This Week's Track Listing
STAX: WEEK 1
'Cause I Love You - Carla & Rufus Thomas
Can't Ever Let You Go - Rufus Thomas
Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes) - Carla Thomas
Last Night - The Mar-Keys
Morning After - The Mar-Keys
About Noon - The Mar-Keys
Be My Lady - Booker T. & the MGs
Soul Limbo - Booker T. & the MGs
Green Onions - Booker T. & the MGs
You Make Me Feel So Good - The Chips
Burnt Biscuits - The Triumphs
There's A Love - Del Rios
Wait A Minute - Barbara Stephens
DB Buxton Revue - No Refund
Interesting Facts of the Week
- The name "Stax" is a portmanteau of the names of the two original owners of the company: Jim STewart and his sister Estelle AXton
- Now that's good business: Jim Stewart ran the recording studio, while Estelle Axton ran the record shop and refreshment stand. Mmm.
- When he started Stax, Jim Stewart was a white country fiddle player with little previous knowledge of, or interest in, rhythm and blues music - but it was what the people wanted.
- Carla Thomas, later to be known as the Queen of Memphis Soul, had Stax's first #1 hit with her dad: "'Cause I Love You."
- The Mar-Keys/Booker T & the MGs were the house band at Stax, but had a number of their own hits as well - including "Green Onions," one of the most iconic songs of the 1960s.
- Stax's signature style was an accident; since their recording studio was in a converted movie theater that still had the sloped floor where the seats had once been, the room was imbalanced, creating an acoustic anomaly that translated into the recordings, often giving them a big, deep yet raw sound.
* Seems like the clock was off again this week, so the recording cuts in to the show already in progress. Ah, technology.