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Volume One
1. Fool In Love – Veltones (1:50)
(Moman-Arnold)
East Music**
Satellite 100
Released September, 1959
2. ‘Cause I Love You – Carla & Rufus (2:45)
(R. Thomas)
East Music*
Satellite 102/Atco 6177
Released August, 1960
3. ‘Gee Whiz – Carla Thomas (2:16)
(C. Thomas)
East Music*
Satellite 104/Atlantic 2086
Released November, 1960
Highest Chart Position: R&B #5 / Pop #10
4. You Make Me Feel So Good – The Chips (2:10)
(Curtis Johnson)
East Music*
Satellite 105
Courtesy of Jim Stewart
Released January, 1961
5. A Love Of My Own – Carla Thomas (2:34)
(Thomas)
East Music*
Atlantic 2101
Released March, 1961
Highest Chart Position: R&B #20 / Pop #56
6. Last Night – Mar-Keys (2:05)
(Axton-Smith-Newman)
East Music*
Satellite 107/Stax 107
Released June, 1961
Highest Chart Position: R&B #2 / Pop #3
7. I Didn’t Believe – Rufus & Friend (2:08)
(Conley)
East Music*
Atco 6199
Released June, 1961
8. I’m Going Home – Prince Conley (2:41)
(Conley)
East Music*
Satellite 108
Courtesy of Jim Stewart
Released July, 1961
9. (Mama, Mama) Wish Me Good Luck – Carla Thomas (2:22)
(Carla Thomas)
East Music*
Atlantic 2113
Released August, 1961
10. Morning After – Mar-Keys (2:28)
(Talley-Forest)
East-Bias Music**
Stax 112
Released September, 1961
Highest Chart Position: Pop #60*
11. The Life I Love – Barbara Stephens (2:21)
(Porter-Thomas)
East Music*
Satellite 111 / Stax 113
Released October, 1961
12. About Noon – Mar-Keys (2:31)
(Mar-Keys)
East-Bias Music*
Stax 114
Released October, 1961
13. Burnt Biscuits – Triumphs (2:01)
(Moman)
East-Bias Music*
Volt 100
Released November, 1961
14. I Kinda Think He Does – Carla Thomas (2:46)
(Everette-Burch-Thomas)
Cedarwood Music***
Atlantic 2132
Released November, 1961
15. Foxy – Mar-Keys (2:13)
(Mar-Keys)
East-Bias Music*
Stax 115
Released November, 1961
16. You Don’t Miss Your Water – William Bell (2:58)
(Bell)
East-Bais Music*
Stax 116
Released November, 1961
Highest Chart Position: Pop #95*
17. Formula of Love – William Bell (2:02)
(Bell)
East-Bais Music*
Stax 116-B
Released November, 1961
18. Goofin’ Off – Macy Skipper (2:58)
(Skipper-McNatt-Glisson)
East-Bais Music**
Stax 117
Released under license from Fantasy, Inc.
Released November, 1961
(Some copies of this single list it as Stax 116)
19. Wait A Minute – Barbara Stephens (2:21)
(Stephens)
East-Bais Music**
Stax 118
Released under license from Fantasy, Inc.
Released January, 1962
20. Sunday Jealous – Nick Charles (2:48)
(Addington)
East-Bais Music*
Stax 119
Released under license from Fantasy, Inc.
Released February, 1962
21. That’s The Way It Is With Me – Barbara Stephens (2:12)
(Crutchfield)
Tree Music****
Stax 120
Released under license from Fantasy, Inc.
Released March, 1962
22. No Tears – The Tonettes (2:28)
(Williams)
East-Bais Music*
Volt 101
Released under license from Fantasy, Inc.
Released March, 1962
23. Pop-Eye Stroll – Mar-Keys (2:40)
(Cropper-Jones)
East-Bais Music*
Stax 121
Released March, 1962
Highest Chart Position: Pop #94*
24. The Three Dogwood – Nick Charles (2:20)
(Cropper-Richy-Robinson)
East Music*
Stax 122
Released April, 1962
25. Why Should I Suffer With The Blues – The Canes (2:38)
(Canes)
East Music**
Stax 123
Released under license from Fantasy, Inc.
Released April, 1962
26. Whot’s Happenin’! – The Mar-Keys (2:25)
(Mar-Keys – Pukish)
East-Bais Music*
Stax 124
Released June, 1962
27. Just Across The Street – The Del-Rios (2:05)
(Bell)
East Music*
Stax 125
Released June, 1962
28. There’s A Love – The Del-Rios (2:05)
(Buchanan-Williams-Bell)
East Music*
Stax 125-B
Released June, 1962
29. Can’t Ever Let You Go – Rufus Thomas (2:30)
(Thomas)
East Music*
Stax 126
Released July, 1962
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While still in Brunswick, Stewart recorded his first black group, the Veltones. Samuel Jones, Willie Mull, Alvin Standard and George Reed had kicked around Memphis for a while. They had recorded two sides for Sun in 1958 that remained unissued until the 1980s and a little later on they recorded two more sides for Goldwax Records in 1966.
Stewart does not remember how a country fiddler who admittedly didn't know the first thing about R&B came across the group, but "Fool In Love" (co-written by Chips Moman, who was Stewart's right-hand man at the time) was picked up for national distribution by Mercury. In addition, the record did take Stewart down to Memphis's leading black station at the time, WDIA. There he met DJ Rufus Thomas, who had already enjoyed a relatively long and distinguished career as a comic (Rufus and Bones) and singer (with Star Talent, Meteor, Chess and, most notably Sun, where his 1953 recording of "Bear Cat," an answer song to Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog," became Sun's first bona fide hit, peaking at #3 on the R&B Best Seller and Juke Box charts). A friend of Rufus's, pianist Bob Talley, had already suggested that Rufus go down to Satellite.
Rufus and his daughter, Carla, were the first artists recorded at the new studio. In the summer of 1960 ‘’Cause I Love You / Deep Down Inside" was released as Satellite 102 (this was the eighth Satellite release but the numbering series was begun again at #100 with the Veltones' record when Estelle came into the company and Byler and Herbert left). The record featured a sixteen-year-old Booker T. Jones on baritone sax, Rufus's son Marvell Thomas on piano and Wilbur Steinberg on bass, among others, all playing a jumping New Orleans-influenced rhythm borrowed from New Orleans-crazy Jessie Hill's just released Minit recording of "Ooh Poo Pah Doo."
After three years of plugging, Jim Stewart suddenly found he had a hit on his hands. Although half of the next eight Satellite releases were pop or country, for Jim Stewart life had irrevocably changed. As he puts it, "It was like a blind man who suddenly gained his sight." From that moment on, Stax became an R&B label.
There were a number of circumstances that were somewhat fortuitous with regards to this new-found direction. Perhaps the most significant was the fact that the Stax studio was located in the heart of a black ghetto. Stax's first salaried songwriter, David Porter, worked at the Big Star grocery right across the street from the studio, and Booker T. Jones lived in the neighborhood. Similar stories abound with regards to the arrivals of other Stax singers, instrumentalists, songwriters and staff. Stax was an integral part of the community and, conversely, much of what became the heart of Stax came straight out of the same community.
Aiding and abetting neighborhood relations and talent recruitment was the Satellite Record Shop opened and operated by Estelle Axton. It was located in what had been the candy area at the front of the theatre. A number of future Stax employees started out as counter help in the record store. The store also provided a vehicle for staying current with the listening tastes of Memphis black youth and it provided a ready-made test market for just-cut Stax releases. It was not uncommon for Estelle to take songs that had just been recorded and play them in the record shop to gauge the reaction of the local populace. Many were changed and some not released depending upon what that reaction was.
All of Satellite's releases up to this point were distributed by Buster Williams's Music Sales. Williams's company also distributed Atlantic Records in the mid-South. Atlantic at the time was very assiduous at picking up records on small independents that were happening in a local market. When "'Cause I Love You" had moved about five thousand copies locally, Atlantic's Jerry Wexler; having heard about it through Music Sales, gave Jim Stewart a call. The net result was that for a five thousand dollar advance, Atlantic got a master lease agreement for all Rufus and Carla discs. As well, via a handshake deal, Atlantic had first refusal on the distribution of any Stax release. This relationship was to maintain until May of 1968 when Atlantic was purchased by what became known as Warner Communications (now AOL/Time Warner). Meanwhile. "'Cause I Love You," with Atlantic distributing, went on to sell another thirty or forty thousand copies, being especially strong in the Oakland area.
After a mediocre pop release by Charles Heinz. Stewart recorded Carla Thomas solo on a song she had written when she was sixteen. "Gee Whiz" had already been turned down by Vee-Jay Records in Chicago. The "Stax" version was initially issued as Satellite 104 before Jerry Wexler suggested switching it over to Atlantic 2086. It turned out to be the record that broke things wide open for Stewart and Axton's embryonic outfit (although it would take a full three months before making its debut appearance on the Billboard charts).
Reaching #5 on the R&B charts and #10 on the pop charts. in many ways the record was the antithesis of what became the Stax sound. Carla, all of 18 at the time, had written the truly teenage ballad a few years earlier. It was recorded with background vocals by the Veltones (some people say the Del-Rios) and a string arrangement concocted on the spot by a somewhat harried Jim Stewart (the originally contracted arranger. keyboard player Bob Talley, had played a gig the night before and was a no-show for the session).
Coincidentally, there was a different song out also entitled "Gee Whiz" by the Innocents at precisely the same time. Stax/Atlantic ads made mention that Carla's paean to teen love was not to be confused with that of the Innocents.
At this point Stax was just another struggling independent company that had been fortunate enough to have a couple of hits. Although Stewart and Axton were definitely geared towards R&B and they had a top-notch national distributor, they had yet to unearth what became the unique and omni-influential Stax sound. Each record was still just an entity unto itself.
One such effort was The Chips' "You Make Me Feel So Good." The Chips were a Memphis vocal group comprised of Curtis Johnson, Sam Byrnes, Richard Griffin and Eddie Stanbeck. As the Dontinos they had sung backup at Sun for a few Jerry Lee Lewis releases before deciding to try their luck by relocating to Buffalo in January 1960. Buffalo was not the promised land and the group soon returned to Memphis. Sam Byrnes then started going out with Carla Thomas and it was through this relationship that the group came to work at Stax. Chips Moman (who had been doing various work for Stewart ever since the Donna Rae and the Sunbeams session in 1958) produced the first session and suggested the name change (wonder why he liked that particular name?). It ultimately was an unfortunate move. There turned out to be another group using the Chips nom de plume who had a disc entitled "Darling" out on Strand Records. That may partially explain why a few years later the Memphis Chips would reemerge on Stax 139 as The Astors. For the next little while, though, The Chips sang background on recordings by Nick Charles and Carla and Rufus Thomas.
What was to become the sound of Stax started to coalesce with Satellite 107, the Mar-Keys' "Last Night." The Mar-Keys were initially an all-white largely instrumental R&B band called The Royal Spades that was infatuated with the sounds of black groups such as The Five Royales, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters and Bill Doggett. Lowman Pauling, the guitarist and songwriter with the Five Royales. in particular had an inordinate influence on what became the sound of Stax. The Royal Spades had found their way to Satellite way back in the Brunswick days via Estelle's son, Charles "Packy" Axton. who played tenor in the group.
The rest of the band was comprised of future Stax session men: guitarist Steve Cropper, bassist Duck Dunn and trumpeter Wayne Jackson, as well as drummer Terry Johnson, keyboardist Smoochy Smith and baritone saxophonist Don Nix.
For a couple of years this ensemble had been trying to get something down on tape worthy of release. The eventual result, "Last Night," was a popping 12-bar instrumental recorded by a hybrid group consisting of original Royal Spades Cropper, Jackson, Smith and Axton alongside black session musicians Lewis Steinberg (the brother of Wilbur Steinberg. who had played bass on "'Cause I Love You") on bass, drummer Curtis Green and saxophonists Gilbert Caples and Floyd Newman. (It should be noted that to this day there is a fair amount of debate as to who actually plays on this record. The bassist may be Robert McGhee and the drummer is possibly Howard Grimes.) There is no guitar on "Last Night." Cropper is playing piano whenever Smith is playing organ and vice versa. The organ lick was Smoochy's creation while the horn blasts were Packy and Steve's idea. The recording was produced by Chips Moman and released under The Royal Spades' new moniker, the Mar-Keys (an Estelle Axton pun on theatre marquees). On the road it was promoted by the original all-white members of The Royal Spades, now called the Mar-Keys.
What is significant here is that this relatively simple recording featured a racially
integrated group sporting a walloping drum sound, an accent on the low end of the pitch spectrum, organ, and exceedingly prominent horns all contributing to an enticing, swinging groove that was purely Southern. All of these ingredients were essential to the sound of Memphis soul in the sixties.
Released in June 1961 on Satellite, the record eventually hit #2 on the R&B charts and #3 on the Pop charts. Ironically, neither Jim Stewart nor Chips Moman were all that enthralled with the record. If Estelle's son hadn't been in the group, the odds are good it never would have come out at all. In fact, Jim was so negative about the record that he bet Estelle $100 that it wouldn't be a hit.
With such national prominence, Stewart and Axton were to hear from a California organization that was already using the name Satellite. Forced to change the name of their company, "Last Night" was hastily reissued as the first record on the new label named Stax ("St" from Stewart and "Ax" from Axton).
Steve Cropper claims that "Last Night" made it strictly for one reason. "It was the first instrumental record that you could dance the twist to. It had that Hank Ballard twist beat. That's exactly why it was popular. It was absolute perfect timing. Everybody was twisting to that song."
In fact, Steve remembers playing Dick Clark's American Bandstand television show in Philadelphia watching the audience twist. Bassist Lewis Steinberg remembers it being attempted at one point as a waltz! It was Steinberg's first session at the company.
Wayne Jackson points out another element that helped break the record: "The disc jockeys used to love that record. We left a hole in it with nothing. They got to say it ["last night"]. It was a great gimmick."
One such DJ was Memphis's Dewey Phillips, famed for being the first to play Elvis Presley on his Red, Hot And Blue show on Memphis station WHBQ. Jackson claims, "Phillips made 'Last Night' happen. He played that record over and over and over: We sold 3,000 records in Memphis, which was total saturation of the market."
Memphis had already established a bit of an instrumental tradition through the recordings of Bill Justis with "Raunchy" on Sun in 1957, of the Bill Black Combo with "Smokie" in 1959 on Hi, as well as with the repertoires of the leading local R&B bands of the time such as those of Al Jackson Sr. and Willie Mitchell. "Last Night" was to be the first of a long line of down-home, hard-edged instrumental recordings by a slew of Stax artists including the Triumphs, the Barracudas, Sir Isaac and the Doo Dads, most significantly Booker T. And The MG's, and eventually the Bar-Kays.
Before the California-based Satellite Records had become aware of Jim Stewart's operation via the success of "Last Night," four other Memphis records had appeared under the Satellite umbrella by Prince Conley, Nick Charles, Hoyt Johnson and Barbara Stephens. The Charles and Johnson records were, to say the least, uninteresting and they do not really figure into the Stax/Volt story. The Prince Conley record, on the other hand, was a gem. The Prince was a popular blues singer around Memphis, limping and supporting himself with a cane, he cut one of the many catchy unknown gems included in this set in the Latin-tinged "I'm Going Home." Steve Cropper remembers the Conley session as the first time he was hired as a session guitarist at Stax. While still a member of the Mar-Keys he had previously played sessions for Duke/Peacock. Hi, Pepper and Sun.
Barbara Stephens was to cut three forty-fives issued by Stax between October 1961 and March 1962. The first, "The Life I Live," was initially released as Satellite III and then reissued as Stax 113 after the controversy over the use of the name Satellite. The song was co-written by Rufus Thomas's son, piano player Marvell Thomas, and David Porter. Porter would go on to co-write such classics as "Soul Man" and "Hold On! I'm Comin'.” This was the first time his name appeared on a Stax-related record. He had just graduated from high school four months earlier and, as mentioned above, was employed at the Big Star grocery across from the Satellite Record Shop and studio. Although young, he had already recorded forty-fives for Golden Eagle (backed by future occasional Stax session man Bowlegs Miller) and Savoy, the latter as "Little David." A year after the Stephens release, he recorded one single for Hi as "Kenny Cain," produced by Willie Mitchell.
No one remembers too much about Stephens these days. Some thought she was from Atlanta, others say Memphis. It appears that Chips Moman brought her into the company. Her voice is occasionally sultry but too often that is overshadowed by her problems singing in tune. Her second recording was the self-penned "Wait A Minute." For her final outing a tune authored by Nashville songsmith Jerry Crutchfield, "That's The Way It Is,” was attempted. Alas, after three efforts and no serious nibbles from radio, Barbara Stephens's recording career was over.
After cutting "'Cause I Love You" and "Gee Whiz" in the summer of 1960, Carla Thomas had moved to Nashville to go to college at Tennessee A & I. When "Gee Whiz" finally broke in the midst of her second term, both Atlantic and Stax wanted to immediately cut an album and a follow-up single. Jim Stewart proceeded to journey due east along 1-40 and recorded Carla in between classes in Music City U.S.A.
All three of Carla's 1961 releases were cut in Nashville with the Anita Kerr Singers lending support. Carla wrote both the words and music to "A Love Of My Own" and "(Mama Mama) Wish Me Good Luck." The former hit #20 R&B but could only reach #56 Pop. The latter missed both national charts altogether. The same fate befell "I Kinda Think He Does," a song that came about when co-writers Everette and Burch gave Carla a set of lyrics and asked her to set them to music.
Rufus Thomas also had a record released in 1961. A summer entry, the Thomas-written "I Didn't Believe" was issued on Atco and credited to "Rufus and Friend." Cashbox reviewed it stating, "Father of thrush Carla Thomas, he is joined by a femme singer here." Little did they realise that said femme was none other than daughter Carla.
Jerry Wexler had insisted that Carla appear on Atlantic and Rufus on Atco, a fact that irked Jim Stewart who naturally wanted his erstwhile stars to be issued on his own labels. A compromise was reached whereby Rufus's subsequent recordings would appear on Stax, whereas Carla's would be released on Atlantic. That arrangement was to be maintained until the spring of 1965.
Most of the remainder of Stax's 1961 output was given over to instrumental records. The Mar-Keys' follow-up to "Last Night" was naturally "The Morning After," complete with baritone saxophonist Floyd Newman continuing his spoken interjections during the song's breaks. Released in September, the song was written by session keyboard player Bob Talley and drummer Earl Forest. "The Morning After" was not quite as hard-hitting as "Last Night" and it failed to reach the R&B charts at all while struggling to #60 on the Pop listings. "About Noon,” released just one month later, and "Foxy" (complete with party sound effects), released one month after "About Noon," both fared even worse, gracing neither chart.
The very first release on the Volt subsidiary was an instrumental effort engineered by Chips Moman and performed by an ensemble named after his car. The Triumphs included Howard Grimes on drums, Marvell Thomas on organ and piano, Lewis Steinberg on bass and Moman on guitar. Moman penned their one and only release. "Burnt Biscuits."
The same month the Triumphs' record fell upon an impassive public, Chips Moman engineered the debut record by William Bell. Moman had brought Bell into the company. (The young singer had previously recorded solo and as a member of The Del Rios for Meteor.) Bell proceeded to write and record a seminal 12/8 ballad, "You Don't Miss Your Water." The record, featuring Marvell Thomas on piano, Duck Dunn on bass and Howard Grimes on drums, is seen by some as "the first great Southern country-soul ballad." Robert Palmer suggested that "the song itself could easily pass for a C&W ballad, but the vocal, piano arpeggios, and organ-like chords played by the horns are in a black gospel vein."
Bell had written the song while in New York City performing with pianist Phineas Newborn. He claims that being homesick was the inspiration. The recording took only a couple of takes and after the decision was made to release it, the organ overdub was done by one "Spooky" Butler. Ironically, the rather ordinary pop-sounding "Formula Of Love" was the forty-five's originally designated A-side. Once the superior side started receiving attention. "You Don't Miss Your Water" broke first in New Orleans, then Pensacola, Florida, and finally in Memphis. It never reached Billboard's national rhythm and blues charts but that is somewhat misleading as at the time Billboard was paying only cursory attention to Southern radio and retail outlets. Curiously, it did manage to struggle its way up to #95 Pop.
"You Don't Miss Your Water" was one of the last records that Chips Moman was involved with at Stax. After a heated disagreement with Stewart over financial remuneration, he left never to return, eventually setting up the very successful American Recording Studio. Steve Cropper, who had been working in the record store while learning everything he possibly could about recording, took over Moman's A&R chores.
Peter Guralnick, in his ground breaking book Sweet Soul Music, states that he sees Southern soul music as being born out of the process of integration (i.e., black singers being backed by integrated ensembles recorded by white producers). The racial mix of the Stax house band is evidence aplenty of this. Compositions such as "You Don't Miss Your Water" further reinforce the notion that the sound of Memphis soul and, by extension, Southern soul, is yet one more American music that is a part black, part white hybrid.
Despite his success with R&B records by Carla Thomas, the Mar-Keys and William Bell, Jim Stewart had not entirely given up on the pop and country markets. In many ways he and his label were still in search of an identity. In late 1961, country singer and bass player Macy Skipper came down to the McLemore studio and simply knocked on Stewart's door. Born in 1920, Skipper was ten years Stewart's senior. He remembers recording "Goofin' Off" fondly.
"I had my band playing a rock sound in the background. My drummer and I were talking more or less in a Southern tone. We had made up a lot of jokes that we used. They were clever and Jim liked them very much. It was a funny record."
Skipper went on to found his own label, Light Records, and at one point he recorded for Sun although the material was never issued. He can still be found playing class country clubs and private parties in the Memphis area.
"Goofin' Off" was odd, but Nick Charles' "Sunday Jealous" was just plain bad. Charles was an important white DJ on WLOK who had visions of a career as an artist. In trumpeter Wayne Jackson's words, "He was a disc jockey; it was all payola." In March 1961 Charles had covered the B-side of Carla Thomas's "Gee Whiz," "For You," on the Philadelphia-based Guyden label. He next was heard singing "The Right Girl" on Satellite in August 1961. After cutting "Sunday Jealous" in late 1961 he produced the maudlin "The Three Dogwoods" (co-written by Steve Cropper). It was so bad, Wayne Jackson remembers, "I had to count him it, stand over there and drop my hand when to sing." None of Charles' records showed any commercial action and soon thereafter he moved to a St. Louis station. Over the next few years he maintained a relationship with Stax, sending the label the occasional artist, all of them invariably poor.
In the first half of 1962, Jim Stewart issued his second, third and fourth vocal group records. The Tonettes were a female vocal group who graced the labels of the second and fourth Volt releases. At this point in time most people are vague as to who exactly The Tonettes were, although a few people think that they might have, in one form or another, mutated into The Charmels who recorded for Volt in 1966 and 1967. In any case, they are definitely not the group The Tonettes that were made up of soul singer Oscar Toney Jr.'s sisters.
The Canes were brought to the label by local DJ Dick "Cane" Cole. Who exactly is on this record is somewhat of a mystery. There was a local vocal group in Memphis in the fifties named alternately The Canes and the Four Canes, led by Don Bryant (who subsequently recorded solo and wrote songs for Hi Records) and including Lee Jones, James Bryant and William Walker. James Bryant was eventually replaced by Lionel Byrd.)
The Bryant group was formed at Booker T. Washington High School. Every day when school would get out the guys would go down to radio station WLOK and hang out. Eventually Dick "Cane" Cole started recording them in the evening and playing the recordings on his show the following morning. After a period, the group elected to leave Cole and started working with The Willie Mitchell Band at the Plantation Inn in West Memphis. At that point, still in the late fifties, they changed their name to the Four Kings. The Canes record released on Stax was cut in early 1962, a few years after Bryant's group had changed their name. Upon hearing the record, Don Bryant identified the lead vocalist as Lorece Thompson, who used to front a Memphis vocal group known as the Largoes. Lee Jones agreed with Bryant and both thought that the Largoes were probably providing the vocal accompaniment. How the record came out under the name "The Canes" is a puzzle to both of them. Dick "Cane" Cole, active on Memphis radio into the late eighties, can no longer remember the group's personnel.
The Del-Rios were William Bell's old group consisting of Louis Williams, future Soul Children member Norman West, James Taylor and Bell. They had sung primarily at the Flamingo Club for close to four years. After Taylor left they continued as a trio for about a year before drifting apart. Bell says that they got back together to cut this forty-five and he thinks it was recorded prior to "You Don't Miss Your Water"! The A-side was "Just Across The Street" but the B-Side, "There's A Love" received most of the airplay in Memphis and was later covered by the Memphis pop group the Gentrys.
The Mar-Keys made two more attempts at the brass ring in the summer of 1962. By now the name Mar-Keys simply meant some permutation of what would soon be Booker T. And The MG's and the Memphis Horns. Steve Cropper and Booker T. Jones wrote "The Popeye Stroll." It barely squeaked to #94 on the Pop charts and showed no R&B action at all. Their next record, "Whot's [sic] Happenin'," showcasing the session players' jazz leanings, was issued with two different B-sides. Neither edition made the charts.
Rufus Thomas had only one 1962 release, the excellent blues-tinged "Can't Ever Let You Go." His big hits were just around the corner. Daughter Carla, meanwhile, returned to the charts in the fall with her answer record to Sam Cooke's summer hit "Bring It On Home To Me." Carla's new lyrics for what she titled "I'll Bring It Home To You" and coy singing style took her version to #9 R&B and #41 Pop.
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*Irving Music, BMI Administered outside the US by Rondor Music
**Irving Music, BMI Administered outside the US by Warner Tamerlane Publishing Corp.
***Cedarwood Publishing, BMI
****Tree Publishing, BMI
U.S. chart positions courtesy of Billboard
Prior to Stax 115, East-Bais Music was listed as East-Bias Music.
(*Billboard did not publish and R&B chart during this period)
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This compilation (P) & © 1001 Atlantic Recording Company for the United States and WEA International Inc., for the world outside of the United States.
Stax ® and Volt ® are registered trademarks of Fantasy, Inc.
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