Congressman Cohen Honors Stax Records, Soul Music, and Memphis, Tennessee

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak on Stax and 50 years of soul music that my hometown, Memphis, Tennessee, has provided this Nation. H. Res. 154 recognizes the rich history of Stax, its 50-year celebration.

Last Saturday in Memphis, we started what's called ``Seven Days of Soul,'' honoring 7 days of soul, and while we're honoring 7 days of soul starting last Saturday, the rest of the year is just as good in Memphis. Every day is good in Memphis, and every day's really good on this Earth.

Soul music is a special part of American music, and I wish to quote from The Commercial Appeal, which did a special feature on Stax and soul this past week by Mr. Bob Negr. He quotes Peter Guralnick, great rock and roll raconteur, and he says, what soul music is is the story of blacks and whites together. It is the story of the complicated intertwinings of dirt-poor roots and middle-class dreams, aesthetic ambitions and social strivings, the anarchic impulse and the business ethic.

Guralnick, while not a Memphian, has been a great recounter of stories of Memphis music. He's done a lot with Elvis, and he's done a lot with Stax. And Memphis has got the roux that has made music what it's been in America.

At Sun Records, things came together, and Sam Phillips put them together there, and Rufus Thomas, a staple of Stax, recorded at Sun Records. That was a fusion of music, just as Stax and soul music is a fusion of rhythm and blues and gospel music.

Steve Cropper, one of the famous Booker T. and the MGs musicians and song writers, along with Duck Dunn, Booker T. Jones and the late Al Jackson, said, the main reason Stax was so singular and phenomenal was that we had no idea what we were doing. Kind of reminds you of Congress on occasion, like last week, but we had no idea what we were doing. I guess you'd say there was a kind of magic in not knowing, and that made it special.

As Cropper noted, everything that made Stax great was, at its essence, beautifully raw and largely untutored. Certainly, that kind of description makes so many things in America so great.

Mr. Speaker, what made Stax so great was it was a natural energy and it was a coming together of blacks and whites. The House band there was Booker T. and the MGs. Steve Copper and Duck Dunn are Caucasian, and Al Jackson and Booker T. Jones are African American. And they put out the music. They didn't put out white onions, they didn't put out red onions. They didn't put out yellow onions. They put out ``Green Onions,'' and because of ``Green Onions,'' the world rocks to a Memphis beat and Stax soul.

The Memphis Horns were two gentlemen, Andrew Love and Wayne Jackson, one black and one white. That's the story that Memphis had in music, and it's the story that Memphis and this country need to have to come together and move forward.

Stax is an embodiment of the American dream, the promised land, as Dr. King would call it. I am pleased the House considers this bill today, and welcome the gentleman from Arizona's manager's amendment which recognizes the important role that Memphis played in immortalizing the great genre of soul music at large.

Now at the site of the old Stax headquarters and studio on historic McLemore Avenue is the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. It is the world's only soul music museum. No matter what Detroit might say, Memphis has the world's only soul music museum, and you need to come to Memphis and visit the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. The many exhibits there include award-winning documentary film and an authentic 100-year-old Mississippi Delta church that was home to the gospel roots of soul music, original studio equipment, costumes, artwork and memorabilia intended to preserve the legacy of American soul music and its contributions worldwide.

Stax was founded in 1957, not on a specific day with a cornerstone laid by the masons, but generally in 1957. That's the way soul music was. There is not exactly a date for it. It's just kind of a thing that happened. It was Jim Stewart and his sister, Estelle Axton. Jim Stewart's last name, Stewart starts with S-t, and Ms. Axton's, Ax, together S-t-a-x. Stax Records came together with Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton. They put the Stax in Stax music.

Stax Records brought forth so many hits. Otis Redding, ``(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay,'' and I have got to parenthetically relate a personal story. I was a freshman at Vanderbilt University one night when Otis Redding performed in the Bar-Kays. The Bar-Kays, a great instrumental group, ``Soul Finger'' was their big hit. Ben Cauley, James Alexander are the surviving members.

Two days after they performed at Vanderbilt, their plane crashed. Just as when the Big Bopper's plane crashed, soul music would have crashed. We lost great, great talents, Otis Redding and the Bar-Kays that night.

Fortunately, Mr. Cauley missed the plane and Mr. Alexander wasn't on it. But it was a night I will remember and all students at Vanderbilt will remember as well. We saw their next-to-last concert.

But Otis came to Memphis to do ``(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay,'' the Staple Singers, ``Respect Yourself,'' Sam & Dave, famed for ``Hold On! I'm Comin,'' as well as ``I'm a Soul Man,'' Gene Knight's ``Mr. Big Stuff,'' so many instrumentals by Booker T. & the MGs; Eddie Floyd came to Memphis to do ``Knock on Wood.'' Other great musicians performed there, the Mar-Keys and others.

It is fitting this resolution be considered this month of June, which is Black Music Month. Black Music Month recognizes the outstanding contributions African American singers have made to our Nation.

This Friday, June 22, the Memphis Orpheum Theatre will celebrate this occasion with a concert entitled ``50 Years of Stax: A Concert to Benefit the Stax Museum of American Soul Music.'' Artists scheduled to perform at the event include such legendary talents as Isaac Hayes of ``Shaft'' fame, and one of the nicest human beings you would ever want to meet, and I have had that great fortune; Booker T. & the MGs, Eddie Floyd, William Bell Mavis Staples, the Soul Children and the Reddings will be honoring their father, the late legendary Otis Redding.

I am honored this resolution recognizes their talents, as well as such legendary artists as Aretha Franklin, who was born in Memphis; B.B. King; Albert King, no relation, but just as good at putting hot licks on those guitars; the Memphis Horns, Wayne Jackson & Andrew Love, Sam & Dave, the Mar-Keys; and even though not on Stax Records, Al Green and his legendary producer Willie Mitchell can't not be mentioned for all they did for Memphis music.

David Porter was a great songwriter. He'll be there too in the Stax Days. Stax Records was something special for Memphis and the country. It lives on through the museum, but it also lives on through now the Concord Music Group, which just announced the relaunch of Stax Records as a creative home for present-day soul stars such as Angie Stone, Soulive, Lalah Hathaway and Leon Ware who will be performing as well, and they will be joined along with other heritage artists such as Isaac Hayes to record on this label which has returned to its prominent place in Memphis and hopefully a prominent place in the charts.

It is a great honor and privilege that the House of Representatives would consider this bill today. I am thankful to have the opportunity to sponsor this legislation because of the great impact soul music has had on my life, the lives of my constituents, so many of us here in Congress and so many Americans.

Tomorrow is Juneteenth. Juneteenth is the anniversary of the last free emancipation of slaves. The word got to east Texas that the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed in 1863. It wasn't until 1865, June 19, the news got to Texas and all the slaves were freed. It's appropriate that in Black Music Month, during the celebration of Juneteenth and weekend before last when we celebrate the people who made their passage, and some were so brave that rather than put themselves into slavery as Jews at Masada in the same way gave up their lives rather than be enslaved that we honor Stax Records.

It's going to be a great night Friday night. We will remember our heritage in Memphis. We will remember our heritage in America. And we have a new future with a recording label, with Stax Records. I urge every one to be soulful, to listen to soul music and ask the House of Representatives to pass H. Res. 154.