“I don’t think,” Steve Cropper says, “I had even pulled my guitar out of the case yet.”

Many of Stax Records’ biggest hits were released during a period of America’s greatest racial unrest.

Here’s the story behind one of Cropper’s more brilliantly concise performances.

A years-long labor of love helps save a key piece of musical, not political, history.

As important, and as emotional, as “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” has always been to Otis Redding’s legacy, there has long been a misconception about it You May Also Like: Otis Redding never heard this memorable part of ‘Dock of the Bay’: ‘I was the only one inRead More

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

The Stax Museum is located at 926 East McLemore Avenue in Memphis — but it is not, in fact, house in the old building where so many legendary soul sides were once cut. That facility was actually torn down in 1989 You May Also Like: ‘We were at the piano,Read More

The wonder, in listening to ageless sides from Stax Records stars like Otis Redding, was how often they came from one-take performances. Too, these songs were typically written just days, or even hours, beforehand. You May Also Like: Otis Redding tried something new with ‘Dock of the Bay,’ even ifRead More

Neal Schon has been around plenty of guitar heroes over the years. He started, after all, in Carlos Santana’s band. And so it’s perhaps of little surprise that, when asked if a player ever humbled him, Schon says: “Maybe one time.” You May Also Like: Neal Schon, “Lady M” fromRead More

For all of the fame the Blues Brothers franchise belatedly afforded Steve Cropper, he says the original 1980 film actually had several scenes cut that would have showcased Cropper and his pipe-smoking, bass-playing bandmate in Booker T. and the MGs, Donald “Duck” Dunn. You May Also Like: Steve Cropper almostRead More