Stax Museum to mark 20th anniversary in 2023: Here's a look at how it plans to celebrate.

As its 20th anniversary approaches, Stax Museum of American Soul Music is getting ready to celebrate.

On Wednesday, the South Memphis music institution was the site of a media event detailing plans to commemorate the museum’s anniversary throughout 2023 with a variety of concerts, programming and outreach efforts, including a number of free and open-to-the-public events.

The coming year looks to be the biggest celebration of Stax since the label’s 50th anniversary in 2007. Cable network HBO has already announced plans to broadcast a multi-part Stax documentary in 2023, exploring the company’s history and legacy.

Held inside Stax’s famed Studio A, Wednesday’s anniversary launch featured a performance by Stax/Booker T. & the MGs legend Booker T. Jones, along with a rhythm section made up of Stax Music Academy and Soulsville Charter School alumni.

Jones — who is being enshrined into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame for a second time on Thursday as a producer — was interviewed live by WYXR DJ Jared "Jay B." Boyd about the 60th anniversary of the MGs' iconic 1962 hit “Green Onions.”

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Pat Mitchell Worley, newly appointed Soulsville Foundation president and CEO, also announced the formation of a group of special 2023 Stax ambassadors, who will “advise the museum, attend events, conduct interviews and raise awareness of the Stax legacy during the year.”

Among the ambassadors are Stax Records executive and owner Al Bell, MGs guitarist and producer Steve Cropper, songwriter David Porter, singer William Bell, former Bar-Kays lead singer Larry Dodson, Bar-Kays founder and bassist James Alexander, hitmaker Eddie Floyd, guitarist/producer Bobby Manuel, and arranger and session player Lester Snell.

Bell was one of the few living Stax luminaries not in attendance at the museum on Wednesday, as he was in Nashville accepting a lifetime achievement award at the Americana Music Conference. In a statement he said: "Stax gave rise to the successful career development of our artists and it allowed us to accomplish remarkable things at the label. It’s a very complicated story filled with the kinds of highs and lows that came with being a predominantly Black record company trying to thrive in the music industry of the 1960s and 1970s.”

Opened in May 2003 to honor the label's history and that of soul music in general, the Stax Museum is part of the Soulsville Foundation, which also operates the affiliated Stax Music Academy and Soulsville Charter School.

To celebrate its two decades in operation the museum will offer a year of free field trips for Shelby County school students to “familiarize more young people with the history of Stax Records.” The organization will also dispatch a Stax Soul Mobile Pop-Up vehicle taking Stax music, merchandise, contests, parties and more around the country and to events like Austin’s SXSW conference, Nashville’s Americana Music Festival and Conference and New Orleans’ Essence Festival.

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“We want to celebrate not only the past 20 years, but also look forward to the museum’s next 20 years and what we can accomplish as we continue to interpret the Stax story," Stax Museum executive director Jeff Kollath said.

Of particular interest to locals will be a monthly program of concerts, discussions and screenings at the Stax Museum throughout 2023. This will also include a July “Live In Studio A” concert series featuring performances by nationally touring acts (artists will be announced early next year). In addition, the museum will host an April 23 “Night Train”-themed gala event, which will serve as a historical walk through the history of Black music, “reminiscent of when people traveled by rail.”

"Celebrating the 20th anniversary in 2023 will be a milestone for the Stax family," Mitchell Worley said. "We are tremendously proud to continue the legacy of Stax with a year-long calendar of exciting events slated to celebrate the past, present, future of the Stax Museum.”

Stax Museum anniversary celebration

Here are some more Stax Museum anniversary events planned for 2023. Further programming plans are expected to be announced early next year.

January

Grand reopening of the Stax Museum’s newly renovated lobby and gift shop.

February

A premiere of the Stax Museum and Stax Music Academy’s Black History Month 2023 Virtual Film celebrating the 20th anniversary. 

Film screening event for the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Golden Globe Award-nominated documentary “Wattstax,” chronicling the famed 1972 Los Angeles concert hosted by Stax Records. 

March

Lecture and book signing for “Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions” with author Francesca Royster. 

April

A spoken word event during which multigenerational spoken word artists will discuss and perform pieces about Stax and Soulsville.

May

A birthday party to mark the official 20th anniversary of the Stax Museum.

June

A Black Music Month livestreamed panel discussion in which current Memphis artists and industry leaders will the future of Memphis music: labels, studios, audiences, venues, consumers and more.

“Written in their Soul: The Stax Songwriters Demos,” a program celebrating Stax Records’ all-star songwriting aces such as Sir Mack Rice, Bettye Crutcher, Homer Banks, Henderson Thigpen, and featuring never-before-heard songs by Eddie Floyd, the Staple Singers, and William Bell.

July

“Wax & Wine” will be a first-of-its-kind event in Memphis pairing wines selected by a local sommelier with appetizers and a soundtrack featuring rare soul recordings from the Stax Museum’s Bob Abrahamian Collection. This is a ticketed event, with limited seating.

August

“The Whole Damn World Is Going Crazy” — a celebration of the song’s author John Gary Williams of the Mad Lads, plus a film screening of the 2016 documentary “The Invaders,” about the Memphis 1960s Black Power youth group of which Williams was a member, plus a sneak peek at John Hubbell’s upcoming film about Williams’ life.

September

“Soldiers for the Lord: The Gospel Impulse in Memphis and Beyond” offers a look at the Black gospel music recorded at Stax plus gospel artists and producers from Memphis and beyond discussing and performing soon-to-be classics of the genre.

“Southwest of Memphis: A Celebration of Chicano Soul” will coincide with Hispanic Heritage Month, as the Stax Museum examines the Chicano Soul Movement.

October

“Back to School”: From Professor W.T. McDaniel to Jimmie Lunceford, the teachers who taught the basics of blues and improvisation of jazz were the true inspiration behind the Memphis music sound. Today’s music educators discuss teaching a new generation of Memphis musicians.

November

A second “Wax and Wine” event, as wine tastings are paired with appetizers and listening party with the Stax Museum’s Bob Abrahamian Collection. This is a ticketed event, with limited seating.

December

“In the Christmas Spirit” is the annual Stax Museum holiday bash with food, cocktails, live music by Booker T. & the MG’s cover band The MD’s, and more.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Stax Museum in Memphis plans concerts, events to mark 20th anniversary