These days, multi-part music documentaries bombard us with the assertiveness and richness of old K-tel collections, eager to satisfy the desires of pop nostalgists of all stripes. Recent releases include “James Brown: Say It Loud” (A&E), “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon” (MGM+), “Kings From Queens: The Run DMC Story” (Peacock), and “Thank You, Goodnight.” has been added. “The Bon Jovi Story” (Hulu) will be added to the rotation.
That means four artists have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But if you’re looking for something bigger, an arc of America from the 1960s to his ’70s set to a gritty, infectious soundtrack, I know the place. “Stax: Soulsville, USA” premieres Monday on HBO.
The checkered and relatively short history of Stax Records (18 years from founding to bankruptcy) is rich in content, shaped by a serendipitous blend of personalities, geography, and studio acoustics, and shaped by Memphis’ neighborhoods of race, class, and music. is driven by the dynamics of , away from the recording industry centers of New York and Los Angeles.
Director Jamila Wignot, who introduced Alvin Ailey in “American Masters” and directed an episode of Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s “Finding Your Roots,” gave the four-episode series more than a flair for imagination. It brings a sense of organization. “Soulsville, USA” gives the traditional Talking Heads treatment to a story that begs for more. But Wignot’s frank approach is not fatal, as the story, tracking from innocence to irony and triumph to disaster, is so gripping.
And the interviewees we speak to are an incredibly diverse and fascinating group. Among them is Jim Stewart, an earnest, folksy, woefully naive white farm boy who co-founded the label with her sister, Estelle Axton. Al Bell, a charismatic black businessman, appears as a promotions director who saves a company from what appears to be doom and ultimately its demise. And Booker T. Jones, leader of the house band Booker T. and the MGs, looms over the early episodes like a cool, enigmatic, academic soul guru.
The story of Stax begins with Stewart and Axton’s willingness, born of both candor and necessity, to collaborate with the musicians who happened to be there, many of them black and untested. (Jones tells a famous anecdote about how he was expelled from his high school algebra class for his first Stax session.) Stewart soon abandoned country music, and artists like Cara and Carla He embraced rhythm and blues and southern soul, which had a sense of urgency and was deeply felt. Presented by Rufus Thomas, Sam & Dave, and Otis Redding, supported by Booker T and the MGs, and guided by songwriters and producers like Isaac Hayes and David Porter.
As the company’s fortunes steadily rose through the mid-’60s, Stax’s early hits play through the first two hours of “Soulsville USA,” providing a perpetually grinning uplift. Stunning live performances include Sam & Dave’s “Hold On, I’m Comin'” during the European tour that marked the label’s rise, and Redding’s groundbreaking “I’ve Been” at the Monterey Pop Festival.・Loving You Too Long” and more. (The series uses a lot of footage from Attorney General Pennebaker’s documentary “Monterey Pop” and the 1973 concert film “WattsStacks,” but the performances captivate me no matter how many times I watch them.)
“Soulsville, USA” is neatly divided into two parts, with the first culminating in the catastrophe that nearly brought down Stax for the first time. Following Redding’s death in a 1967 plane crash, Atlantic Records appropriated nearly the entire Stax catalog in 1968. The result of a contract that Stewart signed but did not read. The second half is less about music and more about business and culture, as Bell revives his company and rides the Black Power movement to new levels of national prominence. Theme from “Shaft” and Wattstax Concert)” However, they clashed with another major label partner, CBS Records, and were unable to stop their rapid slide into bankruptcy.
In the final two episodes, the voice of Jones, who left the label in 1970, disappears, leaving Bell and former Stax public relations director Deanie Parker as the main voices. The story they tell is that this startup was crushed by the racist record industry and racist Memphis business establishments because it was specifically black-led and ultimately black-owned. That’s what it is. It’s easy to believe that, but the lack of a less partial, more analytical voice is noticeable and disappointing. (Some background is provided by music writer Rob Bowman, whose book Soulsville, USA: The Story of Stax Records is credited as the documentary’s primary source.)
It’s been nearly half a century since Stax existed as just the name of a reissue label, its fate poignantly conveyed by the on-screen message that follows the HBO logo: “In association with Polygram Entertainment, Concord Originals, Warner Music Entertainment.” It was done. The company that owns the Stax songs on the soundtrack. Al Bell says, “Big fish eat small fish.” But the song still takes you there.
