Stax Records box set stirs up mixed emotions for soul label’s guardian

A new box set featuring all Stax Records’ 1968 releases has raked up mixed emotions for the woman who has become the guardian of the label, because the tracks bring back memories of the deaths of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Otis Redding.
Deanie Parker, who became the heart of the soul label while working there in the 1960s, tells WENN that she and owners Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton were still reeling from the plane crash death of Stax’s number one act, Otis, in December, 1967, when Dr. King was assassinated just a few miles from the company’s headquarters four months later.
Parker enjoyed being part of the group that gathered the hits and B-sides of 1968 for the new compilation, Stax ’68: A Memphis Story, but she admits the songs remind her of a very tough year.
“I can still remember hearing about the death of Dr. King vividly,” she explains. “I was in my car driving back to the studio from East Memphis and I was driving towards the river, towards what should have been a beautiful sunset, but it wasn’t. It was very eerie that day…
“When I heard the news on the radio, it seemed as though there were wind storms coming in and the sky looked very ominous. It was going from a dim sunshine to darkness.
“I was stunned, absolutely numb and when I got to Stax Records… people were gathered around, acting like zombies. We couldn’t believe what had happened. We were lost. The natural thing to do was just to close the doors out of respect for Dr. King.”
The civil rights icon had been shot and killed on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in downtown Memphis, sparking several weeks on unrest throughout Tennessee and beyond as African-Americans used the tragedy to fight for their rights.
Parker and her colleagues also gathered at Stax Records following the death of Redding.
They had heard the news about his plane crash and they came together to comfort one another.
“I was studying for an exam at Memphis State University when the news came on the TV and I was stunned. I just started walking around the room,” Deanie adds. “I didn’t know what to do but to drive to Stax Records, and when I arrived I realised that several of us couldn’t think of anything else to do other than to drive to Stax Records. We needed to be with each other in the place, where we last saw Otis Redding, the place where he loved coming to… and we wanted to be with each other.
“There were tears and we had no idea what we were going to do next. We were hopeless. Several of our other artists had perished with him (Otis).”
Stax ’68: A Memphis Story, which features Otis’ hit (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay, Rufus Thomas’ The Memphis Train, Bed of Roses by Judy Clay, and William Bell and Judy Clay’s Private Number, among over 130 tracks over five CDs, is released on 19 October (18).