GOLDMINE MAGAZINE (Cover) ** STAX: The Tradition Carries On

 

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The Online Story below is a companion piece to the print feature and is a wholly different article.

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By TONE Scott

In the Summer of 2024, Goldmine Magazine experienced a level of grace and hospitality—about as big as any prominent music publication will ever experience—when we were invited by the world renowned, Stax’s Soulsville Foundation, located in Memphis, to experience Stax in 2024, first hand and face to face.  As we traveled two thirds of the way across the country, from Los Angeles, California, to Memphis, Tennessee, there was a pleasurable anxiety brewing, which translated to the fact that we knew we were about to experience the legacy of American soul music, from front to back, from left to right, as well as inside and out, from those who are the modern day caretakers of the Stax music lexicon.

Goldmine spent almost a week with the powers-that-be at the legendary Soulsville Foundation campus, located in the very same locale where once existed the original Stax Records offices, and the iconic Stax Recording studios.  That campus includes: the world-renowned Stax Museum of American Soul Music, The Soulsville Foundation Charter School, as well as the modern-day legendary Stax Music Academy.  We were personally hosted, and so graciously, by the Soulsville Foundation, Director of Communications, Mary Helen Randall, whose orchestration of all onsite and offsite activities was as professional, and as personable, as it gets.  The Soulsville Foundation did not skip a beat when it came to Goldmine’s itinerary and schedule.  Everything was laid out to perfection, and was beyond impressive.

We were privy to be able to engage and interact with some of the foundation’s most prominent and important figures, including academy directors, foundation presidents, founding fathers, and a master museum curator, as well as charter school / academy alumni, and current star-level students of the Stax Music Academy.  Goldmine was able to gather so much information, that it required an extremely lengthy feature print-article (6000 words), as well as this online addendum to the print edition, in order to cover everything that we experienced, and all of the information that was disseminated to the magazine.  In the current Fall 2024 print edition of Goldmine Magazine, we feature the cover article—STAX: The Legacy of Memphis Soul, Then and Now, which includes many monumental insights, facts, visuals and interviews, encompassing a historical overview of the Stax music legacy, from the beginning to the present.

Within the Fall 2024 feature article, you will experience a crescendo of knowledge from early Stax Records history (including detailed information about the contents of the Stax museum), to conversations with iconic Stax recording artist’s, Bobby Whitlock and Booker T. Jones, and as well, interviews with four of the most important modern day figures who represent Stax’s Soulsville Foundation.  However, there is much more to the story—inclusions that did not fit into print.  The Soulsville Foundation is extensively more than the history of Stax’s legendary music and the artist’s it wielded.  It is about the ‘resurrection of the legacy’ that the original Stax history gave birth to.  It is about the new millennium resuscitation of this legacy that was ignited by a few hopefuls who saw value in reviving its history, and the newer generations that have entrusted their passions and dreams to the guidance and resources that the Soulsville Foundation provides to this new generation of Memphis talent, and beyond.

Stax Museum of American Soul Music

What started out as part of the revival-idea of the Stax music legacy, has now become one of the most prominent collections of music memorabilia and displays of music history on the entire planet.  As the second living phase of the Soulsville Foundation plan for reviving Stax history, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music is a mainstay of the Memphis music and history scene, and is attended not only by thousands of visitors from all over the country, but attracts a multitude of visitors from all over the world, rivaling Elvis Presley’s Graceland estate, as well as Memphis’ Blues Hall of Fame Museum.

Upon our visit, Goldmine was graciously and impressively hosted by Jeff Kollath, the museum’s curator and Executive Director. We were scheduled on a day that the museum was closed, thus giving the magazine exclusive autonomy to explore with free reign of the facility. I took the opportunity to explore the museum on my own, with no supervision or guide, simply to pace my ingestion of all the amazing and incredible inanimate, as well as interactive displays and treasures. I roamed and documented as much as I could, before Kollath presented me with his formal tour and in-depth history lesson.  After perusing around the museum in awe, my formal adventure began with a short yet expository film—which all visitors are privy to viewing—based on the beginning, through to the untimely end of the original Stax music legacy in 1975.  After this incredibly informative and captivating 13 minute documentary, Kollath intercepted me and thus began an in-real-time journey and lecture through the rooms, halls, corridors and the crevice’s of the world renowned Stax Museum of American Soul Music.

What I became so awestruck with, was not just the collection of items, displays and images that told the stories and shown the artifacts of one of the most influential music movements in recorded music history, but even more, it was hearing and learning about the tactics and strategies (and the hurdles) that the museum was faced with, in regard to how much Stax information had been gathered, and how the majority of its relics were obtained over the past 20 years. The intimate stories behind the acquisition of the museum’s possessions were just as fascinating as the museum itself.  Topping it off with the knowledge that Kollath possesses—literally as if he himself had written the book on Stax—was the cherry on top of a very big cake, and led to one of the most memorable ventures through music history I have ever experienced.  To learn more about Goldmine’s time at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, and to read an extensive and in-depth interview with Executive Director, Jeff Kollath, pick up a copy of the Fall 2024 print edition of Goldmine Magazine, with STAX on the cover!

Stax Music Academy

Taking shape in late 1999-2000, while the cornerstones of the Soulsville Foundation were being laid and imagined, beginning in a humble neighborhood school house around the corner from the current Soulsville Foundation campus, was the genesis of the now internationally renowned Stax Music Academy.  According to one of the foundation’s founding fathers, current Director of Special Projects for the Soulsville Foundation, Tim Sampson, “We were in the process of tearing down all the abandonment and the drug houses in the area, all while continuing to operate the earliest incarnation of the music academy out of a local elementary school around the corner . . . we had about 150 music students in the first summer music camp, and it grew from there.” Officially, in 2000, the Stax Music Academy was birthed with regard to its operational existence.  However, it subsequently became more real in 2002, when the current academy facilities were christened with a newly constructed building adjacent to the Stax Museum.  This was nothing less than a resurrection of the original spirit of Memphis soul, rooting it on the very grounds, on the very street, in the exact neighborhood that the historic Stax legacy was originally manifested and honed.

Since that time, the Stax Music Academy has built a reputation as a local hero, a national treasure, and an international accomplishment with regard to the past legacy it represents, and with a modern day prowess for cultivating some of the America’s best young musicians, as it continues to guide and nurture an amazing slew of musical hopefuls, promising and gifted.  During Goldmine’s exploration of the Soulsville Foundation enterprise, we were blessed to encounter and be enlightened by some of the academy’s hierarchy, who took the time to share and divulge many of the intricacies of its operation, regarding its mission, its programs and its plans for future growth.  I was honored to sit and discuss, in great detail, all of these facets of this magnificent institute, with Stax Music Academy Executive Director, Isaac Daniel.  Daniel and I engaged in a lengthy exchange of information where I was made privy to his upbringing, his history as a promising young musician, and his segue into the music industry, including his current position at SMA.  He divulged, vividly, the great progresses in operations and technology that the Stax Music Academy was providing its students, previous to taking me on an expository tour of the facility and its many music resource centers.  What I encountered first hand, was at the very least beyond impressive, and more than I could have imagined the academy providing for its musically-focused youth.

Goldmine was also enthroned to be able to sit with President and CEO of the entire Soulsville Foundation, Pat Mitchell Worley, for an exposé of her personal history within the rich and prosperous Memphis music world, and her crescendo into heading one of the world’s most revered music non-profits.  As I sat in an unconventional place of business with Mitchell Worley, I couldn’t help but be filled with true Memphis spirit.  She invited me to partake in our exchange at one of the most back-roads soul food eateries you could imagine, one that absolutely screamed, “Memphis!”  This was the perfect atmosphere to be engulfed in the local culture, while she orated her tenure in Memphis music, described the pure premise of the Soulsville Foundation, and shared about her rise to holding the reigns to this magnificent institution.  She fortified Isaac Daniel’s insight and foresight about, not only the music academy, but also provided a clear cut and vivid view of the current pathway for the entire Souslville Foundation.  This includes the museum, the music academy and the Soulsville Charter School, all of which she has been instrumental in leading its growth, and gracefully carrying the unquenched torch of the Stax legacy.  To learn more about Goldmine’s interactions with these prolific Soulsville Foundation figures, and to read the all-encompassing and comprehensive interviews with Director of Special Projects, Tim Sampson, academy Executive Director, Isaac Daniel, and foundation President/CEO, Pat Mitchell Worley, secure a copy of the Fall 2024 print edition of Goldmine Magazine.

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As if our encounters with the powers-that-be, were not enough, Goldmine was also privy to personally encounter two generations of Stax Music Academy beneficiaries—one alumni, and one current student—in gracious conversations with both.  On two various days I sat with these incredible, young musicians who have greatly benefited, and are still being blessed with the prosperities from their symbiotic relationship with the Soulsville Foundation. Both exemplified, to the greatest extent, the treasures that are unlocked for all those who are fortunate to partake in any facet of guidance, within any one of the programs offered and available through a tenure with the Stax Music Academy.  In early August of 2024, I engaged, respectively, with current academy student, Liya Sarai, and academy alumni, Chris Clark, to inquire about their individual experiences as partakers and recipients of all that Stax Music Academy has to offer.

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Liya Sarai

Liya Sarai is a prodigy musical youth if there ever was one.  She is a product of not only what the Soulsville Foundation has embraced her with, but even previous to her academy attendance, as a young local performing vocalist, and a standout seedling of what Memphis music culture seems to effortlessly cultivate.  At 10 years old, Sarai is currently one of the younger undergraduates being honed by the academy’s several and diverse programs, and came to the academy as a starling in her own right.  I was honored to sit with her at the Stax Music Academy and learn a little about her aspirations, influences and hopes for what she desires to gain from participating in the academy’s programs, as well as what she desires beyond.

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Goldmine: Liya, Goldmine readers would love to know why you a passionate about pursuing music?

Liya Sarai: I really want to pursue music because I have a desire to share my gift with people, and I would love to make money and make a living from sharing my gift.

GM: What is the most important thing to you, about having the gift of music, and what is most important about that, to you?

LS: Music makes me feel good.  The gift that I was given is better if I can share it.  Also, performing the music, in talent shows and schools, and stuff like that, makes me feel good too.

GM: Would you be so kind to tell us how you came to be a student at Stax Music Academy?

LS: It started when I would have conversations with my mom about STAX [Stax history], and then she told me about the Stax Academy.  The way I ended up here was, there was a talent show here [in Memphis] at a place called The Green Room in Crosstown Concourse.  It was a talent show for the academy [called ‘Mic Drop’] in 2023, and I sang a song that I wrote called, “Tag.”  I got a little help writing it, but I did the most.  I placed third in the competition out of everyone.  When I performed and the show was over, they [Stax Academy] told me that I did really good, I think they were impressed by it, for me being 10 years old.  The academy wanted me to get into the school, and I had to learn another song really quick, but because of time it didn’t work out, but they accepted me anyway.

GM: When you first came to join the academy, what did you think it was going to be about?

LS: I new it wasn’t going to be like regular school, it was going to be all about music,   because Stax was all about music.

GM: What is your favorite thing about being a part of the Stax Music Academy?

LS: I like that we are able to learn how to create our own music, and then they give a chance to record it in the recording studio here.  That’s my favorite thing.

GM: What advise would you give to someone your age, if they asked, “how can I be a a part of the Stax Music Academy?”

LS: I would say keep posting your music.  Post your music over all social media.  Sing on camera for people to see it. You never know, they might see it and ask you, “would you like to perform?”

GM: Liya, what is the most important thing about music to you? 

LS: Music helps us understand each other, even if we don’t live in the same country or even if we don’t speak the same language. All music can make anyone feel good.

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Chris Clark

Being able to be labeled as a Stax Music Academy alumni, is becoming increasingly desirable every subsequent year that the Soulsville Foundation continues to expand its modern legacy.  Some graduate with a fulfilling of their dreams, by simply having been a part of the academy’s ongoing legendary status in musical education.  Some alumni have been blessed beyond that, and have been able to experience a success factor in music above and beyond the norm, during and after their time at the academy—Chris Clark is one of the finest examples of the latter.  In 2019, as part of the Soulsville Foundation’s 20th Anniversary events, a group of SMA students—branded as the Stax Music Academy Rhythm Ensemble—which included Chris Clark, consummated a Christmas themed special performance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. The episode was deemed: “Ellen’s Greatest Night of Giveaways,” to which no truer title could have been given, with regard to Clark. The star-student would eventually receive $50,000 in scholarship funds for his future endeavors in musical education.  Post graduation from the SMA, Clark is currently a lead performer in the 926 Stax Music Academy Alumni Band, which is a mind-blowing Sam & Dave rendition cover band that includes other SMA alumni.  As well, he has subdued the title as the official Stax Music Academy ‘Satellite Band’ Director, which is a performing ensemble encompassed by the younger Junior Academy students.  We sat with Chris Clark in conversation, inside the oldest diner in the city of Memphis, The Arcade Restaurant, which was a favorite of many Memphis icons, including Elvis Presley.

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Goldmine: Chris, thank you for sitting with Goldmine. In retrospect, how did you originally come to be a student at SMA?

Chris Clark: I actually attended the Soulsville Charter School, and then began attending the Stax Music Academy, on the same campus, when I was 11 years old, that is how I became affiliated with STAX.  My mother originally signed me up for the charter school and then one day told me, “Chris, you have an audition at the music academy.”  I was like, “what’s the music academy?” All she said was, “you need two songs, and your audition is tomorrow.”  I grew up in church, so I picked two gospel songs, I auditioned, and I got in on the spot.  I started in the Junior Academy, I then progressed to the ranks of Rhythm Section, and I graduated in 2021.

GM: From your entire time as a Stax Music Academy student, what did you experience at the academy, that you would have not experienced if you hadn’t attended?

CC: Because I went to the academy and was a veteran of their programs for so long, going to every practice and every performance, I was fortunate to travel as a performer on various occasions.  One being the Rhythm Ensemble’s performance that took place on the Ellen [DeGeneres] Show with Justin Timberlake.  Justin [along with his whole songwriting team, including producer Timberland] had just hosted an entire song writing workshop at the Stax Academy, for selected students, of which I was fortunate enough to be one.  We wrote songs, and then we had a chance to perform them for him; this was before the Ellen Show.  About one month later, the academy informed us that we were going to Hollywood to make our appearance on Ellen, and little did I know I was going to be the feature student on the show, everybody else knew, but me.   When we got to the Ellen Show, I was sitting in the audience, and I see Justin Timberlake come out, and right then I thought, “Oh, this is a set up,” and, again, I had no idea that I was going to be the featured student.  I got a chance to interview with Ellen, and I was also awarded $50,000 in college funds.  I was also fortunate enough to attend The Grammy Camp, virtually, because it was during the pandemic.  The camp is a music business focused camp that teaches students things like how to record your music, how to get your music published, how to shop your music, and how to maneuver in the music industry, etc.  Now, SMA itself, has implemented all of these things into its programs.

GM: What was your path after you graduated the academy?

CC: The first thing I did was went to Dave and Busters [laughs], but seriously, in August of 2021, I began attending the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where I was majoring in Political Science with an emphasis on American Law, with a minor in music.  Quickly, I realized that Political Science was not for me, so then I switched my major to Vocal Performance, with a minor in Political Science.  I just felt that it was time to get back to music.  So I began singing with the Chamber Singers of UTC [University of Tennessee at Chattanooga].  I auditioned on the spot in the director’s office, and I was given a scholarship, just like that.  Then, after my freshman year of college, I began interning at STAX during summer break.  I went back to school, but unfortunately I got sick, so I decided to come back home [Memphis], and I’ve been home ever since, and on my continued path with STAX.  I do plan on finishing school, but right now I’m trying to figure out what this ‘music thing’ is going to do for me.  I do have aspirations as a solo artist, but I’m just not sure in what capacity, yet.  However, I am also interested in the business side of the industry as well.

GM: Do you see some sort of a future for yourself at STAX and the Soulsville Foundation? 

CC: It’s funny that you asked that.  I’m actually in a weird spot in my adult life right now.  I’m 21, and I would love to stay at STAX until I’m 50, with a full-time job, etc, you know, I would love to do that. But at this point I think that I am embracing STAX as a resource, and as a tool, absorbing everything I can from people like Isaac Daniel, and Pat Mitchell Worley, who have been in the industry, and who are still in the industry, and who tell me, “Hey Chris, you need to do this and you need to do that, and this is why you need to do this, because I did it and now look at me.”  I am open to receiving so much constructive criticism, because I definitely don’t know everything.  I would love for STAX to be my life, but I if I choose to explore a different path, I know that STAX is always going to be there, and that I can always call STAX home.  So if I do temporarily step away, I know that they will always be there to present me with an opportunity.  They have expressed to me before, that being at STAX is the easiest best job in the world.  Because, to be in a place where you can cultivate your creativity, while also build character at the same time . . . well, it’s literally like family, and that’s just the type of people that are at STAX.

The Soulsville Charter School

Launched in 2005 with only 60 sixth grade students, this facet of the Soulsville Foundation was the third and final installment of this now monumental present day continuation of the Stax music legacy.  Its premises—located on the same massive campus property as the Stax Museum of American Soul Music and the Stax Music Academy—is indescribable, and it is a must-see for yourself.  In present day, and as it has been for sometime, the school operates, hosting middle school and high school-level students (6th -12th grades), and performs as a bona fide accredited, tuition-free, non-profit charter school. The basis of the charter school is to highly prepare students from the greater Memphis area, for a pathway to higher learning institutions while being emersed in an extremely music-rich environment.   The tag-line for the TSCS—“As a Community, we RISE”—is literal, matching its ideology and mission, ‘RISE’ being an acronym for ‘Respect, Integrity, Scholarship, and Empathy’.

The track record of The Souslville Charter School is immaculate.  Literally, 100-percent of the senior students that have journeyed through TSCS, have been accepted to either college and/or post-secondary educational institutions.  I am unaware of any other educational institution in the new millennium, which carries that accolade.  Many of the students also partake in the programs offered to them at its sister institution, the Stax Music Academy.  It makes for an entire dream-like educational experience for those enlisters whose passions and aspirations are deeply rooted in their musical talents.  As the primary focus of The Soulsville Charter School is on traditional core academics, TSCS also provides intensive music education based on deliverable proof that music-centered education greatly compliments and even enhances the general education structure.  To learn more about this incredible part of the Stax music legacy, please visit www.soulsvillecharterschool.org.

It was an absolute honor to have the Soulsville Foundation and all of its denominations—The Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Stax Music Academy and The Soulsville Charter School—host Goldmine in this absolutely, all inclusive, expository journey through its history and legacy.  It lacked nothing, beginning with a passage back in time, divulging the very intricate elements of Stax Records history, bringing us back to the roots of where is all began, then, proudly boasting about its rebirth through the foundation’s leaps and bounds, now and into the future.  Once again, to read the full story with additional images, accounts and interviews with former Stax Records recording artist’s, Bobby Whitlock and Booker T. Jones, as well as interviews with the powers-that-be at the Soulsville Foundation (if you are not subscribed to Goldmine), you can pick up a copy of our Fall 2024 print edition at GoldmineMag.com/Fall2024Edition/Stax.  As well, you can obtain a copy of the Stax 2024 Collectors Edition with alternate cover and a genuine signed Stax photo by the iconic Booker T. Jones at GoldmineMag.com/Fall2024/StaxCollectorsBundle.  Please enjoy a final pictorial of some of the encounters that Goldmine experienced during its memorable visit to Memphis, a.k.a. Soulsville USA.  ⌘

926 Stax Music Academy Alumni Band

On the second day of our visit, Goldmine was honored with a special performance by  Stax Music Academy’s very own, 926 Stax Music Academy Alumni Band, part of their final ‘Live in Studio A’ summer concert series. It was an incredible Sam & Dave rendition that absolutely captivated my ears and my eyes, and was astounding to say the least.

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Additional Photos

VISIT the STAX MUSEUM of AMERICAN SOUL MUSIC!

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