If you’re a fan of funk and soul music and you’ve never spent time digging into the STAX/Volt catalog, do yourself a favor and put some time aside. If you’re familiar with the STAX/Volt sound but haven’t listened in a while, here’s some background on why those records sound so great, even 50+ years later.

The very history of America, and the rest of the world after World War One, is told through the music of sharecroppers, itinerant laborers, the Southern church, former slaves, immigrants and settlers, and the three technological advances that brought it all to the rest of the world.

Lewis and Clark were explorers, and everyone who came after them built on what they did. The same with Robert Johnson, Elvis and Johnny Cash. They made the path and we just followed it. I hope it can happen again, but it will never be like it was because there was so much exploring and discovery going on. - Black Oak Arkansas' Rickie Lee Reynolds on the music of the mid-20th Century.

The Rock & Soul Museum, on Beale Street in Memphis is hosting a display of Pacific Eye & Ear’s work as part of their permanent exhibit that tells the story of the role Memphis played in the art of rock and soul music in America. The permanent exhibit is an amazing trip from the Memphis that was King Cotton until the Stax days in the 60s and 70s and beyond. It truly is the story of the birth of rock and roll and soul music and if you have a chance, you should make it a point to take a tour.