How Stars Like Otis Redding and Isaac Hayes Defied Racial Lines to Make Iconic Hits Revealed in New Docuseries (Exclusive)

'STAX: Soulsville, U.S.A.' will premiere on HBO on May 20 and 21

The legendary story of Stax Records is coming soon to the screen.

In a trailer premiering exclusively with PEOPLE on Thursday, May 2, viewers get a sneak peek at the rise of Stax Records, an interracial record label that propelled the music of legendary artists like Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, The Staple Singers, Sam & Dave and more.

"Defying the notion that Black artists needed to be 'made marketable,' the Memphis-based label went from ultimate outsider to one of the record industry’s most influential producers of soul music," a press release states of Stax Records, founded by white siblings Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton.

It continues, "It's a quintessentially American story of an audacious group of individuals who dared to make their own music on their own terms creating an institution that has continued to help define our culture long after the label itself has gone."

Related: Otis Redding III, Guitarist and Son of Otis Redding, Dead of Cancer at 59

The trailer includes flashes of vintage footage and sit-down interviews in present time.

"Music brought us together on a real level. There was a feeling, a permission, for that magic to happen," one interviewee said.

Added another, "Nobody knew what was happening behind closed doors. If Blacks and whites were making music together, that could've been a problem."

The trailer then goes on to give a sneak peek at the uprising that Stax Records caused and its significance within the Black community.

The four-part series will premiere on HBO on May 20th and 21st and features music by Redding, Al Bell, Steve Cropper, Hayes, Booker T. Jones, Sam Moore, Deanie Parker, David Porter and Carla Thomas.

Stax Records was founded in the late 1950s and blended rhythm and blues styles into one sound. Redding left an everlasting mark on the label with the release of "These Arms of Mine" and "(Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay."

Today, the legacy of Stax records is honored with the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Stax Music Academy and the Soulsville Charter School in Memphis, Tennessee.

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