Steve Cropper died this past Wednesday at the age of 84. As the guitarist for the Stax Records house band — Booker T. and the MG’s — Cropper was instrumental (no pun intended) to the rise of soul music in the 1960s. His New York Times obituary is here. Any errors in the comments below are unintentional. Please forgive them.
I loved the music then and love it now. I have ransacked my books for anecdotes to illustrate something important about Cropper personally — Peter Guralnick’s Sweeet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom, Robert Gordon’s Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion (foreword by Booker T. Jones), and Booker T.’s Time Is Tight: My Life, Note by Note.
I highly recommend them all. They provide an off-center portrait of America in the civil rights era. Here, however, I will go with one anecdote from my own experience.
In August 2007 Booker T. and the MG’s stopped off in downtown Minneapolis for two nights at the Dakota on their way to the Bayfront Blues Festival in Duluth that weekend. The classic instrumental outfit — Booker T. Jones (organ), Steve Cropper (guitar), Donald “Duck” Dunn (bass), and Al Jackson (drums, murdered in 1975) — was the the group that backed Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Albert King and the other great Stax artists at the heart of the ’60s soul movement.
Cropper and Dunn played together from the time they were teenagers and had a lifelong friendship. These guys loved each other. Cropper announced Dunn’s 2012 death on Facebook and on Twitter, where he concisely summed up the loss: “Today I lost my best friend, the World has lost the best guy and bass player to ever live.” The AP obituary quoted Dunn:
Dunn once said that he and Cropper were “like married people.”
“I can look at him and know what he’ll order for dinner,” he said. “When we play music together we both know where we’re going.”
Al Jackson was long gone. At the Dakota Gordy Knutson filled in for Anton Fig on drums at the first show on the first night. That’s the one I attended. Fig arrived late because of bad weather in New York. He made it in time for the second show that night and two shows the following night. All four shows were sold out.
Seeing Booker T., Cropper, and Duck Dunn perform together that night was a thrill. They lit up the stage with a set that brought their old hits to life with verve and passion. The set opened evocatively with “Serve Somebody” and “Hang ‘Em High” before turning up the intensity with “Summertime,” “Hip Hug-Her,” an uptempo “Green Onions,” a smoldering “Born Under a Bad Sign” (with Booker T. taking a vocal turn), “Behave Yourself,” and a smashing “Time Is Tight.” Booker T. was the star of the show. He introduced the songs and did the talking.
After the band’s encore all but Cropper exited the stage. Cropper stood in front of a microphone by himself until the crowd was silent. He had an important announcement to make: “Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn, everybody, the greatest!” He then joined the band offstage.
I thought the announcement applied to Cropper himself as well as the rest of the band. Everyone recognized Cropper’s greatness, his genius, his contributions to the music in his playing and his writing. Yet he was not full of himself. He killed on the guitar parts of the records he played on. He collaborated in writing with the Stax artists. He frequently served as their producer. He built up the people around him. One of the many jobs he performed at Stax was Artists and Repertoire.
In the notes on the songs below, I borrow from New York Times critic Jon Pareles and others, including a little help from AI, to describe Cropper’s guitar parts.
Cropper was 19 when he recorded “Last Night” (1961) with the Mar-Keys (formerly the Royal Spades). Written as a joint venture by producer Chips Moman, Packy Axton, Floyd Newman, “Smoochy” Smith and Gilbert Caple, Cropper played the root note on the organ. This is where he came in. Even though you may not have heard of it, the song is instantly recognizable.
Booker T. wrote and recorded “Green Onions” with the MG’s at age 17. It put the band on the map in 1962. Jared Boyd: “[In the studio] Cropper reminded Jones of a riff the keyboardist had been tinkering with in a jam weeks earlier, and the group quickly arranged it. Jackson’s precise drumming brought structure, while [Lewis] Steinberg’s rolling bassline added depth. Cropper’s sharp guitar chords, originally placed mid-song, were moved to the intro at [Stax co-owner Jim] Stewart’s suggestion, creating the track’s iconic hook. Recorded in just a few takes, the piece exuded raw energy and innovation.” Pareles: “It’s a straightforward minor-key blues with a laconic melody, just a few notes from Booker T. Jones’s organ at each chord change. But listen again and Cropper makes it seethe all the way through, from his bitten-off chords in the intro to his taunting, jabbing solo and outro.”
Cropper wrote “In the Midnight Hour” (1965) with the Wicked Wilson Pickett. AI: Cropper’s guitar part “is characterized by tight, choppy, rhythmic chord stabs (triads), often using just two or three strings, landing squarely on the backbeat…It’s a masterclass in ** concision and groove**, providing sharp, skeletal accents that complement Wilson Pickett’s vocals and the drums, creating that classic Stax Records feel.” Pareles: “Cropper’s guitar chords land squarely atop the snare drum, making that backbeat bristle.”
William Bell wrote “Share What You Got (But Keep What You Need)” (1966) with David Porter. Pareles: “Cropper’s raw, distorted guitar chords and winding countermelodies underline Bell’s ardent possessiveness.”
Eddie Floyd had a hit with “Knock On Wood” (1966), written by Floyd and Cropper. I used to dial this one up on the tabletop jukebox at Tony’s Pizza in Hanover, New Hampshire. Even on those tiny speakers it sounded pretty, pretty good. AI: “Steve Cropper’s guitar part…is defined by its tight, muscular, and economical rhythm playing, creating a driving, no-nonsense groove with brusque, syncopated chords that function as a call-and-response to Floyd’s vocals…”
Otis Redding and Carla Thomas recorded the aptly named King & Queen in 1967. I bought the album with the striking cover when it was released that year. On the back side of the cover I found liner notes by Tennessee’s own Senator Howard Baker. That was a surprise. What did the Senator know and when did he know it?
“Tramp” (written by Lowell Fulson and Jimmy McCracklin) is the highlight of the album. Jim Connelly: “That groove — established by Steve Cropper’s chickenscratch guitar, the horns and the insane Al Jackson, Jr/Duck Dunn rhythm section — kicks in after the initial opening round of insults and rides underneath much of the song, only breaking down when Carla tosses yet another round of insults, my favorite of which is near the end.” And to think all this fun was entirely legal.
Sam and Dave delivered the epochal “Soul Man” (1967) as soul music was reaching its apex. Written by David Porter and Isaac Hayes, the song was given second life by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd when they called on Cropper and Dunn to back them in The Blues Brothers. Pareles: “The songwriter and producer Isaac Hayes told Cropper he needed an intro to a song he was finishing for a Sam & Dave session. Cropper listened to the chords, took out a Zippo cigarette lighter and used it to slide what became the opening guitar notes — and the lead-in to the outro…He didn’t get songwriting credit, but he got a shout-out from Sam Moore, who calls out, ‘Play it, Steve!’ halfway through.”
Booker T. the MG’s performed at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967. In the incredible video below from D.A. Pennebaker’s film of the festival, they back Otis Redding on “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” (written by Redding and Jerry Butler). AI: “Cropper’s guitar part is a foundational, emotional, clean-toned, arpeggiated riff.” Dear readers, turn it up.
Booker T. Jones and William Bell wrote “Born Under a Bad Sign” (1968) for Albert King. Cropper supplied the counterpoint guitar part underneath King’s stinging lead.
Otis Redding died in a plane crash shortly after he recorded “The Dock of the Bay” (1968). Cropper wrote the song with Redding, played the guitar part on the record, and produced the single that made roughly everyone listen up to Otis and take notice of his loss.
“Time Is Tight” (1969) is a classic Booker T. and the MG’s recording. In his memoir Booker T. writes: “The melody is the simplest I have ever composed.” The song “encapsulated an era of struggle and exploration, a period of my life in a piece of music.” You can see Cropper communicating with Jones in this video of a 1970 live performance while the gentlemen of Creedence Clearwater Revival — not too shabby a band themselves — look on from the wings.
Etta James was the first to record “Damn Your Eyes” (1988), written by Barbara Wyrick and Steve Bogard. Kory Grow: “The song is a powerhouse, with each instrument playing off James’ soulful growl — the horns, the piano, and especially Cropper’s bluesy guitar — making the song a searing classic.” This is an all-star session, with Reggie Young and Kenny Greenberg also on guitar, Willie Weeks on bass, Roger Hawkins on drums, Barry Beckett on keyboard, and Jim Horn on saxophone.
Booker T and the MG’s backed Neil Young on “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” at the 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration tribute to Bob Dylab (1993). Pareles: “In this fiery version…Cropper provides both stolid rhythm guitar and pointed little fills behind Young’s vocals before he takes his own unhurried, rangy, inexorably climbing solo.” Jim Keltner is on drums. Listening to Cropper complement Young’s garage rock sound on guitar, I think this is yet another beautiful example of Cropper “playing” well with others.
RIP.
