Steve Cropper has participated in countless sessions, helping shape our musical landscape with his pen, his guitar and his knack for coaxing out great sessions. As such, he’s heard his songs featured across a dizzying array of platforms. You May Also Like: Steve Cropper’s research into then-unknown Wilson Pickett sparkedRead More

When Steve Cropper performs another round of European dates with the Animals in the fall, he will be returning to the site of some of Stax Records’ biggest — and, for some, most surprising — successes in the late 1960s. An explosive revue featuring Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, CarlaRead More

Steve Cropper settled into the theater seats with his wife and another couple, ready to enjoy the new film American Graffiti in 1973. He had no idea what was about to happen next. You May Also Like: Does Steve Cropper ever grow weary of his most familiar hits?: ‘Some guysRead More

As part of Booker T. and the MGs, Steve Cropper played on countless hits, though often the record-buying public had no idea of their involvement. The guitar legend explains why that never mattered. You May Also Like: Inside Booker T. and the MGs’ stirring ’90s-era comeback: ‘It went by likeRead More

For Stax Records executive Al Bell, the label’s focus on personalized arrangements was what made its stable of stars into timeless figures. Unlike some of their competitors, he says no two of their records sounded exactly alike. You May Also Like: Booker T. and the MGs’ ageless ‘Green Onions’ hadRead More

Booker T. and MGs were pioneers of funky-cool soul and Civil Rights-era forward thinking. But it might not have happened, but for a chance meeting at a local Memphis record shop. You May Also Like: Inside the naming of Booker T. and the MGs’ ‘Green Onions’ : ‘The stinking-est musicRead More

The Lorraine Motel, refurbished now as the National Civil Rights Museum, has become a cultural touchstone in the wake of Martin Luther King’s murder. But that Memphis landmark holds another place of historical significance. You May Also Like: Steve Cropper on the Beatles’ flirtation with Stax: ‘Didn’t happen for aRead More

Playing an upside down Gibson Flying V, Albert King set about turning everything you thought you knew about the blues, about rock, and certainly about the left-handed guitarist himself on its head with this stunning Stax release. You May Also Like: Greg Lake compares this era to the one thatRead More

That there wasn’t one already seems unfathomable. Now that the Memphis Music Hall of Fame has been created, however, its inaugural class can assembled with a snap resembling the legendary hometown Stax Records logo. You May Also Like: Isaac Hayes needed help to complete Sam and Dave’s ‘Soul Man’: ‘IRead More