Memphis 68: The Tragedy of Southern Soul

By Stuart Cosgrove

In the 1950s and 1960s, Memphis, Tennessee, was the launch pad of musical pioneers such as Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Al Green and Isaac Hayes, and by 1968 was a city synonymous with soul music. It was a deeply segregated city, ill at ease with the modern world and yet to adjust to the era of civil rights and racial integration. Stax Records offered an escape from the turmoil of the real world for many soul and blues musicians, with much of the music created there becoming the soundtrack to the civil rights movements.The book opens with the death of the city's most famous recording artist, Otis Redding, who died in a plane crash in the nal days of 1967, and then follows the fortunes of Redding's label, Stax/Volt Records, as its fortunes fall and rise again. But, as the tense year unfolds, the city dominates world headlines for the worst of reasons: the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Polygon
• Release date: Oct 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9780857903792

Stuart Cosgrove

Stuart Cosgrove originally from Perth, was media editor with the NME and a feature writer for a range of newspapers and magazines. In 2005 he was named Broadcaster of the Year in the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards and in 2012 he won numerous awards including a BAFTA and Royal Television Society award for Channel 4’s coverage of the London Paralympics 2012. The second book in his soul trilogy, Memphis 68, won the Penderyn Music Prize in 2018.

Reviews for Memphis 68

[twiglet12 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Really liked the first book in the Soul Trilogy Detroit 67 but loved this book and this was the one that really started my current Soul obsession! The book is a fascinating look at Soul, Stax/Volt Records, Memphis and civil rights through the prism of 1968.

[sarahebear · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I must admit that I started with the third book last year in this Soul Trilogy, and now moving on to the second. "Memphis 68: The Tragedy of Southern Soul" maintains the momentum of his other books, being well research and jam packed with fascinating music and social history snippets. Focusing on Memphis, Stax records and their many artists of note (Redding, Hayes, Cropper and Booker T for example), Cosgrove examines the music scene in the a year of racial tensions, labour disputes, and the Vietnam War. A great read for fans of Soul and music generally. I look forward to reading the first book in the series.