"Memphis wouldn’t be the same without Soulsville. Our family moved here 53 years ago, and I grew up two blocks from Stax. I really didn’t pay much attention to the music coming out of the studios during my teen years, but that changed when I was drafted. In Vietnam, I met people from all over the United States who were listening to music that had been recorded at Stax. I started listening to it then too and came to appreciate where I’d come from more than I had before. We couldn’t listen when we were actually out in the bush, but whenever we were at the base camp where it was a little safer and more relaxed, we'd play the cassette tapes. I’ll never forget that. Isaac Hayes had an album out with a song called I Stand Accused, and there was a monologue that led up to the song. We used to have competitions to see who could imitate him most closely. I was pretty good. My uncle Clifford Miller owned three nightclubs in Memphis---the Flamingo Club on Hernando, the Rosewood on Lauderdale, and the Showcase---and people like Isaac Hayes, the Bar-Kays, and other Stax entertainers played there. They played in clubs all over the city. Soulsville, during the Stax era, really put a stamp on Memphis. Our music was known all over the world."
Henry Ford, Senior Idol 2013, was featured in the Fall 2013 issue (p. 7) of Parks & Neighborhoods (image credit: Parks & Neighborhoods magazine):
Henry Ford is the immediate past President of the Soulsville Neighborhood Association.
RSS Feed
