Stax Records Site — Memphis, Tennessee

Stax Records operated from a converted movie theatre at 926 East McLemore Avenue in the Soulsville neighbourhood of Memphis — a building that became the engine room of Southern soul and one of the most consequential recording addresses in American music. Founded in 1957 by Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton (whose names gave the label its name: STewart + AXton), Stax recorded Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Isaac Hayes, Booker T. and the MGs, Wilson Pickett, Eddie Floyd, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, and dozens of others. The label's interracial house band — in a segregated Memphis — was itself a political statement as well as a musical one.

The Stax sound — grittier and more gospel-drenched than the polished Motown output from Detroit — was defined by the Booker T. and the MGs rhythm section, the Memphis Horns, and a willingness to let raw feeling override technical perfection. "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay," "Soul Man," "Hold On, I'm Comin'," "In the Midnight Hour" and "Theme from Shaft" are among the recordings made here. The original building was demolished in 1989 following Stax's bankruptcy, but a faithful replica was built on the same site and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music opened in 2003.

The Stax Museum is one of Memphis's most visited music heritage sites, housing instruments, costumes, gold records, and an extraordinary collection of artefacts from the label's history. The Isaac Hayes custom Cadillac — outfitted with fur-lined interior and a gold-plated exterior — is among the exhibits. The surrounding Soulsville neighbourhood, which Stax once anchored, is undergoing gradual revitalisation.