Bobby Whitlock, Stax Records, and the soul music that inspired a rock hero
Soul music boasted an unparalleled level of power over the pop charts back in the 1960s, but its importance in the history of music far outweighs its number-one singles.
Labels like Stax and artists like Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, or Marvin Gaye were essential in uniting, captivating, and inspiring the next generation of artists, including Bobby Whitlock.
It was during the late 1960s that Whitlock made his first major impact on the rock and roll landscape, performing with Delaney and Bonnie and going on to work alongside such legendary names as Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and The Rolling Stones, along with his own extensive solo career. An often overlooked aspect of this prolific blues-rock master, however, was the early musical education he was handed by the harbingers of funk and soul excellence, Stax Records.
Hailing from the musical ground zero of Memphis, Tennessee, Stax was pivotal in the development of soul, funk, and R&B music from its foundation in 1957 onwards. In time, the label would provide a home for a seemingly endless list of iconic names, from Otis Redding to Isaac Hayes, Carla Thomas, Wilson Pickett, Booker T., and The Staple Singers, to name only a few notable highlights. Not only did the label help to establish the sweet sounds of soul within the American mainstream, but it also gave a leg up to another young Memphis native, in the form of Whitlock.
As a young man in Tennessee, Whitlock grew up hearing the incredible sounds emanating from Stax, and he was particularly captivated by the blues, gospel, and R&B records which typified the early period of the label. “It was a great time and town for music then, especially soul music,” he wrote in his 2010 memoir. “It was real rhythm and blues. Albert King R&B, that’s what I’m talking about. It was loose and all about music everywhere that you turned.”
Before too long, Whitlock began hanging around Stax Records, forging friendships with various acts on the label during the mid-to-late 1960s, and witnessing the likes of Booker T and the MG’s honing their craft. To say that these experiences were instrumental in developing Whitlock as a musician would be an understatement. Without the impact of those experiences at Stax, it seems unlikely that he would ever have reached the dizzying heights that he later did.
Whitlock was eventually signed to a contract with Stax, making him the very first white artist to be signed to the Memphis label. Guitarist Steve Cropper, of the Stax house band, acted as Whitlock’s mentor during that time, and the label planned to have the young musician record a pop-centric album for one of Stax’s various subsidiary labels. Ultimately, though, that plan never came to fruition, as Whitlock was soon whisked away to Los Angeles to join the ranks of Delaney and Bonnie.
Although one of Whitlock’s only recorded contributions to Stax’s output was providing handclaps for ‘I Thank You’ by Sam and Dave, the impact of the label on his musical journey was utterly unavoidable. With Delaney and Bonnie, he continued to hone the soul and R&B skills he had learned from watching the stars of Stax on a daily basis, and it was from there that he forged a friendship with Eric Clapton and formed Derek and the Dominoes – the rest, as they say, is history.
Stax Records and its rich output throughout the 1960s inspired a vast array of future artists and performers, but Bobby Whitlock was something of a special case. Rather than ignoring or shunning this local kid trying to gain an insight into the label, the Stax musicians took him under their collective wing, fostering his artistic spirit and providing a wealth of inspiration which he carried throughout his life and his extensive career in the music industry.
