STAX: Soulsville U.S.A.

Interracial underdog label Stax Records takes its growing influence on the Black music scene and attempts to break into mainstream media.

Though Stax gains headway in the white market, Otis Redding’s death and intensifying racial tensions in Memphis reveal signs of trouble.

Despite severe business setbacks, Stax Records rises again with Isaac Hayes’s Oscar® and Grammy®-winning work for the 1971 smash hit Shaft.

Shortly after expanding to LA, Stax is plagued by money troubles and a lawsuit, forcing executives to shutter the company’s doors.