Here on the exact site of the original Stax Records studio, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music honors one of the most consequential recording studios in American history. From 1960 to 1975, this small converted movie theater in South Memphis produced a sound that was raw, gospel-drenched, and ferociously danceable. Otis Redding recorded 'Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay' here just days before his death in a plane crash in 1967.
Isaac Hayes created 'Hot Buttered Soul' in these rooms. Wilson Pickett, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, and Sam and Dave all made music here that became the soundtrack of a generation. What made Stax extraordinary was also unusual for its time: the house band, Booker T. and the MGs, was integrated — white and Black musicians recording side by side during the height of Jim Crow.
When the company collapsed in 1975 and the building was demolished, the community lost something irreplaceable. The museum rebuilt the studio from scratch using original materials and photographs. Inside, you'll find Isaac Hayes's gold Cadillac and the stage where it all happened.
This is sacred creative ground.