Teen musicians to take soulful Memphis Sound anew to Europe

Fifty years later, a group of young musicians educated at Stax Music Academy are newly bringing the music of Memphis back to Europe.

The teenage musicians are eager to follow in the footsteps of their influential predecessors.

Created in 2000, their academy is an after-school program for youngsters from some of Memphis' poorest neighborhoods who learn how to dance, sing and play instruments.

"Just to be able to say that I was part of this upcoming overseas tour, being able to sing songs by Otis Redding and William Bell, it's monumental not only for Memphis, but for Stax," said Johnathon Lee, a 17-year-old academy vocalist.

Before it went bankrupt, Stax Records in Memphis generated some of America's most memorable soul music of the 1960s and 1970s, including songs like Redding's "Dock of the Bay," Sam & Dave's "Soul Man," Floyd's "Knock on Wood," and Booker T. and the MGs' "Green Onions."

Driven by tight horn and rhythm sections and strong-voiced singers, the Memphis Sound had a raw, emotional quality to it.

The tour came at a time when Stax was having trouble getting its music aired on larger U.S. radio stations because of racial issues during the civil rights era, said Al Bell, who at the time was the music label's national promotions director.

Some of the momentum stalled when Redding was killed in a plane crash in December 1967.