 saw the first proper release by Rufus Thomas and Carla his daughter after STAX had set up in what used to be the Capitol Theatre on the corner of College and McLemore sts in Memphis.
Astonishingly nearly all the early STAX artists were from the neighbourhood around the studio which was thick with musical talent. Even the Queen of Soul herself Aretha Franklin was born just around the corner and her father Reverend Franklin officiated at Rufus Thomas's wedding. (Aretha moved to Detroit when very young and did not record at STAX.
Soul music was born out of blues, gospel and country. Essentially happy music whose rhythms were very catchy and dance focused (spawning many different dances including The Funky Chicken, The Jerk, The Mashed Potato etc), Soul took the blues and country from the fields and the gospel from the churches and fused it into a sound that lived in the city.
Many of the STAX singers had grown up as gospel singers while other spent their formative years listening to country music and the Grand Ole Opry on the radio (both blacks and whites). This coming together of musical styles was matched by a very integrated racial harmony unusual at the time. All the way through STAX blacks and whites worked closely together and without colour entering the building. It changed after the assassination of Dr. King at the end of the 60s after which the music became a signal of black identity and became politicised, ceasing to be "just music".
Bass, drums, horns and some bawling Memphis guitar are what back the passionate vocals. The STAX sound was a lot more punchy, earthy and "dirty" than the slightly homogenised sound of Motown under Berry Gordy - who admittedly was targeting a much larger crossover audience and wanted to make black music accessible to whites.
Listen to the King Curtis song "Memphis Soul Stew" to understand - literally - the ingredients of Memphis Soul Music.
Backbone of the sound were the house musicians in the form of Al Jackson on drums, Donald "Duck" Dunn on bass (Fender Precision), Steve Cropper on guitar (Fender Telecaster) and Booker T. Jones on organ. They played as a band under the name of Booker T. & The MGs but less well know if the fact that they were the studio band for nearly all the STAX recordings and one of the main live bands also.
Steve Cropper became one of the main producers at STAX over the years along with people like Isaac Hayes and David Porter who wrote many of the songs and hits for people like Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, The Bar Kays, Eddie Floyd, Carla Thomas, and many more.
The STAX sound was and is instantly recognisable and became mimicked over time by many other labels and producers. Eventually the studio fell apart in the 70s with financial and management problems, but not before it had made its mark on American and world music and given birth to "Soul" music.
The museum today is an excellent memorial to the STAX golden years. Very informative exhibits are mixed with profiles of some of the STAX stars and the history and development of Soul. STAX also recorded blues artists as well - most notably Albert King - and bridged into the funk movement as a logical development of Soul.
Two highlights of the museum for me were the studio itself which - like Studio B in Nashville - gives a strong sense of history. Although the original STAX building was knocked down in 1988, the rebuilt site and museum still give a sense of what it was like with all the original equipments, consoles and so on in their positions. It's not just the presence of Duck Dunn's bass, Steve Cropper's guitar or Booker T's Hammond organ - but the knowledge that Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Isaac Hayes and other greats stood on this site and in this place making the music that lives on way past their lifetimes and which has accompanied millions of others in their lifetimes and in the moments where only music makes sense.
The other highlight was Isaac Hayes' gold plated cadillac. Fur lined, gold plated, special stereo, TV and fridge in back this massive monument to 70's style is awesome to behold. Much like Elvis's gold plated Cadillac in the country museum in Nashville - it is the insecurity of a poor boy who's made a lot of money. Got to show it off and what better way than with a car which everyone can see you in.
From the STAX museum to another Memphis institution - the Gibson Guitar factory just a block or two down from Beale Street.
This is the main production and manufacturing facility for guitars and basses - particularly the electric instruments and also houses the "custom" shop which makes special and limited edition instruments. The facility I visited in Nashville makes banjos, mandolins and Dobro (resonator) guitars.
The factory tour was full for the day so I didn't get to see the production line which was a shame, but I did get to spend some time in the custom shop retail area strumming some lovely guitars. I wasn't planning to buy any instruments (3 guitars already on this trip is enough) but I did inquire about one acoustic (an L5 in limited edition and one of only 24 pieces). It was $6,500 US - plus tax! Needless to say it stayed at the shop!
Back in the car I fired up Jenny the GPS and aimed her at St Louis - around 280 miles away - and put soul music on the sound system, having been inspired by Stax.
Listening to sweet soul music and with cruise control dialled in to around 90 miles an hour (only 20 above the speed limit) I headed on up to St Louis and completing a day's drive of more nearly 600 miles all told.
St Louis was exceedingly busy - A Cardinal's game was on and it was Saturday - and I couldn't find a room in a hotel for love nor money.
With traffic and hunger getting on my nerves, I headed out of town towards Blueberry Hill to see if I could find a place to stay close to this cool neighbourhood full of great eateries and home to the St Louis student community and Italian community.
Every motel and hotel was booked full and I eventually opted for heading north towards Hannibal, Missouri to the birthplace of Mark Twain and finding a motel on the Highway.
Lucky for me they are digging up virtually every road in St Louis including the interstates and so Jenny the GPS got me and her totally lost. In my growing frustration I punched in the nearest hotel - which looked like being a fancy 4-5 star. I arrived at a different hotel - a Crowne Plaza (it changed owners 3 years ago. Take note Jenny!) and got a room for just 90 bucks a night! It was late so I headed for the in-house restaurant where a couple of large beers were drowned and some food was consumed.
And then to bed and a much needed deep sleep after reading up on STAX records and it's history.
Tomorrow it's further north to Hannibal and beyond. Highway 61 beckons and there's more music out there before I head off over to Chicago....
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