Sam & Dave: Hold On I'm Coming

       In 1966 there were a number of studio's around the country that were creating unique and exciting music.  Some of the more well known one's were Chess Records in Chicago, Motown in Detroit, 30th St. Studio in New York, and United Western in LA.  All of these studio's had session musicians that loosely made up what was considered The house band.  Some of these bands were quite famous and had names like The Wrecking Crew in LA or the fabulous Funk Brothers in Detroit.

Booker T. & The MG's

 
 In Memphis the Stax house band was called by different names but were primarily known as the Mar-Keys. Their musical abilities were easily as influential and comparable to both The Wrecking Crew or the Funk Brothers.  The band leader was Booker T. Jones who, with is band Booker T. & the MG's, had a huge hit with the song Green Onions.  Aside from being a great band they

The Bar-Kays

were also one of the first racially mixed chart topping bands in rock history.  The Stax puzzle also included a horn section known as the The Memphis Horns and are easily recognizable in today's feature song in the link at the bottom.  Another Stax sub-group calling themselves the Bar-Kays had several hits including Soul Finger.  The collective talents of the Stax House Band can be also be heard in the Mar-Keys hit Last Night.  Unlike Motown, Stax encouraged these projects and they were all recorded in Memphis at the Stax studios.  All of these bands and projects included the musicians that made up the house band in one varying degree or another.  Many of these players came back into the public eye performing in The Blues Brothers movies and concert tours.

The Memphis Horns

       Like most major studio's of that era Stax had the good sense to match the greatest songwriters, record producers, and singers with their incredible house band.  The music they created broke new ground in the Country, Pop, Rock-a-billy, & Gospel genre's.  But they are most well known for advancing R&B and Funk.

       One of the singing acts that benefited from being in Memphis was a duo who had been working the Miami club circuit in the early 60's known as Sam & Dave.  They were signed by Atlantic records in 1964 and assigned to Stax where they were introduced to the brilliant musicians, songwriters, and producers that would eventually help them to become Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee's in 1992.  As singers they were gruff with loose harmonies and a gritty sexuality woven throughout their songs.  Dave Prater provided the low tenor voice and has been compared favorably to the soulful David Ruffin from the Tempations and the intense Levi Stubbs from the Four Tops.  Sam Moore is considered one of the greatest vocalists of the entire rock and roll era.  His high end tenor was as rough and ready as James Brown's and, like Brown,  he is one of the forerunners to the vocal styles later made famous by Steven Tyler and Robert Plant.  

Sam & Dave

      Sam and Dave eventually broke up due to a series of conflicts that are endemic to musical acts.  They had creative differences over the type of music they chose to record, differing opinions about their stage presentation, drug use, and the typical jealousy's that wrack the ego's of almost anyone that lives for applause.  Before they left the stage they gifted us with some of the most brilliant music of the Stax era including the songs Soul Man, & I Thank You.   As usual thanks for reading and please enjoy the great Sam & Dave performing




Hold On I'm Coming by Sam & Dave