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‘Stax: Soulsville U.S.A.’ Trailer Shows How Label Thrived at Beginning of Civil Rights Movement


The trailer for the docuseries, 'Stax: Soulsville U.S.A.,' tells the story of the label that was home to Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, and others.

A new docuseries, Stax: Soulsville U.S.A., will look at the radical history of the groundbreaking Memphis label, which has been home to Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Sam and Dave, Booker T. and the M.G.’s, and the Staple Singers, among others. A trailer for the four-part series, which debuts with two episodes on HBO and the whole thing on Max on May 20, explains how label founders Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton, who were white, fell in love with Black music and made the label a haven for artists of color during the beginnings of the civil rights movement in the Fifties. The first two episodes will look at how Stax shook up the charts with music by Sam and Dave, Booker T. and the M.G.’s, and Redding, as the label sought to dissolve racial divisions, as well as Redding’s stunning Monterey Pop performance and how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination changed things.

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