A daily chronicle of creativity in film, TV, music, arts, and entertainment, produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from November 2014 – March 2020. Host John Horn leads the conversation, accompanied by the nation's most plugged-in cultural journalists.
Back in the 1960s, there were two major producers of soul music: Berry Gordy’s Motown assembly line in Detroit; and the grittier sounds that came out of Stax Records in Memphis. Stax built its sound around its house band, Booker T & the MGs, and a stable of songwriters that included Isaac Hayes.
And then, there was singer/songwriter William Bell:
The original Stax Records, we were like a family there. For teenage kids, it was like going to university for us because we learned our craft and how to interpret songs. It was like a family.
Bell never reached the fame of label mate Otis Redding, but he wrote and recorded some classic songs, including “You Don’t Miss Your Water.”
Now 77-years-old, Bell recently released a new album on the revived Stax label. It’s called “This Is Where I Live,” and it re-captures that classic Memphis soul sound.