Qualla: Stax Museum of American Soul Music

Stax Museum of American Soul Music: Introduction

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Thomas R Machnitzki, CC BY-SA 3.0. The floor of Studio A still slopes. When the Stax Museum of American Soul Music was built at 926 East McLemore Avenue in Memphis, the architects replicated the original Stax Records recording studio down to that slanting floor -- the artifact of the building's previous life as the Capitol Theatre, a neighborhood movie house. It was on that tilted floor that Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, Sam & Dave, and the Staple Singers created a sound that changed American music. The original studio was demolished in 1989 after years of neglect. The museum that rose in its place is both a resurrection and a shrine.

Image: Thomas R Machnitzki | CC BY-SA 3.0

Stax Museum of American Soul Music: Ten Dollars and a Demolition

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bubba73, CC BY-SA 3.0. When Stax Records was forced into involuntary bankruptcy in 1976, the Union Planters Bank sold the studio for ten dollars to Southside Church of God in Christ, which planned to use it as a community center and soup kitchen. Those plans never materialized. The building deteriorate...

Image: Bubba73 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Stax Museum of American Soul Music: A Gospel Church Inside a Museum

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Avalon Frost, CC BY 2.0. The museum houses more than 3,000 items of memorabilia, but some exhibits transcend mere display. An authentic circa-1906 Mississippi Delta church was dismantled in Mississippi and reconstructed inside the museum to illustrate the gospel roots of soul music. Visitors can sit in i...

Image: Avalon Frost | CC BY 2.0

Stax Museum of American Soul Music: Beyond Stax

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Fallaner, CC BY-SA 4.0. Because the Stax Museum is one of only a handful of museums in the world dedicated to soul music -- the Motown Museum in Detroit being another -- its scope extends well beyond the Stax label. Exhibits feature vintage footage of Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gay...

Image: Fallaner | CC BY-SA 4.0

Stax Museum of American Soul Music: Soulsville U.S.A.

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gary J. Wood from Toronto, ON, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0. The museum is the anchor of a campus called Soulsville U.S.A., operated by the nonprofit Soulsville Foundation. Adjacent to the museum, the Stax Music Academy provides music education and mentoring to middle and high school students. Since 2008, every graduating senior has been a...

Image: Gary J. Wood from Toronto, ON, Canada | CC BY-SA 2.0