The Stax Museum Part 4 - Leaving 926 East McLemore

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Suggested Listening for this Entry: "Respect Yourself" by the Staples Singers. "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding.

Suggested Food and Drink for this Entry: None


It's impossible for one person to tell the Stax story over the course of a few blog entries. I hope you, the reader, will visit the Stax Museum if you are ever anywhere near Memphis. As a music fan, it is one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had that did not involve seeing a live performance. At one point while touring the museum, the visitor goes thru a room where a copy of every 45 RPM single and LP Stax, and its subsidiaries, ever released is on display. It's here, after hearing the Stax story, the visitor realizes the magnitude of what was accomplished by a company that was literally started in the founder's garage.

But, the museum goes far beyond the story of the music. The museum presents what is truly an American story....starting from nothing, rising to the top before having everything torn down, then doing it all again. Unfortunately, the Stax story had a tragic ending with the 1976 bankruptcy. But, the music made there at 926 East McLemore still lives and this museum will give testament to it going forward.


A Few Footnotes on the Stax Museum:
Among the museum's permanent displays is Isaac Hayes' Shaft era, gold plated Cadillac. The car is a sight to see and may only be rivaled by Elvis' gold plated Cadillac, on display in the Country Music Hall of Fame, in the history of automobile debauchery. Hayes paid over $27,000 for the car in the early 1970s.

The museum also has a series of rotating of exhibits. During my visit to the Stax Museum, one of the rotating exhibits was a display of photographs of Otis Redding and memorabilia from his career. The exhibit was created with help from Redding’s widow, Zelma.

The museum’s website gives a nice overview of the museum’s exhibits and contains quite a few photos from inside the museum. (No photography is allowed inside the museum, thus I was not able to include photos of the exhibits in these entries.)


Author/music historian Rob Bowman has written what is considered the definitive Stax history, Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records. The book was published in 2003 and is still widely available.

Tremolo Productions, Thirteen/WNET New York and the Concord Music Group, the current owner of the Stax catalog, released the documentary film Respect Yourself - The Stax Records Story in 2007. The film aired on PBS and is currently available on DVD. If you found these entries on the Stax Museum interesting, please watch the film.

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