In 1961, four-year old Satellite Records changed their name to Stax (after brother-sister owners Jim STewart and Estelle AXton). What followed was history.

Rufus Thomas

Thomas was a legendary Memphis D.J. and performer and no, this Iowa farm boy didn't ever hear any of his music back in the day. But even in rural-most Iowa, we got lots of Booker T. & the M.G.'s.

Booker T. & the M.G.'s best YouTube video (imho and as someone who's listened to Green Onions a freakin' zillion times), isn't embeddable, but can be seen at YouTube. (More proof that the best Dylan is Dylan played by people who aren't Bob Dylan.)

Otis Redding

Even for Iowa farm boys, Otis Redding was a god. Better yet, he did lots of slow songs, saving many a young Iowa girl from being maimed on the dance floor by her clodhopper boyfriend.

Carla Thomas

Daughter of Rufus Thomas and an R&B luminary in her own right.

Albert King

From Wikipedia:

One of the "Four Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with B.B. King, Earl King and Freddie King), Albert King stood 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) (some reports say 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)) and weighed 250 pounds (110 kg)[2] and was known as "The Velvet Bulldozer". He was born Albert Nelson on a cotton plantation in Indianola, Mississippi. During his childhood he would sing at a family gospel group at a church where his father played the guitar. One of 13 children, King grew up picking cotton on plantations near Forrest City, Arkansas, where the family moved when he was eight.

Sam & Dave

Who doesn't like Sam & Dave?

Apologies if I've duplicated a video and I'm sure I'm duplicating some artists as R&B is oft-covered ground at CH, but Stax Records is a powerful filter for sorting through the inspired greatness of the last half of the 20th century. And apologies to anyone who was busy putting together a musical post for today (Klawitter, Dogpile, SlowBreak?), but it was getting on towards noon and it's a 5 pm (God's time) tip off.

No apologies for the complete lack of game analysis or stats from this post.