Stax Records clinched two awards at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards for Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos. The collaborative brilliance of esteemed Stax luminary Deanie Parker and writer Robert Gordon was recognized with the Grammy-award for Best Album Notes. Additionally, Written In Their Soul secured the Grammy-award for Best Historical Album, a testament to the meticulous work of Cheryl Pawelski (producer), and Michael Graves (mastering engineer). Pawelski and Graves, alongside Gordon, Parker, and fellow producers Mason Williams and Michele Smith offer an essential collection.

About Written In Their Soul: In its heyday, Stax Records was synonymous with soul music’s biggest stars – from Otis Redding and Carla Thomas to Sam & Dave, Eddie Floyd, Johnnie Taylor, William Bell and the Staple Singers. But behind their iconic hits was a talented team of songwriters. Craft Recordings / Stax Records celebrates the work of these unsung heroes with a brand-new collection, Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos. Available on CD and digitally, the 7-disc box set includes 146 demos (140 previously unreleased) from Stax’s legendary roster of songwriters.

Compiled by multiple GRAMMY®-winning producer Cheryl Pawelski and restored/mastered by multiple GRAMMY®-winning engineer Michael Graves, the songs featured on Written in Their Soul fall into three categories: demos that were released by artists at Stax or its subsidiary imprints, including Volt, We Produce, and Enterprise (CDs 1–3); demos by Stax songwriters that were released by artists on other labels, such as Atlantic and Decca (CD 4); and a trove of hit-worthy recordings that were never released (CDs 5–7). Adding context to these songs are notes by Pawelski, plus a new essay by Emmy® and GRAMMY-winning writer/producer Robert Gordon (Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story) and Stax’s original Director of Publicity and 2x Emmy® winner Deanie Parker.

Sample of praise:

“A veritable treasure trove of remarkable demo recordings that celebrate and bring into the light the unsung songwriters of Stax’s golden age…Some songs here went on to become beloved standards, others fell by the wayside. Each one is a little gem.”
– Aquarium Drunkard

“…fantastic…a holy grail…a very high quality production…”
– Mark Smotroff, Audiophile Review

“…phenomenal…To my mind, this is the reissue of the year; nothing else comes close.”
– Stuart Munro, Boston Globe

“…pulls back the curtain on the songwriting magic at Stax via an incredible wealth of demo recordings. The material here puts the spotlight on Stax’s legendary roster of writers…it is a revelation to hear soul classics and deep cuts alike in their embryonic form, frequently performed by the original authors. liner notes for the set add to the understanding of Stax’s hothouse songwriting environment. The response to Written In Their Soul has cemented its status as one of the all-time archival Stax sets…”
– Bob Mehr, Commercial Appeal

“…a compelling argument that there is still much to learn about the iconic soul label…For fans of Stax Records or soul music more generally, Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos is a revealing inspection of the creative process and addendum to the Stax story.”
– Ezra Wheeler, Daily Memphian

“…arguably the most significant archival release in years…Those demos are an important part of the story…Taken as a whole, they help complete the picture, opening a window into the process of creating [Stax’s] revered body of work…”
– Bill Kopp, Goldmine Magazine

“…glorious…an absolute must for anyone that claims to love ‘proper’ music.”
– Jake Day-Williams, Hi-Fi Choice Magazine

“If you really want to know a song, to get to its essence and heart, work backward from the finished piece. Most of us never have the opportunity to hear the seed of a song, a demo that the songwriter either carefully crafted or whipped out quickly in an inspired moment. All of that changed this year when Stax and Craft Recordings dropped the now-Grammy nominated Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos…You know the 1974 Shirley Brown hit, ‘Woman To Woman?’ It was written by songwriter Henderson Thigpen, who demoed it himself. Hearing the song, written from a woman’s perspective and demoed in Thigpen’s own voice, is a gem I would have otherwise never unearthed.”
– Anne Litt, KCRW

“…seven and a half hours of raw, honest, intimate, and largely unheard Stax material….Eminently listenable and forever fascinating, Written in Their Soul will appeal to uber-collectors of Stax-Volt as well as anyone who appreciates groovy, deep, delicious helpings of Memphis Soul.”
– Robert Marovich, Living Blues Magazine

“…glorious behind-the-scenes treasure…From the haunted to the joyous, this is ultimately a tribute to the power of a song, no matter what form it takes, and a fitting celebration of Stax songwriters both obscure and legendary, from Deanie Parker to William Brown, from Homer Banks to Mack Rice, from Bettye Crutcher to Carla Thomas…If the word ‘revelation’ is overused, this at least is one release that merits it.”
– Alex Greene, Memphis Flyer

“Who knew that in the mountain of songs Stax records didn’t put out were many as great as those they did?…sheds extraordinary new light on Memphis’s soul explosion…The egalitarian ethos applied to Stax’s material as much as its contributors – and is borne out by the astonishingly even quality of the benched songs on Written In Their Soul. These are not born B-sides, but compositions as lovingly crafted as any belted out by Otis Redding or The Staple Singers on radios and jukeboxes the world over. Hundreds of renewed testaments to the special essence of one of music’s greatest ever labels.”
– Bill DeMain, Mojo

“…tantalizing unrealized possibilities…a chance to hear the voices of songwriters who largely stayed behind the scenes… a tribute to the Stax studio teamwork that would go on to punch up these demos into finished songs.”
– Jon Pareles, New York Times

“Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos is a monumental document, proving once again that Stax soul runs deep.”
– Michael Elliot, No Depression

“Written in Their Soul is the stuff of dreams…shed[s] light on the label’s behind-the-scenes creative genius at work…”
– Lois Wilson, Record Collector Magazine

“New Stax collection will make you rethink one of American music’s most important record labels…a much more profound story being told about the label…an essential piece of music history…All of [the recordings] deepen, broaden, and complicate our understanding not only of Stax but of Southern soul and Sixties/Seventies popular music.”
– Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone

“…made with a bit of magic…extraordinary work…”
– Tess Carges, Shindig! Magazine

“Home to Otis Redding, the Staple Singers, and Carla Thomas, the soulful sound forged by the legendary Stax label in the ‘60s and ‘70s made an indelible impact that continues to reverberate far and wide today…hear inspiration striking on the spot — to fully fleshed-out arrangements. Soul/R&B history buffs will marvel at the sheer bulk of historical value…but you don’t have to be a historian to sit back and take it all in.”
– Saby Reyes-Kulkarni. Spin

“…An essential collection.”
– Michael Gallucci, Ultimate Classic Rock

“Stax was the apex of strong Southern soul, R&B and funk…not-to-be-missed archival treasure.”
– A.D. Amorosi, Variety