Stax: Soulsville U.S.A. is an HBO original documentary about the record label that helped shape the course of American music in the ’60s and ’70s. Jamila Wignot is the producer and director of the four-part series which is a production of Laylow Pictures and White Horse Pictures in association with Concord Originals, Polygram Entertainment, and Warner Music Entertainment. Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Johnnie Taylor, Booker T. & The M.G.’s and Wilson Pickett are some of the artists who called Stax home.
Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton founded the label in 1957 as Satellite Records. By 1961 the name was changed to Stax. Rufus Thomas and his daughter Carla created the label’s first regional hit with “Cause I Love You” in 1961. Otis Redding put Stax in the national spotlight in the early ’60s thanks to “These Arms Of Mine” and “Respect” which Aretha Franklin made her own. At the height of the label’s success, their artists commemorated the Watts Rebellion by playing the 1972 Wattstax benefit concert.
The label’s story is told through archival footage and insight from the founders, singer Carla Thomas, Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, Stax’s director of publicity; David Porter, Booker T. Jones, Stax singer and songwriter; Sam Moore, and more. Stax: Soulsville U.S.A. will debut on Monday, May 20th at 9 PM ET on HBO with the first two episodes. Episodes three and four will air the next day at the same time.
