'Stax: Soulsville, USA' Trailer: Iconic Soul Label Gets HBO ...

In the ’60s and ’70s, the Memphis-based label Stax Records thrived as a relatively raw and funky alternative to Motown. In its time, Stax put out iconic records from legends like Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, the Staple Singers, Rufus and Carla Thomas, and Booker T. & The M.G.’s, among many others. Now, HBO is devoting a new docuseries to the history of Stax Records. Judging by its trailer, it’ll use Stax to tell a larger story about civil rights in the US.

Stax was based in the city where the civil rights movement was most visible. It was a white-owned label making Black music for predominantly Black audiences, and its house band featured Black and white musicians, including a number of bona fide geniuses, working in harmony. That’s a rich narrative before you even get into things like the plane crash that killed Otis Redding and most of the Bar-Kays, and the trailer for the new series Stax: Soulsville, USA is not subtle about that stuff.

Jamila Wignot, the documentarian behind the 2021 film Ailey, directed Stax: Soulsville, USA, while OJ: Made In America auteur Ezra Edelman serves as executive producer. Many of the principal figures behind Stax are no longer with us, but plenty of talking heads still appear in the trailer. The four-episode series debuted at SXSW earlier this year and won the TV Premiere Audience Award. Watch the trailer below.

Stax: Soulsville, USA debuts 5/20 on HBO.